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Set List, 06/25 – 06/26/11 Fellowship Bible Church

June 26, 2011

This weekend, we focused on the idea of eternal reward, coming from Philippians 3:12-16. It builds off of last weekend’s message, where Joe talked about finding no confidence or comparison in the flesh, but only finding confidence and the standard for comparison in Jesus Christ. Everything in this world will fade and pass away, except for God, His Word, and people, and those areas are where we need to prioritize our efforts and our energy. We need to “press on” toward knowing Christ more completely, and loving Him wholeheartedly.

Here’s our song list from this weekend:

Pre-Service – “Unleashed” (F#m) [Warren Barfield]
Call To Worship – Jeremiah 9:23-24
“Your Grace Is Enough” (G) [Matt Maher]
Welcome/ Offering/ Announcements/ Greeting time
“Forever Reign” (Bb) [Jason Ingram, Reuben Morgan]
“Lord of All” (Bb) [Kristian Stanfill]
“How Great Is Our God” [Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash]
Message – “An Appraisal of Rewards” [David Hinkle]
Response – “I Will Boast” (D) [Paul Baloche]
Dismissal
Post-Service – “You’re The Only One” (Em) [Bill Horn]

This was a fun week in terms of the music. Over the past few months, I have gathered that much of our congregation responds to and enjoys songs that have a groove to them, like “Those Who Trust,” so I decided to experiment a little bit, take a chance this weekend, and see what happened.

“Unleashed” – A few weeks back we did this as a post-service song on a Sunday, and it went over pretty well, so we decided to try it in the pre-service this week. I love the feel of this song. It has some really fun parts for our musicians, and it communicates a simple truth that God’s love is overwhelming and completely fills us. I love the image of God “unleashing” His love on us, like He was holding back a massive wave, and eventually let it loose on us. I’m not sure the congregation quite knew what to do with this one in the first two services. I was more specific before the Sunday services that this song was for us to prepare our hearts and ready our minds for worship. It was fun to play, but I’m not sure if we’ll do it again. I will be looking to the rest of our pastoral and leadership team for feedback on that one.

“Your Grace Is Enough” – I don’t think much needs to be said about this song. It is simple and clear, and celebrates the grace of God in a great way. Our congregation connects with it and knows it well, and it is a great way to start the service. We prefaced this song with the passage from Jeremiah 9:23-24 where God speaks of boasting and the only proper object of boasting: “let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth” (ESV). I think the word translated as “steadfast love” is referring to God’s grace and faithful love toward us, and it was a great way to focus our hearts in preparation for this first song.

“Forever Reign” – This was the first time we did this song in Bb together since I arrived here (last time I tried to sing it in Ab, and it was incredibly low in the verses!). This song is a staple for our church, and I have become a big fan of it over the last few months. The verses and chorus were a great connection (more than I realized initially) between the way we began, with “Unleashed” and “Your Grace Is Enough,” to where we were going, focusing on the unique worth and glory of Jesus as the Lord of lords and King of kings. He is all we need, and He is the only one we should be exalting with our lives, first because of who He is, and furthermore because of what He has done in redeeming us through His cross and resurrection. I particularly love the bridge as it sings, “My heart will sing/ No other name/ Jesus, Jesus.” Because of the gospel of Jesus, this should be the truth of our hearts. May that be the case!

“Lord of All” – It’s been a few weeks since we’ve sung this song, but it remains a favorite of mine. Our congregation connects with it well. I have maintained that this is a song that the Church needs to sing, because it not only emphasizes the glory, power, and worth of Jesus, but it also draws attention to His judgment and wrath, which is not a frequent occurrence in worship music throughout the Church’s history. I believe that this is a major emphasis in Scripture, and therefore part of God’s glory that ought to be praised. I understand the fact that God’s judgment is infrequently mentioned because it’s not always a pleasant thought, to think that God will judge. However, this attribute of God also points to His greatness and His perfect power. As Scripture frequently points out, who will question God? Who will tell Him what to do? Who made the heavens? Who created man? Will the created one try and tell the Creator what to do? No. God is almighty, and none can match His power and His glory.

“How Great is Our God” – We haven’t done this song in a while, but it’s a song that we can all get our hearts around and that we can sing well. We tried something a little different at the end of the song, and the ladies on the team sang the chorus of “Lord of All” while I sang the chorus of “How Great is Our God” (they have the same progression). It was pretty cool to hear them both together, because they communicate very similar ideas about God’s greatness, power, and unique worth.

“I Will Boast” – Because David was focusing partly on Jeremiah 9:23-24, he asked if we could do this song as a response. I think it was very fitting, because we are tempted to think that many things in our lives are worth boasting about, but Jesus is the only thing worth boasting about. My youth pastor, James, used to say something to the effect of, “Let’s brag on Jesus.” Word.

“You’re The Only One” – This is the most recent song that I have written, and it is the first time we’ve done it together here at Fellowship. We did it in the post-service time, partly to introduce it into our church. It had particular meaning to sing on Sunday, because one of our people here, a man named David Decker, was killed in a motorcycle accident last night due to another driver’s error at an intersection. David is the father of two boys. The lyric of this song comes primarily from Psalm 139, which talks about the Lord’s presence everywhere. We cannot escape His sight or His presence. No matter what we are experiencing, He is there, and He is with us.

You’re The Only One
Bill Horn

VERSE 1
In the shadows, in the empty, in the darkness,
You are near, You are here
In the trial, in the fire, in the pain,
You are with me, You are with me

PRE-CHORUS 1
I won’t be afraid
I won’t be afraid

CHORUS
You’re the only one who hears me when I call
You’re the only one to catch me when I fall

VERSE 2
In the quiet, in the silence, in the whispers
You are listening, Lord, You hear me
In the hopeless, in the helpless, in the hurting,
You are life, You are the light

PRE-CHORUS 2
Your love never fails
Your love never fails

BRIDGE
The dark is like the light to You
And night as bright as day
Wherever I go, You remain

May we all be keenly aware of His presence with us in all circumstances. May God’s presence be known in suffering, in the suffering of two boys who lost their father, and in the suffering of two parents who lost their son last night. Jesus is a High Priest who understands and sympathizes with us, and can minister better than anyone to our needs. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16 ESV).

I hope you had a great day of worship wherever you were, and that Jesus was lifted high like He deserves to be! I’m a part of The Worship Community, and you should check it out.

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 04/30 – 05/01/11 Fellowship Bible Church

May 1, 2011

This weekend in worship, we began a new series, The Appraisal of All Things. In it, we are digging into the epistle of Philippians, where Paul communicates with the church at Philippi about what matters most. Our set for the series involves a junked 40′s International truck and rusty tin, along with some junkyard images on our sidewalls. The thinking was that we are portraying things that were once very valuable, but now they are worthless pieces of junked rust. Paul said that he counted the things of this world “rubbish” in comparison to the joy of knowing Jesus Christ. Our hope through this series is for our church to put things in proper perspective, and “appraise” their worth in comparison to the matchless worth of Jesus.

Here’s our set from this weekend:

“All Because Of Jesus” (Bb) [Steve Fee]
Call to Worship – Psalm 63:3-5
“Marvelous Light” (B) [Charlie Hall]
Welcome/Offering/Announcements/Greeting Time
“Your Grace Is Enough” (G) [Matt Maher]
“Son of God” (G) [Jon Neufeld, Tim Neufeld, Ed Cash, Gordon Cochran]
“Wonderful Maker” (G) [Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin]
Message – “The Appraisal of All Things: He Who Began a Good Work in You” [Joe Hishmeh]
Response – “From the Inside Out” (C) [Joel Houston] 

(This will be a brief recap, because I am about to leave on a 23-hour road trip to visit friends and family in Florida.)

Because the thrust of Joe’s message was going to be on Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (ESV), I went with the theme of God creating us–both in the beginning and through Christ. Along these lines, we opened our services with “All Because of Jesus,” which emphasizes how the Lord is the giver and sustainer of physical life, as well as how He is the giver and sustainer of spiritual life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was exactly the angle I was going for in our theme for worship this weekend.

During the call to worship we tried something new (it was new to me, too), and began to teach our congregation about different Biblical expressions of worship, mostly described in the Psalms. This weekend, we taught our congregation about lifting their hands in worship. I read from Psalm 63:3-5, which ends by stating, “So I will bless You as long as I live; In Your name I will lift up my hands” (ESV). I had them raise one hand while we prayed together, just as a way to practice the expression in a non-threatening environment, where everyone was doing it together. I could tell that some people felt a little awkward, but it was a learning moment, and I believe it was healthy for our congregation. The idea of going through the Biblical expressions of worship with a congregation was not original from me–I got the idea from Paul Baloche at a worship conference in Florida. I thought it was a brilliant way to expand a church’s horizons and give them more understanding of ways that they can Biblically express themselves to God. I will keep you updated about how it progresses.

After the call to worship, we jumped into “Marvelous Light,” to declare how we have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of Jesus—the kingdom of light. The chorus is always powerful: “Into marvelous light I’m running/ Out of darkness, out of shame/ By the cross You are the truth, You are the life, You are the way.” My favorite part of the song, however, is the pre-chorus, which sings, “Sin has lost its power/ Death has lost its sting/ From the grave You’ve risen/ Victoriously!” When we go strong on that part after the instrumental break, I am always pumped up. Does our celebration in Christ get wrapped up much more succinctly? I can’t think of a lyric that says it better.

For the second set, we sang “Your Grace Is Enough,” “Son of God,” and “Wonderful Maker.” “Your Grace Is Enough” is a staple, and very familiar with our people. For years, I sang Chris Tomlin’s version of the song, which adds the variations of the chorus at the end. Only recently, as I have tried to make the songs we sing more accessible for congregations, have I sung Matt Maher’s version, without the additional choruses. I feel it is easier for people to sing with the original choruses, and the additional ones can be somewhat confusing because the rhythm of the lyric changes somewhat. If we are trying to get our people to engage and participate, I believe the original choruses are the way to go.

We also continued teaching Starfield’s “Son of God,” which continues to gain strength in our congregation. The simple melody, and clear and concise lyric connects well. We will continue teaching it for one more week, and then give it a break for a few weeks to bring it back later as a refresher. The focus of the song fits well with Philippians, so it will probably make a few appearances over the next 16 weeks or so as we journey through the book.

We finished this set with “Wonderful Maker,” which was part of a revolution in my thinking regarding worship music. Until I encountered this song, I was drawn to the emotional songs that focused on how I felt and what I needed. When I first heard this song, I was confronted with a song that has only one occurrence of first person, when it sings, “And we have only heard/ The faintest whispers of how great You are.” The rest of the song speaks only of God, His greatness, and His goodness. It was refreshing, to say the least, and it challenged my priorities in worship. Was I participating only for what I could get out of it? Was my worship selfish or self-centered? Or was I doing it only because the Godhead is worthy of all my praise and glory? These questions made me reevaluate my choices regarding worship and the way I led worship through music. As a result, I try to spend the majority of our worship time focusing on God–who He is and what He has done—and less time worrying about us. Worship is about God. He is worthy of my praise, no matter what I am dealing with or think I need. He has paid the price for our redemption and rescue, and He is ultimately more valuable than anything, or anyone, else.

We responded to Joe’s message about God’s “good work” in us by singing “From The Inside Out,” which is another well-known song for Fellowship. I love the dynamics of this song, how it builds from quiet reflection on our weaknesses to committed, sincere praise to the everlasting God, the one whose worth and power never diminishes.

The recurring themes throughout this weekend’s music were Jesus’ surpassing worth and creative activity. It was time well spent.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were. Be sure to check out The Worship Community to see what other believers experienced in their worship gatherings this past weekend.

I will be out this next week on vacation, so I won’t have a set list for next weekend. I may have our Next Gen worship leader, Erik Oldberg (he doesn’t know it yet), put some of his thoughts down from leading the weekend services for me.

In the Son,

Bill

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Set List, 04/16 – 04/17/11 Fellowship Bible Church

April 17, 2011

Palm Sunday weekend (we had to tag “weekend” onto it because of our weekend services–we landed there after a little bit of discussion…) is one that brings mixed feelings. On one hand, we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as Messiah and King. On the other hand, we see our fickleness as humans, where one day we are praising Him as King, and later that same week we are calling for His death. At the same moment we recognize Jesus’ supremacy and power and worth; along with our own weakness, foolishness, and wickedness. Planning for this weekend, we tried to emphasize the real focus of this moment: the Messiah has come to save us! Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and He is our only hope. Each of our songs this week pointed in some way to Christ as Messiah or King.

Here’s our set from this weekend:

Pre-Service – “God Is Alive” (A) [Steve Fee, Eddie Kirkland]
Call to Worship – Matthew 21:6-9
“Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)” (G) [Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown]
Welcome/Offering/Announcements/Greeting time
“Hosanna” (G) [Brooke Fraser, arr. by Starfield]
“Our God” (G) [Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and Jesse Reeves]
“Son Of God” (G) [Jon Neufeld, Tim Neufeld, Ed Cash, and Gordon Cochran]
Message – “The Heroic Rescue of Humanity: The Messiah” [Joe Hishmeh]
Response – “Lord Of All” (Bb) [Kristian Stanfill]

This weekend we sang “God Is Alive” for the second time. It seemed like the song caught on a little better this time, and people were participating more, even though the song was still slated in the pre-service time slot. Much of the congregation was clapping and singing together. I was a little unsure of the song’s reception last week when we introduced it, but the response this weekend was encouraging. I’m looking forward to using this song on Easter, because the lyric is perfect for the occasion.

After the call to worship, we moved to Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown’s “Hosanna (Praise Is Rising),” which is a perfect fit for Palm Sunday weekend. The chorus echoes the statements made by the disciples and fans of Jesus as He entered into Jerusalem, but restates them while being informed by our Christian understanding of the person and the work of Christ: “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.” That word, Hosanna, literally means “come save us now,” and it was what the people of Israel were crying out to Jesus as He entered in as King. However, they didn’t really know what they were asking. They didn’t really know what they needed. They were asking for deliverance and salvation from Roman rule in their lives. They were asking for less than what God intended for the Messiah. What they really needed was deliverance from sin and death, and restoration to God. Joe shared this idea in a powerful way this weekend. We can either trust in Christ as our Messiah, or we can seek deliverance our own way by trusting in worthless idols–”substitute Saviors.”

Following the welcome time, we kicked off the second worship set with Brooke Fraser’s “Hosanna.” This week we did a variation of Starfield’s performance of the song, which is suited better for my vocal. I like their treatment of the song, and how they gave it a little more overall energy, which serves a little better toward the top of a worship set.

Next we moved to “Our God,” which has become a staple for us. The concept of this song fits very well with Luke’s account of the triumphal entry, as he wrote that “the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen” (Luke 19:37). The verses of “Our God” align perfectly with that, as they sing, “Water You turned into wine/ Opened the eyes of the blind/ There’s no one like You/ None like You/ Into the darkness You shine/ Out of the ashes we rise/ There’s no one like You/ None like You.” The rest of the song sings of the Lord’s great power and ability to rescue, and when He is for us, there is nothing that can stand against us. It was a great fit for Palm Sunday weekend.

We finished the second worship set with “Son of God,” which is new to our congregation. I sang this song once when I came the church to lead as a guest, but it was completely new here. This week was the first week in which we’ll be teaching this song, and we will pick up teaching it after Easter weekend. I love this song because it presents Jesus in many respects, such as Creator, Savior, Lord, and promised Messiah. It proclaims His surpassing worth and greatness, along with His love and forgiveness for us. While very simple, it covers a lot of ground, and shows how Jesus, from beginning to end, is King. It declares His worth and how He deserves our worship in everything. Here’s the lyric:

“Son of God”

Verse 1
Son of God, Shaper of the stars
You alone the dweller of my heart
Mighty King, how beautiful You are
How beautiful

Son of God, the Father’s gift to us
You alone were broken on the altar of love
Precious Lamb, our freedom’s in Your blood
It’s in Your blood

Chorus
Jesus, O Holy One
I sing to You, forgiven
Savior, I’m overcome
With Your great love for me

Verse 2
Song of God, strength beyond compare
You alone, the darkness cannot bear
Lord of love, Your kindness draws me near
It draws me near

Son of God, prophecy of old
You alone, Redeemer of my soul
Come again and lead Your people home
Come lead us home

Bridge
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

We finished the service with one of my favorite songs, “Lord of All.” I have discussed this song at length in the past, but suffice it to say that I believe this song is one that the Church needs to sing. It declares the power, glory, and victory of Jesus, the King of kings. It proclaims the truth of Philippians 2:10-11: “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” It does this with strength and truth, and I have never regretted singing this song in corporate worship. I don’t think we, as the body of Christ, can sing this truth enough.

On a technical note, we continued using the click track and the Aviom system, and it continues to be a great asset to our team. We are consistently tighter as a band, and it cuts lots of time from our rehearsals as an added benefit. Stephen, our drummer, had never played with a click before, and he did a fantastic job operating it and sticking with it. I have given more responsibility to our drummers, as they not only have to play their instrument, but now they also have to make the tempo adjustments to our click track (which every band member hears), and start and stop it at the appropriate times. I continue to be impressed with our team as we challenge ourselves to get better at what we do, so that we might serve our congregation better. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve with this awesome team.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were. Be sure to check out The Worship Community to see what other leaders and team members planned and experienced this week in their worship services.

Hosanna! Glory to God in the highest.

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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Set List, 02/26 – 02/27/11 Fellowship Bible Church

February 27, 2011

Here’s our set from this weekend:

“All Because of Jesus” (A) [Steve Fee]
Call to Worship
“Happy Day” (Bb) [Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon]
Welcome/Announcements/Greeting Time
“Jesus Messiah” (G) [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves]
“You Alone Can Rescue” (Bb) [Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman]
“Jesus Paid It All” (Bb) [John Thomas Grape, Elvina M. Hall, Alex Nifong]
Message – “I Believe God Acted – Redemption” [David Hinkle]
Response – “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” (Eb) [Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, John Newton, Edwin O. Excell, John P. Rees]

I feel like this week was another step forward for our team and our congregation. We took more steps to make it easier to participate – we brought some songs down to a lower key, and we were more intentional about teaching new material. It seemed like there was more participation overall in each of the four services, which is exciting and encouraging. The team felt locked-in (most of the time), and I felt like we were engaged in worship as we were leading the congregation, as well.

We brought “All Because of Jesus” down to the key of A from the usual key of B, and we brought “Happy Day” down to Bb from B. Both were good moves, as the people sang out more on both. When I took a close look at the lead sheets this week, I noticed that both of these songs had parts of the melody that went well beyond the range of the “normal” voice, from C to C. We brought them both down to get them close. They still weren’t entirely in the desired range, but if we lowered them much more, the verses would bottom out! That’s one of the biggest problems with some modern worship songs – the low verses and high choruses make it difficult to get them into a normal person’s vocal range. We’ll keep working on it, though!

“Jesus Messiah” is one of the 21 songs we have done more than five times over the past year, and therefore is one that I would be safe in saying we know as a congregation. It showed as people sang it out and connected with God through it. I love the lyric of this song, as it really declares the gospel clearly, and finishes it all off with the simple, powerful bridge: “All our hope is in You/ All our hope is in You/ All the glory to You, God/ The Light of the world.” Jesus is our only hope of salvation. Enough said.

Also, this week we introduced “You Alone Can Rescue” by Jonas Myrin and Matt Redman. When I initially heard this song done live by Matt Redman, I was very excited about it, but when I heard the recorded version, I was a little underwhelmed, so I put it off for a while. However, when Matt led at Student Life in Daytona this past summer, I was reminded again how powerful this song is. It is a simple lyric, but proclaims a powerful truth – that Jesus is the only one who can save us. Here’s the lyric:

Verse 1
Who, O Lord, could save themselves
Their own soul could heal
Our shame was deeper than the sea
Your grace is deeper still

Chorus
And You alone can rescue, You alone can save
You alone can lift us from the grave
You came down to find us, led us out of death
To You alone belongs the highest praise

Verse 2
You, O Lord, have made a way
The great divide You healed
For when our hearts were far away
Your love went further still
Yes, Your love goes further still

Bridge
We lift up our eyes, lift up our eyes
You’re the giver of life
We lift up our eyes, lift up our eyes
You’re the giver of life

Even typing the lyric of this song is bringing me to tears. What a beautiful expression of confidence in Christ alone for our rescue and salvation. We have no hope apart from Him! His humble, loving sacrifice is the only way for us to be rescued; the fact that He chose to redeem us at such a great cost to Himself is overwhelming. This song brings this into clear focus, and is a beautiful expression of thanksgiving and recognition of the work of Jesus Christ to save us. He, and He alone, is the one who can rescue, who can save us, who can lift us from the grave. This is because He is the one who came down to find us a lead us out of death. Scripture says that Jesus’ efforts to rescue us are the reason God has given Him the name above every name (Philippians 2). I know this is the reason I worship Him. He is so good, while I am still so undeserving of it. My life is completely dependent on His grace and finished work of the cross.

We bracketed the message about our redemption with Alex Nifong’s arrangement of “Jesus Paid It All” and Tomlin’s “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).” These two songs never get old to me, because there is beauty in the simplicity of their declarations. I never tire of singing, “O praise the One who paid my debt/ And raised this life up from the dead.” On “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” Kelsey Thomsen and I traded off on the verse. She did a great job leading, and I think it facilitated a very powerful moment of worship, especially after David’s weighty message about our redemption. I loved his words about what God has done to rescue us! We owe it all to Jesus Christ, who made a way where there was no way.

I love my church, and I am very excited about what is going on around here. We are learning and growing together, and we are pursuing Jesus Christ and His gospel. Jesus, and His work to redeem us, was truly lifted high this weekend. I am so grateful for how He has rescued us. He is truly my only hope!

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

Jesus alone is worthy!

Bill

Sunday Set Lists

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