Posts Tagged ‘You Alone Can Rescue’

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Set List, 04/07 – 04/08/12 – Easter – Fellowship Bible Church

April 10, 2012

This Easter, our church relocated temporarily to the Topeka Performing Arts Center to accommodate as many guests as possible (we ended up hosting around 3800 people this weekend!). Last year, we had to do six services, but the attendance was not evenly distributed – more than half of our people wanted to attend at two of the six service times, and we were cramped for space (our building holds around 690). At Christmas Eve last year, we ended up turning people away, which is something we never want to do again if we can help it. We always want an open door and an open seat for people to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ!

It was amazing to see the team come together to make this happen for the weekend. It was a ton of work, and my tech director, Wyatt Johnston, did a fantastic job of navigating the difficulties of relocation. Each of the people who regularly lead for our services led together for both services. That was something that was a priority to me, and I am thankful that it worked out that everyone could participate. There’s nothing like leading worship together with friends! I am so grateful for our church and for our team. Jesus was exalted this weekend! You can listen to the entire message here.

Here’s our service plan from this weekend:

Video – “An Easter Story”
Pre-Service Song – “Our God’s Alive” (Em) [Andy Cherry, Jason Ingram, Dan Muckala]
“Sing to the King” (E) [Billy Foote, Charles Sylvester Horne]
Welcome/Greeting Time – David Hinkle
Call To Worship – from Philippians 2
“Happy Day” (B) [Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon]
Video – “The White Board Gospel”
“You Have Overcome” (A) [Bill Horn, Erik Oldberg]
“You Alone Can Rescue” (B) [Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin]
“Jesus Paid It All” (B) [John T. Grape, Elvina M. Hall, Alex Nifong]
Video – “Alive”
Message – “Everyone” [Joe Hishmeh]
“Christ Is Risen” (Gb) [Matt Maher, Mia Fieldes]
Offering/Announcements
Dismissal


“Our God’s Alive” - This song served as our countdown song this week. It was an awesome song to open our Easter services with. It is an anthem that really set the tone for how we wanted to celebrate the resurrection.

“Sing to the King” – Led by Becky Tindell and Sarah Oldberg, this was our opening song. It is one of our church’s favorites, and it really communicates the hope we have in Jesus. Also, this is a song that the children are singing in The Mountain (our children’s ministry, led by Erik Oldberg). Our children from ages 3 and up were in our services this weekend, so it was important to us to do some songs that they would know as well. This is a great song that served the purpose of reaching everyone in the room.

“Happy Day” - Erik Oldberg led us on this song. This is another staple for our congregation and for our children, so it was another song that reached our whole congregation. As we sang this song, there was a tremendous amount of energy in the room. It was exciting to be a part of it!

“You Have Overcome” - This is the new original song that we introduced to our congregation last weekend in preparation for this weekend. Our congregation is connecting with it, and singing it well together. The link in the title takes you to the post where I discussed the song in further detail and where you can also download the charts for the song. It is a straightforward song about how Jesus has overcome sin and death, and has therefore redeemed us, giving us life and hope.

“You Alone Can Rescue” – Sarah Oldberg and I led on this song. This remains one of my favorite worship songs. I love how it declares our prior condition and where we stand now because of Christ’s death and resurrection for us. He “came down to find us, and led us out of death!”

“Jesus Paid It All” - Each of us led a portion of this song, which is another one of our congregation’s favorites. The ending was powerful and beautiful as we sang out the bridge, “O praise the One who paid my debt/ And raised this life up from the dead” a cappella. This moment in each of our services was one of the highlights of the weekend for me.

“Christ Is Risen” - We responded to Joe’s message with this song. This is one of my favorites for Easter. I love the chorus especially: “Christ is risen from the dead/ Trampling over death by death/ Come awake, come awake/ Come and rise up from the grave.” It’s a powerful thing for the church to sing this together. Jesus has conquered sin and death. And we will participate in that victory. All praise and honor and glory to Jesus!

The bottom line? This weekend was amazing. I am so overwhelmed what we experienced together. It was the Easter service that I had always dreamt of. I couldn’t have asked for a more special weekend. Easter is definitely my favorite time of the year in terms of leading the church in worship. We have no greater reason to sing than the fact that Jesus has overcome sin and death for us!

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

In the Son,
Bill

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

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Set List, 02/25 – 02/26/12 Fellowship Bible Church

February 26, 2012

This weekend, we continued our Romans series, focusing on Romans 9:30 – 10:4. In his message, Joe preached about God’s sovereignty, and how we need to be zealous for the things that last and the things that matter. Ultimately, those things are God, His Word, and people. It is easy to lose sight of those things, and to get caught up in things that don’t last and don’t matter. One of those things is our own attempts at making ourselves righteous before God, which we really cannot do. We cannot justify ourselves on our own merit. We need the redemption that is only found in the finished work of Jesus Christ. You can listen to the entire message here.

Here’s our service plan from this weekend:

“The Solid Rock” (E) [Trent Austin, William B. Bradbury, Kendall Combs, Charlie Hall, Edward Mote]
Welcome/Greeting Time
Call To Worship
 “Nothing But The Blood” (D) [Robert Lowry, with additional bridge by Andy Cherry]
“Happy Day” (Bb) [Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon]
“You Alone Can Rescue” (Bb) [Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin]
“Rock Of Ages” (Bb) [Thomas Hastings, Augustus M. Toplady]
Time of Reflection/Prayer
Message – “Romans 9:30 – 10:4″ [Joe Hishmeh]
Offering/Announcements
Dismissal


“The Solid Rock” – We sang this modern arrangement of a timeless hymn as our opening song this weekend, to point to the only solid foundation we can have for our eternal life – Jesus Christ. It is only in His complete and finished work on the cross that we have salvation and hope for eternity. We can depend on nothing else. The gospel is Jesus plus nothing. We are completely incapable of saving ourselves. Jesus is the only way of salvation for us. As this great hymn says in the chorus, “all other ground is sinking sand.”

“Nothing But The Blood” – This is another modern hymn arrangement, done by a newer artist, Andy Cherry. He was one of the worship leaders at the Re:Create Conference I attended a few weeks ago in Nashville, and his label shared a pre-release album with all of us. This was one of the songs we sang with him while we were at the conference, and I loved how his treatment of the song really captured the power and confidence of the lyric, along with a great added chorus, which sings, “The blood of Jesus is enough for me/ Oh, the blood of Jesus is enough.” You can hear his rendition of this song streaming on his website. I really encourage you to pick up his whole album when it is released in March. It was produced by Jason Ingram, and many of the songs were co-written by Ingram. I’m really enjoying it!

“Happy Day” - This song is a staple for our church, and it was a great fit for the subject matter of this weekend, as we declare that it is Jesus alone who saves us and rescues us from sin and death. We had no hope apart from Him, so there is great cause for celebration because of what He has done for us. We have been made alive together with Christ!

“You Alone Can Rescue” – We sang this song this weekend because it states the major truth of this weekend simply and clearly: Jesus alone can rescue us. There is no other way for us to be saved, nor is there any other way to eternal life. He is our salvation and our hope, and we cannot save ourselves. There is great freedom in declaring this truth together, because it frees us from the delusion that we can do anything to affect our eternal destination; it is only because of Jesus that we have life.

“Rock of Ages” – When I first heard Ascend The Hill’s rendition of this song on their hymns album (Take The World, But Give Me Jesus), I was incredibly moved. It is such a desperate cry of dependence on the finished work of Christ for us. I think the lyric and the melody do a good job of communicating that desperation and hopelessness apart from Christ’s death on the cross in our place. What a beautiful song! Other than my guitar going really out of tune on this song during the last service, it went really well. We had a time of quiet reflection after this song, where we confessed areas of our life where we weren’t trusting God, and where we’ve tried to find our hope and joy in things other than Him. He is our only source of true hope, joy, and peace. We need to depend on Him and trust Him fully, because He will not disappoint our hope in Him.

This weekend was a good weekend overall. We tried some different things with our service order, in order to try and simplify the flow of our services: we set up a countdown at the beginning of the services that included some key memory verses from our study through the book of Romans; we took out the response song and moved that time earlier in our service; and we also moved a song to the start of the time as a definitive start to each of the services. We had been doing a “Time of Preparation” prior to our services, with the hopes that people would take advantage of that time to prepare their hearts for meeting with the Lord together and to have some quiet time after the hustle of getting themselves and their families to the service. What we found, however, was that it served to muddy the actual “start time” of our services, and people were actually showing up later, not earlier. Regardless, I am in favor of occasionally changing things around in order for us not to become too attached to any kind of order or flow of a service. We often tend to pay less attention to things when we think we know what is coming next.

I am thankful for the opportunities we had this weekend to glorify our Savior. I am so grateful for the sacrifice He made for us, and for how He has rescued us. He is worthy of all praise and honor and glory, with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. He 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, 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, 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 Lists, 06/18 – 06/19/11 Fellowship Bible Church

June 19, 2011

(once again, WordPress logged me out midway through my draft, so this is mostly a second try, so I may miss a few things…)

This weekend, we focused on Philippians 3:1-11 for a message on “An Appraisal of Worth and Identity.” From this passage, Joe pointed out that we are to place no confidence in our flesh (the things of this world by which we might try to identify ourselves) and we are to compare our lives and the stuff of life against Jesus Christ and His “surpassing worth” (3:8 ESV). Nothing we have to offer—nothing we have done—even comes close to comparing with the worth of Jesus. Our salvation is completely dependent on who He is and what He has done.  Paul says it this way, “not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil. 3:9 ESV). In the music this weekend, we focused completely on the gospel, recognizing our complete inability to save ourselves, and the unique ability and work of Christ to rescue us and to give us life. We are completely dependent on Him for salvation and eternal life, hence the repeating themes of “nothing but the blood of Jesus,” “You alone can rescue,” and “I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord.” Jesus Christ is all we have!

Here’s our set from this weekend:

“All Because of Jesus” (Bb) [Steve Fee]
Call to Worship – Psalm 86:8-10
“I Stand Amazed” (G) [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
Welcome/Greeting Time/Offering
“Nothing But The Blood (Your Blood)” (Bb) [Matt Redman] / Child Dedication (at Sunday 10:45 AM service only)
“Always” (Bb) [Kristian Stanfill, Jason Ingram]
“You Alone Can Rescue” (Bb) [Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin]
Message – “An Appraisal of Worth and Identity” [Joe Hishmeh]
Response – “Nothing But The Blood” (G) [Robert Lowry]

“All Because of Jesus” - This song is a strong declaration and reminder of where our real life comes from: Jesus Christ. It is only because of Him that we are alive. We have life in Him alone. As the verse says, even the breath that we breathe is a gift from God. We are completely dependent on Him, from beginning to end. As James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” Everything that is truly good is from God, and Him alone. Therefore, no one else is worthy of our devotion, our worship, or our glory.

“I Stand Amazed” - Like many hymns (think “It Is Well”), this one speaks to the past, the present reality, and future of our faith – our condemnation, our redemption, and our glorification in Christ. I believe that is what is so timeless about many hymns. It is a song that just revels in the amazing love of God for us. It is truly marvelous, and we should never get beyond a state of wonder when we think of it.

“Nothing But The Blood (Your Blood)”  – YouTube- I love how Matt Redman took the thought from Robert Lowry’s hymn and reworked it into this song. The concepts of placing no confidence in the things of this world and of the blood of Jesus “[speaking] a better word/ than all the empty claims/ I’ve heard upon this earth” and “[speaking] righteousness for me/ and [standing] in my defense” are beautiful and powerful.

I also love the Brazilian version of this song, done by Fernandinho (the Brazilian equivalent of Chris Tomlin), “Nada Além do Sangue.” I first heard this on my last trip to Brazil in 2009, when I joined my friends on the worship team of Igreja da Paz in Santarém, located in the Amazon River basin in the Brazilian state Pará. They let me join in leading with them for their Sunday services (all SEVEN), and it was an amazing experience, one of the highlights of my life. You can get a glimpse of what their services are like Igreja da Paz Central. They let me lead “Poder Pra Salvar” (“Mighty to Save,” one of the few that I can actually sing in Portuguese…), and we also did this song, which has a very cool bridge part in Portuguese, and it drives me crazy that it doesn’t really work in English. In Portuguese, it sings “Eu so livre,” which translates into English as “I am alive.” I love the melody of that part, and how it simply sums up the result of what Christ has done. The best I have come up with is to simply sing the melody with no words, and then to repeat, “Nothing but Your blood…” This song makes me miss my friends in Brazil.

“Always” - This was our third week teaching this song to our congregation. You can read more about my thoughts on the song here. The congregation is definitely learning the song, and we are singing it out more together. We will let the song rest a few weeks and then we’ll bring it back to see it with fresh eyes. This is now part of what I would call, “our worship vocabulary,” or basically the songs that we know together as Fellowship Bible Church (a little bit of strategy here…).  I think each worship leader needs to know what is the vocabulary of his context, and needs to be careful to teach the congregation he serves new songs intentionally and with a plan, so that they have a chance to know it and to own it, rather than just singing from the screen or wherever else they see the lyrics. In our church, we want the projection to be a backup plan rather than a crutch. We want our congregation to sing from their hearts, and to have the screen as a backup if they forget the words. We teach a new song at least three consecutive weeks to make this a possibility. I think many modern worship leaders, myself included, underestimate how many times our people need to hear a song before they know it. We wonder, “Why do they sing older song so well?” The answer: they have heard those songs hundreds of times, even if they didn’t attend church gatherings in their youth. It is likely that the newer songs we use are only heard in the context of our worship gatherings. So, they only hear it/sing it as often as we lead it in our worship gatherings. I think it is valuable to any worship leader to assess how many times our people have sung each song, and to be intentional about teaching our people the songs we sing, as I said earlier.

“You Alone Can Rescue” – This song was a great fit for the message this weekend, as it emphasizes that we are incapable of saving ourselves, and that only Jesus can rescue us. I also liked how this song tied together with “Always,” in referring to the passage from Psalm 121:1-2, “I lift my eyes up to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” This song is a simple, powerful declaration of confidence in the work of Christ on our behalf. I love it!

We taught this song a few months ago, and it was time to bring it back, especially for this message. I love how the congregation responds when they really know a song, and it was obvious that they knew this one as we sang it together. This is the fruit of what I mentioned above. We spent the time to learn this song together, and now, whenever we bring it back into our services, our people know it, and can sing it wholeheartedly. This, I believe, is one of our goals as congregational worship leaders. We want our people to be able to sing with sincerity, and that only happens when they really know, from experience, what they are singing. They have heard it, they have seen it, and they have sung it, and they remember it. It’s a beautiful thing.

“Nothing But The Blood” - This is one of my favorite hymns. The simple truth that there is no other pardon for sin than in the blood of Jesus Christ, tied to the truth that there is no forgiveness for sins without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). During the fourth service, a thought occurred to me: how many times did I sing this song while still having confidence in my own good works as it relates to my standing before God? How many of us have done this? We cannot sing this song honestly if we are still clinging to our own good works before God—we could not sing, “Nothing can for sin atone/ Nothing but the blood of Jesus/ Naught of good that I have done/ Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” May each of our hearts be able to sing this with honesty. I stand on nothing but the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who died in my place for my sins, who reconciled me to God, who made a way where there was no way, who is my confidence.

I am thankful for our team and our church, and for the opportunities we have to worship together. This weekend was refreshing for me. I never get tired of hearing and proclaiming the gospel in word and song, and this weekend was a beautiful example of just that. Christ was lifted high this weekend.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were. Be sure to hop on over to The Worship Community to check out what other leaders and worshipers experienced this weekend. Have a great week!

I’d love to hear your thoughts below. Join the discussion!

In the Son,

Bill

 

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Set List, 04/22 – 04/24/11 Fellowship Bible Church

April 24, 2011

Jesus is risen! He has conquered sin and death, and He reigns forevermore. This weekend holds so much meaning for the church, and it was truly a joy to celebrate Christ’s resurrection together. This weekend, we had two services on Good Friday, and then six Easter services through Saturday and Sunday (two on Saturday and four on Sunday). It was a marathon, but it was completely worth it. I am so proud of our team for stepping up and serving with excellence in all of the services, giving their best for our Savior and His church.

Here’s our set from Good Friday:

“Jesus Messiah” (G) [Chris Tomlin, Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, and Ed Cash]
“Because of Your Love” (G) [Phil Wickham]
“Lamb of God“ (G) [Bill Horn]
Message – “The Heroic Rescue of Humanity: Jesus the Savior” [Joe Hishmeh]
Response – “The Wonderful Cross” [Isaac Watts, Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Lowell Mason, J.D. Watts]
Communion Intro
“Nothing But The Blood” [Matt Redman]
“You Saw Me” [Mia Fieldes, Ben Fielding, and Reuben Morgan]
Taking of the elements
Dismissal 

And here’s how we celebrated the resurrection in our Easter services:

Pre-service – “God is Alive” (A) [Steve Fee and Eddie Kirkland]
Call to worship – Mark 16:4-6
“Happy Day” (Bb) [Tim Hughes and Ben Cantelon]
Welcome/ Offering/ Announcements/ Greeting time
“You Alone Can Rescue” (Bb) [Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin]
“Stronger” (Bb) [Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan]
Message – “The Heroic Rescue of Humanity: Jesus the Restorer” [Joe Hishmeh]
Response – “Jesus Paid It All” [John Thomas Grape, Elvina M. Hall, and Alex Nifong]
Dismissal – Joe Hishmeh

I am thrilled with how this weekend’s services went. Our Good Friday services were sweet times of reflection on the cross and on Jesus sacrifice for us. We used a distinct instrumentation for the service, with predominantly acoustic instruments. We had two standard acoustics, a high-strung acoustic (Nashville tuning), viola, fretless bass, and a percussion set up for our drummer with djembe and cajon and a few toys. It was very organic in the way that we put the songs together and in the way we presented it. I thought it came across the way we wanted, and people were pointed to the cross. We had the large, wooden cross lit in all red, and the band was all in black in the background on the stage, and that helped to communicate the desired focus for the evening. In all, it was a strong and sincere evening. Good Friday is one of my favorite occasions for worship, as we praise our Savior for His great sacrifice on our behalf–in our place, for our sins.

One Easter, we pulled out the stops, and pushed things forward a bit with some new elements. We opened the pre-service time with “God is Alive,” and we used a brand-new element in our context: our drummer, Jordan, is a master beat producer, and he brought out his Akai MPC 4000 to create a loop to play underneath the whole song, which would be brought into focus during the intro and the breaks. I was giddy when he put it all together and we started to play together as a band. It was such a fresh addition to what we have been doing, and it is and element that I have wanted to incorporate (in any worship setting) for years. The click track was step one to getting to this point, and we got here a lot quicker than I anticipated. It was pretty special to finally experience it in that way. I thought it added even more energy to an already exciting song. It was a perfect moment for me, as we sang out “Everyone/ Glorify the risen Son/ The Holy One has overcome/ Jesus is alive/ The enemy/ Is broken underneath His feet/ Death is crushed in victory/ Jesus is alive/ Jesus is alive.” It’s a beautiful thing!

We followed the call to worship with “Happy Day,” which felt like a great fit for the weekend. This song was a little more familiar to our congregation, so they sang out and participated more than on “God is Alive” (which is part of why we did “God is Alive” in the pre-service slot). I love the truth in this song, and I think it is one of Tim Hughes’ best songs. He captures the gospel message clearly and simply. The verses say it well: “The greatest day in history/ Death is beaten, You have rescued me/ Sing out, Jesus is alive/ The empty cross, the empty grave/ Life eternal, You have won the day/ Shout it out, Jesus is alive/ He’s alive!”

After the welcome time, we moved to “You Alone Can Rescue” and “Stronger,” which are two songs that focus on God’s unique ability to save us and rescue us from sin and death, and to give us eternal life. I love the choruses of each of the songs. “You Alone Can Rescue” sings, “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 belong the highest praise.” In particular, my favorite line is the one that describes the divine condescension, His coming down to find us and leading us out of death. I am moved as I sing those words. This song really took hold with me as Matt Redman led at a week-long event in Daytona Beach last summer, and the weight of these words really landed. It remains a powerful expression of worship for me. The chorus of “Stronger” sings, “You are stronger/ You are stronger/ Sin is broken/ You have saved me/ It is written/ Christ is risen/ Jesus, You are Lord of all.” This echoes Scripture in a few places, one of which is Philippians 2, where Paul writes that “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that 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” (Phil. 2:8-11 NASB).  Because of Jesus’ humble and obedient sacrifice to conquer sin and death, He now has the name which is above every name. He is Lord of all, and worthy of being worshiped as such.

We finished the service by responding with “Jesus Paid It All,” but we did it a little differently than we had previously. We treated the original hymn in a very standard way. We played it in a way that would be very familiar for guests and regular attenders alike, in a gentle and slowly building manner. Then, we finished with an instrumental chorus, with the piano playing the melody. When we landed on the tonic chord (Bb), we let it ring out, and then quietly sang Alex Nifong’s added chorus: “O praise the One/ Who paid my debt/ And raised this life/ Up from the dead.” We went from gentle to full-bore in a matter of moments, and it was a powerful moment as we declared praise and truth about our risen King, who has also given us life when we were dead in our sins and transgressions (Eph. 2). It was a great fit with Joe’s message this weekend, which talked about two ways to live – either submitted to Jesus as the true King by faith and trust in His finished work on the cross to make things right; or attempting to reign over our own lives and to make things right on our own, unsuccessfully.

Our Easter weekend has been a true highlight of my time with Fellowship thus far. I can’t wait for us to continue to develop things and build from here. We have an amazing Worship and Arts team here, and I love their servant hearts. God is doing great things among us. He is alive and moving in His church!

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 experienced in their worship gatherings this weekend.

In the name of the risen 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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