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Set List, 02/18 – 02/19/12 Fellowship Bible Church

February 19, 2012

This weekend, we continued our Romans series, and focused on Romans 8:31-39. In his message, Joe talked through the five rhetorical questions in this passage, and reminded us all of God’s amazing and unfailing love.  I was really challenged to let go of my past and my old slavery to sin, and to move toward Christ and trust in Him will every area of my life. We have a new life because Christ has loved us, and we don’t need to look back. We need to look to Christ. You can listen to the entire message here.

Here’s our service plan from this weekend:

Time of Preparation/Prayer
“Healing Is In Your Hands” (C) [Daniel Carson, Christy Nockels, Nathan Nockels, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin]
Welcome/Greeting Time
(Child Dedications – at 5 PM and 10:45 AM services only)
“Desert Song” (D) [Brooke Fraser]
“Unchanging” (G) [Chris Tomlin]
“Our God” (G) [Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman, Jesse Reeves, Chris Tomlin]
“10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)” (G) [Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman]
Message – “Romans 8:31-39″ [Joe Hishmeh]
“It Is Well” (Bb) [Philip Paul Bliss, Todd Fields, Horatio G. Spafford]
Offering/Announcements
Dismissal


“Healing Is In Your Hands” – We sang this song as our preparation song this weekend, as we focused on how we are held by the promise of Jesus’ powerful and unconquerable love. He is faithful, and nothing will ever separate us from His love (Rom. 8:35). This is such a beautiful song (originally sung by Christy Nockels on the album, Passion: Here For You.), and it does a wonderful job of calling out our trust, faith, and confidence in Christ’s unending love for us. Becky Tindell did a great job of leading us on this song.

“Desert Song” – We opened the second music set with this song, and Becky led us here as well. This song declares our faith and trust in the Lord no matter what we are facing in this life. In good times and bad, He is with us, and He is worthy of our praise. This song continues to be a staple of our congregation’s worship vocabulary, and our church sings it well together.

“Unchanging” – We sang this song this weekend because it also stands firm on the fact that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8 ESV). In we declare the unchanging character and love of God. We can trust and depend on who He is, and that flows out into how He cares for us and interacts with us. Because He never changes and never fails, we can trust the word which He has spoken, saying that He will love us “with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3).

“Our God” – This song tied directly to our passage from this weekend, particularly in the bridge where we sing, “And if our God is for us/ Then who could ever stop us?/ And if our God is with us/ What could stand against?” We abbreviated this song for the services with the child dedications, but we wanted to keep this declaration in our services, as we sing out the truth of the scripture passage from this week.

“10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)” - This is a song that we began teaching our congregation last weekend as Erik and Sarah Oldberg led our congregation. I LOVE this song. When you hear it for the first time, it feels like you’ve heard it before. It has a sort of timeless melody to it, and it makes me want to sing it out. The chorus is simple and strong: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul/ Worship His holy name/ Sing like never before, O my soul/ I’ll worship Your holy name.” Our congregation is singing it well, and I think this will remain a part of our worship vocabulary here at Fellowship.

“It Is Well” – This was our response song this weekend. I have written a lot about this song previously, so I’ll keep this short. I love how this song ties a timeless hymn with a new declaration of trust and praise in an added chorus. I think it helps to connect a new generation with a beautiful expression of trust in God’s faithfulness – no matter the circumstances.

This weekend was a good weekend overall. We celebrated child dedications with many young families in our church, which was a beautiful thing of which to be a part. We also celebrated baptisms after each service. In one of these baptisms on Saturday evening, a young man baptized his dad after leading him to Christ. What a powerful moment! I love being a part of this congregation and seeing how the Lord is moving.

We had a few technical gremlins show up on Saturday evening with our in-ears and some other things. During most of the service at 7 PM, I was getting shocked every time my lips touched the microphone. Not fun. I have no idea what was happening there. Everything was worked out on Sunday morning, so it’s all good.

The bottom line is that Jesus was glorified and exalted because of His great love with which He loved us. He is faithful and unchanging, and we can trust in Him and in His love. He is so good to us!

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were!

In the Son,
Bill

p.s. don’t forget to check out The Worship Community!

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Set List, 01/28 – 01/29/12 Fellowship Bible Church

January 29, 2012

This weekend, we returned to continue our series on the book of Romans.  Joe preached from what is possibly my favorite passage of Scripture – Romans 3:21-31. The gospel of grace, and the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from the law, are both very clearly laid out here, and I am reminded of the amazing gift that we have been given in Christ. We all need to be constantly reminded of what the work of Christ has accomplished for us, because it changes everything. You can listen to the entire message here.

Here’s our service plan from this weekend:

Time of Preparation/Prayer
“I Need You” (G) [Kristian Stanfill]
Call To Worship
Welcome/Greeting Time
“Marvelous Light” (Bb) [Charlie Hall]
“You Alone Can Rescue” (Bb) [Matt Redman]
“Nothing But The Blood” (Bb) [Matt Redman]
“Lamb Of God” (Ab) [original]
Message – “Romans 3:21-31 – Justification” [Joe Hishmeh]
“Jesus Messiah” (G) [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves]
Offering/Announcements
Dismissal


“I Need You” – We sang this song in our preparation time this weekend. I love the clarity of this song, and how it lays out our desperation for Christ’s work for us. We are lost without Him. We are hopeless and helpless without Him. It is such a powerful song. We bring it down from the key of Bb to G, and it is much more singable for our congregation. I want to incorporate this song more into our regular worship sets, as I think our congregation is getting a better grasp of it.

“Marvelous Light” – This was our opener this week. We haven’t sung this song in a while, but I think it was very fitting for us to sing this week as we focused on the cross. While we were a people without any hope and without spiritual life, Jesus stepped in and died for us, conquering sin and death. He has adopted us as sons and daughters, and has made us alive together with Him. Praise God that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life for us.

“You Alone Can Rescue” – This song continues to be one of my favorites. The chorus really draws the line in the sand regarding the gospel: “You alone can rescue/ You alone can save/ You alone can lift us from the grave/ You came down to find us/ And led us out of death/ To You alone belongs the highest praise.” Because Jesus is the one who rescued us, He is the only one who deserves the credit, the praise, and the glory. He is the only one!

“Nothing But The Blood” – We haven’t done this song much at Fellowship, but it was a perfect fit to our talk on justification this weekend. Nothing but the blood of Jesus reconciles us to God and makes it possible for us to be declared righteous before a holy God. His blood is the payment for our sin, satisfying the wrath of God against sin, and making peace with God for us. I was moved to tears several times this weekend as we sang this song. Jesus is our peace.

“Lamb of God” – This is a song that I wrote a few years ago as I was studying Isaiah 53. I wanted to write a song that really described the nature of the payment that Jesus paid for us as our substitute. I wanted to challenge us as a congregation to not sing these kinds of songs lightly, but to try and envision the suffering that Jesus bore in our place. I think that is how we sing of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross with meaning. It is, and should be, overwhelming to think of how much Christ suffered for us, and how much He has given us that we did not deserve. He is far too good to us.

“Jesus Messiah” – We sang this song as our response this week. This about summed it all up from this weekend. As 2 Corinthians says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus took our place, and He gives us His.

This weekend was really powerful, and I really experienced the presence of Christ as we worshiped in our services. When we focus so clearly and heavily on what Jesus accomplished for us, it is hard to avoid being overwhelmed with thanksgiving. I had to hold it together a few times when it was really hitting home. Our team did a great job. We also played Warren Barfield’s “Saved” a few times this weekend between services, just to have fun and celebrate our salvation in Christ. God is good!

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were!

In the Son,
Bill

p.s. don’t forget to check out The Worship Community!

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Set List, 12/10 – 12/11/11 Fellowship Bible Church

December 11, 2011

This weekend, we continued our Advent series with a message entitled, “God With Us.” He made comparisons between life with Christ and what life would be without Christ, and it was really powerful to see the two lists side-by-side. You can listen to the entire message here. We continued to try something different with our service order to change things up, and we moved the message up a few minutes earlier in the service to have two songs in response to the message, rather than our typical one song in that position. All of us on our worship planning team believes that these kinds of changes help us and our congregation to engage and to not be passive in worship.

Here’s our service plan from this weekend:

Time of Preparation/Prayer
“Lord I Need You” (B) [Jesse Reeves, Kristian Stanfill, Christy Nockels, Matt Maher, Daniel Carson]
 Welcome/Greeting Time
“Joy To The World” (C) [Isaac Watts]
“Joyful (The One Who Saves)” (C) [Brenton Brown, Jason Ingram, Henry van Dyke, Ludwig van Beethoven]
“A Mighty Fortress” [Christy Nockels, Nathan Nockels]
Message – “God With Us” [Joe Hishmeh]
Offering/Announcements
“Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)” (Bb) [Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash]
 “You Never Let Go” (Bb) [Matt Redman, Beth Redman]
Dismissal

“Lord I Need You” – We sang this song in our preparation time. This is the second time we have sung this song, and I think it will become a staple for our church. I think it resonates with each of us. It communicates a timeless truth in a fresh way, and helps us express our dependence on the Lord for everything. I’m a big fan of this song.

“Joy To The World” – We sang this oldie but goodie to kick off our services. My arrangement of it is kind pop/punk-ish, so it is fun to play and sing together. The melody is unchanged, so everyone can sing along easily. This song just makes people smile. The content of it is solid, and really declares some of what Christ’s first coming accomplished in this world. He changed everything with His coming.

“Joyful (The One Who Saves)” – We continued teaching this song to our congregation this week. I decided to drop this song a full step to the key of C this week, to make it a little easier for our congregation to sing, especially on Sunday morning at the early service. I think it was much easier for all of us to sing. Becky and I traded off verses on this one, and I think this is something we will continue to do, because I think it helps draw both the ladies and the men into what we are singing together. I really like this song, and I like how it fits into the Advent season.

“A Mighty Fortress” – Becky led us on this song, and it is one of my favorite declarations about the assurance and refuge we have in God. He is faithful, trustworthy, and true, and we can confidently place our lives in His hands. Our church sings this song well, even after only a few occurrences in our services. Part of the emphasis I was going for here was to point to the trustworthiness and love of God for us, and when He is called “God with us,” we can walk with Him in faith, because He will never fail, and His purposes are not thwarted.

“Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)” – We began our response song with this song, which was new to me this week. I really like the message of the verses, which speak to the time of waiting and anticipation before the Messiah arrived. I also enjoy the chorus as a whole, which simply and beautifully sings of the first coming of Jesus: “Emmanuel, Emmanuel/ God incarnate, here to dwell/ Emmanuel, Emmanuel/ Praise His name, Emmanuel.” There are a few parts of this song that are a little tricky for one reason or another, so I had to work pretty hard to try and get it right, but I’m glad we sang it together this weekend.

“You Never Let Go” – We closed out our services with this song, which remains one of my favorites. Part of the imagery Joe used in the message was the dominant scriptural image of the Good Shepherd. This song pulls ideas from one of the most prominent pictures of the Shepherd contained in Psalm 23, and I think it helped to tie everything together really well. I love this song’s statements of trust and faith in God, regardless of our circumstances. Jesus is worthy of our trust and faith. He will never fail, and He will never let us go.

This was a unique and refreshing weekend of worshiping our Savior together. Our team did a great job as always. I love celebrating Advent with the Church. It’s a beautiful thing.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were.

In the Son,

Bill

p.s. don’t forget to check out The Worship Community!

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Set List, 12/03 – 12/04/11 Fellowship Bible Church

December 4, 2011

This weekend, we began our Advent series with a message entitled “God Before Us.” Joe focused on four ways that Jesus was “before” us: in creation, in the Passover, in the Prophets, and in experience. Jesus is the source of life, the sacrifice for our redemption, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, and our example. It was a powerful perspective for our first week of focusing on Advent. You can listen to the entire message here. For the first week of this series, we decided to try a drastically different format for our services, following each point of the message with a time of response through singing. I think it gave the services a more reflective emphasis, and I really enjoyed it as a change up to keep us engaged in responding to the Word of God.

Here’s our service plan from this weekend:

Time of Preparation/Prayer
“Joyous Light” (G) [Unknown/John H. Gower, w/ add. chorus by Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Louie Giglio]
 Welcome/Greeting Time
“Joyful (The One Who Saves)” (D) [Brenton Brown, Jason Ingram, Henry van Dyke, Ludwig van Beethoven]
Message – “God Before Us In Creation” [Joe Hishmeh]
“Glory To God Forever” (Bb) [Vicky Beeching, Steve Fee]
Message – “God Before Us In The Passover” [Joe Hishmeh]
 “Jesus Messiah” (G) [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves]
Communion
Message – “God Before Us In The Prophets” [Joe Hishmeh]
 “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” (G) [John M. Neale]
Message – “God Before Us In Experience” – [Joe Hishmeh]
“God Is Able” (A) [Reuben Morgan, Ben Fielding]
 Offering/Announcements
Dismissal

“Joyous Light” – We sang this song in our preparation time. We have done a few times in the past, and I love using the translation of this ancient hymn with the modern chorus. It was a great fit for Advent as well, focusing on Jesus as the Light of the world.

“Joyful (The One Who Saves)” – We taught this song to our congregation this weekend, and it is a song that I have wanted to sing with our congregation for over a year. I love the new chorus added to the hymn, “Joyful, Joyful”: “You are the One who saves/ You are the One who saves/ You are the One whose hands lift us from the grave/ You are the Light of life/ The everlasting Day/ You are the One who takes all our sins away.”

“Glory To God Forever” – After Joe spoke about Jesus being before us in creation, this song was a fitting response. He is before all things, and He is the almighty God, who is worthy of all the glory, forever!

“Jesus Messiah” – We sang this song during communion after Joe spoke about Jesus being before us in the Passover. He used a doorframe to illustrate the brushing of the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and the lintel in the Passover, and explained how the blood of the Lamb not only protects us and spares us from the wrath of God, but it sets us free to life in the promise of God. Our hope is in Jesus alone, and this song echoes this and celebrates what our Messiah has done for us.

“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” – After talking about the Prophets and how God’s people were crying out for the Messiah to come, we sang this Christmas standard. A few years ago, I rearranged this song for an acoustic Christmas CD that I recorded with my wife for our friends and family, and that’s the arrangement that we used. This is one of my favorite Advent songs, and I think it made a great connection with the Prophets and the people of God in the Old Testament period, and God’s people today who await His triumphant return.

“God Is Able” – We closed with this song, looking to Jesus as our victorious Savior who can do all things and who will rescue and redeem us from sin and death. He is with us and He is for us as His people. He will never fail. He will never leave us. Amen!

This was a unique and refreshing weekend of worshiping our Savior together. Our team did a great job as always. I love celebrating Advent with the Church. It’s a beautiful thing.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were.

In the Son,

Bill

p.s. don’t forget to check out The Worship Community!

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Set List, 11/26 – 11/27/11 Fellowship Bible Church

November 27, 2011

This weekend, we finished our series on John and focused on John 21, examining the calling on us as disciples of Jesus Christ. David Hinkle preached about Peter and how Jesus recommissioned him as a leader and as one of His followers. It was, for me, a fresh look at the life of Peter, and the call from Jesus on His life, despite His faults and failures. You can listen to the entire message here.

Because it was the weekend following Thanksgiving, we had some trouble fielding a full band, so I decided we would intentionally do something different and simple, and just use drums, bass, acoustic, and vocals. I am really pleased with how it turned out (minus the moment when I broke a string in the last service…). Sometimes simple is better.

Here’s our service plan from this weekend:

Time of Preparation/Prayer
“Lord I Need You” (B) [Jesse Reeves, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Maher, Christy Nockels, Daniel Carson]
 Welcome/Greeting Time
Call to Worship - 
“Your Grace Is Enough” (G) [Matt Maher]
“Hosanna” (G) [Brooke Fraser]
 “Son Of God” (G) [Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld]
Thoughts from Ephesians 2
 “I Need You” (G) [Kristian Stanfill, Eddie Kirkland]
Prayer
Video
Message – John 21 – “The Call/The Cost” [David Hinkle]
Response Time
“‘One Pure And Holy Passion” (Bb) [Mark Altrogge]
 Offering/Announcements
Dismissal

“Lord I Need You” – We sang this song during our preparation time this week. It was new for our congregation, and I am excited about continuing to teach it going forward. It is a powerful song that takes the idea of the hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour” and reworks it. It appeared on the Passion Album Here For You. I really love this song, and think it expresses our desperation for our Lord in a clear way.

“Your Grace Is Enough” – This is one of our standards here (I’m sure it is in many other congregations as well), and I think it helped us set up our service well, as it sings, “You wrestle with the sinner’s heart” and “You use the weak to lead the strong.” These images combined with the declaration of the all-sufficiency of God’s grace helped us to get on track to hear of the restoration and constant love of God in the message.

“Hosanna” – As we near Advent, this song served two purposes: looking to the coming of our King, and asking the Lord to give us a heart that aligns to His own. We want our purposes to match His purposes. In seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, the bridge offers a fitting prayer: “Heal my heart and make it clean/ Open up my eyes to the things unseen/ Show me how to love like You have loved me/ Break my heart for what breaks Yours/ Everything I am, for Your kingdom’s cause/ As I walk from earth into eternity.”

“Son Of God” – I think this song is becoming a favorite here. I love how it tries to encompass who Jesus is and what He accomplished for us, and then offers a response of sincere worship when we sing, “You are worthy/ You are worthy/ You are worthy of all my praise/ You are beautiful/ You are beautiful/ I will lift up my hands and sing.”

“I Need You” – I prefaced this song by sharing from Ephesians 2, emphasizing how we were dead in our sins and transgressions, and how God made us alive together with Christ. We have no room to boast, because the work of salvation was finished completely by Christ, and Christ alone. He is our hope and our salvation. We need Him. We are desperate for His saving work on our behalf. This song proclaims the gospel as well and as clearly as any song I have ever heard before. It lays it all out there and repeats this chorus in response to the message, “I need You, Jesus/ I need You, Jesus/ I need clean hands/ I can’t, You can/ I need You, Jesus.” This song may be simple, but I think in this case it only serves to point our eyes more directly to the lyric of the song, which deserve our utmost attention.

“One Pure And Holy Passion” – This song was our response song this week. I don’t think I have ever led this song before, and I want this to be my prayer of response to what God has shown me in the message this week. I want to follow hard after the Lord, and be dedicated to His purposes and His kingdom. Jesus is worth every moment of my life being lived as an act of worship that gives glory to Him. I pray that is the case for all of us.

This was a refreshing weekend of worshiping our Savior. Our team did a great job. After the message this week, I am reminded of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness to His Church, and His constant call on my life to follow Him.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were.

In the Son,

Bill

p.s. don’t forget to check out The Worship Community!

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Set List, 11/12 – 11/13/11 Fellowship Bible Church

November 13, 2011

This weekend, we focused on John 19:6-37, examining the cross. Joe shared about its meaning from several perspectives, and closed with a time to respond to what Jesus accomplished for us. We moved our on-stage cross to down stage center to help emphasize our focus for the weekend, and nearly every aspect of our services pointed to it. I am happy with how well everything tied together this weekend. Together, it served as a great reminder of what Jesus did on our behalf. He is so good to us!

Here’s our service plan from this weekend:

Time of Preparation/Prayer
“Lamb of God” (Ab) [original]
 Welcome/Greeting Time
Call to Worship - 
“Let Me Sing” (Bb) [Todd Fields]
“You Alone Can Rescue” (Bb) [Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin]
Scripture Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
“Jesus Messiah” (G) [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves]
“Nothing But The Blood” (G) [Robert Lowry]
Prayer
Message – John 19:6-37 – “The Cross” [Joe Hishmeh]
Response Time
“‘The Wonderful Cross” (E) [Isaac Watts, w/ add. chorus by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves]
 Offering/Video/Announcements
Dismissal

“Lamb Of God” – We opened our preparation time with this song, since we were focusing on the cross this weekend. When I wrote this song, I was trying to encapsulate some of Isaiah 53, along with the crucifixion accounts of the Gospels. I think it was a fitting way to begin our services this weekend, because it set the tone for everything that would follow.

“Let Me Sing” – This song is a staple for us, and this song really fit with the theme of this weekend. It communicates the reason for our worship and obedience: the fact that God loved us first and sent His Son to die on the cross on our behalf. I love how this song relays this thought, when we sing, “Let me sing/ Louder than creation to You/ For the pain You bore in Your body/ To bring my soul to You.” It really brings the two ideas together well.

“You Alone Can Rescue” – We haven’t sung this song together in a while, and I think this week was a good week to bring it back. This song emphasizes our inability to rescue and redeem ourselves. We are dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1), and we were enemies of God (Rom. 5:10), but still God loved us and made a way for us where there was no way, reconciling us to Himself through the cross of Christ. Praise God for His grace!

“Jesus Messiah” – We prefaced this song by reading from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. The last verse of that passage is where the first line of this song comes from: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That passage in 2 Corinthians is one of my favorites, as it helps clarify what Christ accomplished for us at the cross. He is our reconciliation.

“Nothing But The Blood” – This hymn is one of my favorites, because it makes no bones about declaring that the sole source of our redemption is the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. He is the only way of salvation. He is the only one who could rescue us and give us life and hope. We need to rest in His finished work on the cross. He died in our place. He has dealt with our sin and the righteous wrath of God against sin. It is finished, all because Jesus shed His precious blood for us.

“The Wonderful Cross” – This song was our response song this week. As Joe finished proclaiming the significance of the cross and the encouraging our people to respond to this truth, we wanted to sing a song that examined the cross and reflected on its great meaning for our lives. The hymn (“When I Survey The Wondrous Cross”) by Isaac Watts, along with the additional chorus by Tomlin and Reeves, was a great fit for the moment, and helped us in thanking Jesus for the cross and in offering our lives in response to His great sacrifice for us. I have loved this song since I first heard it in college, and I was thankful for a good opportunity to sing it again.

All around, this was a great weekend of worshiping our Savior. Our team did a great job, and I’m so thankful for what the Lord is doing in us, and especially grateful for the cross. I would have no hope without it.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were.

In the Son,

Bill

p.s. don’t forget to check out The Worship Community!

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Set List, 09/10 – 09/11/11 Fellowship Bible Church

September 12, 2011

This weekend, we focused on the first chapter of the gospel of John. Joe shared about Jesus, the Light of the World, and what is the proper response to who He is. We can be one of three things: wise, foolish, or evil in our response to Jesus. We are wise if we receive the truth and adjust our lives to match the truth. We are foolish if we try to adjust the truth to our lives. We are evil if we completely reject and resist the truth, and try to destroy it and others for our own gain. Each of us can shift between these responses when we are in different situations. I was really challenged to be more of a wise man (not wise guy…) and to leave foolishness behind. Because we are reading through the Gospel of John together, and we read through John 1 this week, we focused on songs that emphasized the incarnation, Christ’s deity, Christ as the Light of the World,

Here’s our set from this weekend:

  • Preparation Time – “Here I Am To Worship” (Verses and Chorus only) (E) [Tim Hughes]
  • Welcome/Greeting Time
  • Call To Worship – Psalm 95:1-3
  • “Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)” (G) [Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown]
  • “Joyous Light” (G) [Unknown/John H. Gower, chorus by Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Louie Giglio]
  • “Son of God” (G) [Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld, Ed Cash]
  • “Jesus Messiah” (G) [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, and Jesse Reeves]
  • Message – “The Light Of The World (Reconnected, Redeemed, Received, Respond)” [Joe Hishmeh]
  • Offering/Announcements
  • Response – “Here I Am To Worship” (E) [Tim Hughes]
  • Dismissal

“Here I Am To Worship” – Over the past few weeks, we have introduced a time of preparation into our services.  We used this song for that time. We played through it with a simple instrumental, and then sang through it quietly. I think it functioned very well in that space, and was a solid song to help us focus on the reason we were gathered for worship. I am enjoying having this element as part of our services. We also used it as the response and closing for the services.

“Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)” – After our call to worship, we prayed together for the family and friends who lost loved ones in the tragedy of 9/11. We also prayed for our servicemen and women who are in harms way because of the events of that day. We followed that by singing the pre-chorus of this song: “When we see You/ We find strength to face the day/ In Your presence/ All our fears are washed away.” I felt this was the right way to respond, with trust and confidence in the ability and power of our Lord rather than fear and doubt.

“Joyous Light” – This was the second time we have sung this song since I came to Fellowship. I love the fact that this song focuses on Jesus as the Light of the World, and on the entire Trinity as well. It ties very well with the first section of John 1, which speaks of Jesus as the true Light shining in the darkness, and who was unrecognized by His own. I think the only question most people have when they sing this song is from the chorus, which sings, “We hymn the Father, we hymn the Son/ We hymn the Spirit, wholly divine/ No one more worthy of songs to be sung/ To the giver of life, all glory is Thine.” The question that will probably arise is: “Can the word ‘hymn’ be used as a verb?” Well, the noun “hymn” is a song of praise, and as a verb, “hymn” means “to praise.” There you have it. “Hymn” can refer to a song of praise or can be used as a verb. It is part of what makes this song unique, and helps us remember it, I think.

“Son of God” – This song has become part of our vocabulary at Fellowship, and I am thankful because it is a strong declaration of praise for who Jesus is and what He has done. It focuses on His deity, His fulfillment of prophecy, His power, His work of redemption and forgiveness, His sacrifice for us, and His unique worth and beauty as the perfect Son of God.

“Jesus Messiah” – We finished the set of music with this song, because I believe it speaks very clearly about who Jesus is. It speaks of Him as Emmanuel (God with us), our Redeemer, our Rescue, our Ransom, our Hope, and Lord of all. I believe it was very appropriate for the focus of this weekend.

It was good to be back with our congregation after our vacation to Florida to see family and friends. I love our church, and I love how we are growing in worship together. Jesus is worthy. May He receive more and more of our praise.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship together wherever you were.

Be sure to check out Sunday Set Lists to see what other leaders experienced this weekend in their congregations.

Have a great week!

In the Son,

Bill

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Set List, 05/28 – 05/29/11 Fellowship Bible Church

May 29, 2011

This week, we focused on Philippians 2:1-11, and dealt with putting others ahead of ourselves. It was a challenging message for those of us who are prone to selfishness (me!), and called us to the selflessness of Christ, who emptied Himself and became obedient even to death on a cross, so that we could be redeemed. As a result, Scripture says, God has exalted Him and given Him the name which is above all names, that at His name, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. In a similar way, the Bible says that the one who wants to find his own life must first lose it. May we all lay our lives down for the kingdom of God and His purposes, and in doing so, may we find our true life in Him.

Here’s our set from this weekend:

Pre-Service – “Happy Day” (Bb) [Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon]
Call to Worship – Revelation 4:8, 11
“Our God” (G) [Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves]
Welcome/ Video/ Offering/ Announcements/ Prayer/ Greeting
“You Never Let Go” (Bb) [Matt Redman]
“Desert Song” (D) [Brooke Fraser]
Scripture reading – Philippians 2:3
“Lead Me to the Cross” (D) [Brooke Fraser]
Message – “An Appraisal of Attitude” [Joe Hishmeh]
Response – “Jesus Messiah” (G) [Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash]

We began in the pre-service time with “Happy Day,” and I chose this song because it got us thinking about the cross, and what it accomplished for us. We benefited immensely because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, yet He paid for our redemption with great suffering and anguish. He gave up His right to grasp His equality with God, and laid it down in obedience and willing sacrifice. He was generous with His own life, and had the attitude fo a servant rather than one of entitlement.

In the call to worship, practiced the command to “ascribe” praise and to the Lord. This means to attribute to God the truth about who He is and what He has done. I searched and struggled to find a passage that encapsulated this idea concisely, and I felt very comfortable with Revelation 4:8, 11 (ESV) -

Holy, holy, holy,
is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come!
Worthy are You,
our Lord and God,
To receive glory and
honor and power,
For You created all things,
And by Your will they existed
and were created.

We read this together as a congregation with this phrasing, and I think it set our hearts on Jesus’ surpassing worth and glory. I am feeling more and more compelled to point our people to Scripture and for us to read it together and respond together in different ways. I would guess that worship doesn’t get much more “Biblical” than that… I hope we begin to make the connection between these explicit worship directives and the ones that call us to worship by living our lives for our King and His kingdom, loving Him and loving our neighbor.

We immediately moved into “Our God,” because we just finished talking about the creative power of our God, and this song emphasizes some of that aspect in reference to miracles and His omnipotence. I love how this song resonates with God’s people, as we declare His greatness and power together, and then recognize that this same great and powerful God is for us. He is for His people, and He loves us, cares for us, and protects us. At the end of this song, I felt led to have all the instruments drop out as our people sang out the chorus, and it was a sweet moment that I didn’t want to end. It felt a little funny jumping from that into the announcements, but who cares?!?! We’re here to worship together, and it’s never too early to do so.

After the announcements, we led out with “You Never Let Go.” This was our third week singing this song together, and the chorus has taken on new meaning for our congregation (especially the Saturday night group) after last weekend, where we had to take shelter from funnel clouds in the area. I think we are getting this as a congregation, and God is reminding us of His faithfulness through it. Our congregation sings this song so well together. I am so thrilled with how we are responding to God together.

Then, Kelsey Thomsen led us in singing “Desert Song” and “Lead Me to the Cross.” This was Kelsey’s last weekend leading with us (for a while, at least), because she is heading off to physician assistant school this summer. It was a little bittersweet as a result, but I have enjoyed getting to see Kelsey’s heart for God’s people in worship over these past few months. I know God has great things in store for her and her ministry through worship. These songs spoke to the point of trusting in God no matter what, and obeying Him regardless of how afraid we may be. He is worthy of our lives’ obedience, no matter how we feel about it. He is worthy of our lives being give for the purpose of expanding His kingdom and His fame in the earth.

We responded to Joe’s challenging message with “Jesus Messiah,” which speaks clearly of Jesus’ laying down of His life for us. He is our model and example of sacrifice and of being a servant. When we look to Him, we see the pattern of our calling. We see what we are to be in Him. This song continues to grow on me, as I reminded of 2 Corinthians 5:21 and other verses which speak of the ridiculous gift Jesus has given us through His grace and through the cross. He is so good to us. May we be so generous with our own lives.

We had a few difficulties on Saturday night. One team member thought he was on for next weekend, and as a result, wasn’t able to get to rehearsal until an hour after we started. We ended up finishing our preparation very close to the start of the first service, and I forgot to communicate with the team that Kelsey was going to share before “Desert Song.” When I turned to look at Kelsey, the rhythm section jumped into the song, and the rest of us had to catch up. It was a minor train wreck, but we got back on track, and I believe God was glorified in spite of the problems. It has made me evaluate our lines of communication, both prior to and during the weekend. We can always improve. Sunday went very smoothly, and I was proud of how our team pressed on and kept trying to improve throughout the weekend, despite a slightly frustrating start. I am so thankful for the team of people we have here at Fellowship.

Overall, it was a powerful weekend of worship. I love it (sometimes begrudgingly), when God moves and works in our midst, when it seems like we have made it difficult. It just goes to show that we cannot manufacture worship. We cannot force it to happen. We cannot make people experience God. We are powerless to change lives at the heart level. Only God can do that. And He does. What we can do is be available and be humbled before our King, and trust that He will work in our midst. We can give Him our best and do what we can to facilitate (literally, “make it easy”) for our people to engage God in our worship gatherings. Let us serve our God and our people by trusting in our God and giving our best for Him and for them. He will take care of everything else.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were (and hopefully didn’t have the problems we did!). Be sure to check out The Worship Community to see what other leaders and team members experienced in their worship gatherings this weekend. To God be all the glory!

In the Son,

Bill

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Set List, 04/02 – 04/03/11 Fellowship Bible Church

April 3, 2011

This weekend was beautiful. We implemented a few new things, and their benefit was felt immediately. We also had some late-notice band cancellations, but we had people step up and help out. We expected some difficulties, and there were very few to speak of. Beyond that, Joe’s message was on our blessed hope of eternity with God through Jesus Christ. It was a beautiful thing.

Here’s our set from this weekend:

“I’ll Fly Away” (G) [Albert E. Brumley]
Call to Worship – Psalm 98:1-2
“Glory to God Forever” (A) [Steve Fee and Vicky Beeching]
Welcome/Announcements/Offering/Greeting
“Forever Reign” (Ab) [Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan]
“Jesus Messiah” (Ab) [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, and Jesse Reeves]
Message – “I Believe: God Restores” [Joe Hishmeh]
Communion Song – “Beautiful” (D) [Phil Wickham]
Closing Song – “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” (Eb) [John Newton, Chris Tomlin, and Louie Giglio]

The main new implementation this weekend was the Aviom in-ear monitoring (IEM) system. It was something I was very familiar with in other situations, but was completely new to most of our team here at Fellowship. Setup was relatively painless, and we were done with rehearsal much earlier than we thought we would be. Everybody got the hang of it pretty quickly, and were hearing the things they wanted to hear (with a small exception – the keys which put out a very low-gain signal). My in-ears were much clearer because of the Avioms, and it was easier for me to hear some instruments that I hadn’t been able to hear clearly without dominating the rest of the in-ear mix, such as the bass guitar. It made this weekend particularly enjoyable.

Another new implementation was the click-track. I hadn’t planned on using it in the services–only for rehearsal to start getting used to the idea–but our drummer, Aaron, went for it, and we were so much tighter because of it. Click-track is one quick way to tighten your band up, because everyone is working from the same point of reference, and it removes tempo battles or the feeling that anyone has of carrying the rhythm and pace of the song. The problem many have with it is that it can dominate your thinking and you feel like a slave to the click. That is why I planned on using it for rehearsal, but not for the services. I didn’t want it to affect the services negatively. Over time, the click becomes less of a driving force, and more of a reference in your ears. It is interesting how it fades into the background over time, and you listen past it, in a way. We got to that point quicker than I expected, and I loved it. We have an awesome team here at Fellowship, and they step up to challenges in a major way.

This was the first time we tried Brumley’s “I’ll Fly Away,” which was fitting for the message this week. It was a fun way to begin the service. Our bassist this week, Ben, learned a great deal early in his playing from a mariachi musician, so he was right at home with the walking bass lines (a little-known bit of trivia there). Our electric guitarist was playing a Line 6 Variax, and switched it to a banjo setting, and it was pretty convincing. In all, I think it was a win, and we had fun doing it. I don’t imagine it was what anyone expected as they walked in this week…

After the call to worship, we went to “Glory to God Forever,” which is a really solid declaration of worship, and has a great statement of commitment to the Lord: “Take my life and let it be/ All for You and for Your glory/ Take my life and let it be Yours.” Instead of returning to the chorus at the end of the song, we return to this bridge, because this is the thought I want us to take away from this song. May we all lay our lives down for God’s glory and for His kingdom, no matter the cost. The only thing I would have changed would have been the tempo of the song, for which we set the click a little slower, and felt like it could have been faster. We changed it for the last service, and it made a big difference.

After the greeting time, we moved to “Forever Reign” and “Jesus Messiah.” “Forever Reign” is a song that Fellowship has done for a while, but it is new to me, as I mentioned last week. Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan, two fantastic songwriters, co-wrote, and it does a great job of pairing our present hope in Christ for this life with our future hope of His eternal reign. I love how it ties it all together in a simple, singable way. I especially love the bridge: “My heart will sing/ No other name/ Jesus, Jesus.” This is another song we ended up increasing tempo on in the last service, which I wish we would have done earlier.

We wrapped the message with a time of communion, where we sang Phil Wickham’s “Beautiful.” I do not know of many songs that tie creation, Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, and eternity in heaven together like this song does. The last verse sings, “When we arrive at eternity’s shore/ Where death is just a memory and tears are no more/ We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring/ Your bride will come together and we’ll sing/ You’re beautiful.” This verse helps us set our minds on heaven and gives us hope. I never get tired of singing this song. Our treatment of the song was a little more reflective than what is normal for me because of the communion time. I liked how it linked the time of communion with the message on eternity, just as Paul pointed out when he taught about the Lord’s Supper: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26).

We then closed with “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone),” which was a fitting finish to the service, as we celebrated our redemption in Christ, and the promise that we have in Him of life together forever. The last verse sings, “The earth shall soon dissolve like snow/ The sun forbear to shine/ But God, who called me here below,/ Will be forever mine.” This is one of Newton’s original verses, which were later changed to those that are more well-known. I think the original does a better job of relating our redemption to our hope in Jesus Christ, and it worked really well to set our eyes heavenward while remembering our redemption in Jesus, as we set out into our world.

It was a really enjoyable weekend, and I was on a high throughout. The combination of the message of eternal hope and the musical worship successes were really encouraging, and I am more excited than ever about where we are heading as a church, generally, and as a worship team, specifically. God is so good.

I hope you had a great time of worship wherever you were. Check out The Worship Community’s Sunday Set Lists to see what other leaders and churches experienced this week in worship.

In the Son,

Bill

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Set List, 03/05 – 03/06/11 Fellowship Bible Church

March 6, 2011

Here’s our set from this week:

Pre-Service: “Happy Day” [Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon]
Call to Worship – Psalm 66:1-4
“Hosanna (Praise is Rising)” [Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown]
Welcome/Announcements/Greeting
“You Alone Can Rescue” [Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin]
“It is Well” [Todd Fields, Horatio G. Spafford]
Message – I Believe We Respond: Salvation
Lord’s Supper – “Just As I Am” [Charlotte Elliott, William Bradbury]
Response – “Jesus Messiah” [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, and Jesse Reeves]

This was another great weekend of worship, and we continue to build momentum. People continue to participate more, and respond to worship God through music and the Word. I am also learning more about, and getting more connected with, our people and our team. I am happy with our progress, and with what is happening when we gather each week. This week we also celebrated the Lord’s Supper/communion, which is always a sweet time where we focus on remembering what God has done to redeem us. It was especially significant this week, because it followed Joe’s talk about salvation, and how we respond in faith and repentance to what Jesus Christ has done for us.

We repeated “Happy Day” in the pre-service section again this week, because it is still fairly new to our people, and because it was particularly fitting for the focus this week. I enjoy this song, if only for the fact that it is simple and happy song of thanksgiving for what Christ has done. It sings of the gospel clearly in a celebrative way, and I think that is the song’s greatest value. We followed the call to worship with “Hosanna (Praise is Rising),” which is a great song to follow the call to worship. It has a feeling of preparation and entering into God’s presence, and sings clearly of some of the proper motives and responses in worship: “Hosanna, Hosanna/ You are the God who saves us/ Worthy of all our praises/ Hosanna, Hosanna/ Come have your way among us/ We welcome You here, Lord Jesus.”

We also continued teaching “You Alone Can Rescue,” and our people took hold of it more. It was a great fit for our focus this weekend, as we focused on how salvation is the work of God alone, and we place our trust and confidence in His finished work. I love this song. It’s not the music that makes it exciting, either. It is purely the lyric of this song that is overwhelming. Jesus is our only rescue. This will be a song that the church sings for a while.

We brought back Todd Fields’ arrangement of “It Is Well,” which is one of my favorite modern hymn arrangements. He preserved the melody of Horatio Spafford’s original, but added a fitting chorus which captures the spirit of the song well. It serves as a strong declaration of confidence and hope in Christ, through anything that we experience in this life. The guitar part that Fields has written is really interesting, too, which only adds to the value of this song. When we come to the original chorus at the end of the song, it is beautiful to hear the congregation singing out so strongly.

We used the great hymn “Just As I Am” for the time during the Lord’s Supper, and we arranged it in a Sufjan Stevens-ish kind of way–with a slow swing to it, organ with Leslie on it, and minimal percussion. It was another great fit for the focus this weekend. I was unsure of how we would arrange it going into the weekend, but the team came up with some nice ideas and instrumentation to make it work nicely.

We finished the weekend off with “Jesus Messiah,” which was perfect. I cannot claim credit for this one, because it was the result of some changes late in the planning, and I needed a song to plug the hole, and thought this would work. It connected with Joe’s message in more ways than I can count, and coming out of the Lord’s Supper only added to its impact. The more I sing this song, the more I enjoy it and its message.

It was a great weekend, and I’m excited about how things continue here with Fellowship Bible Church!

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were!

Bill

Sunday Set Lists

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