Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yep, it’s that gushy, pink-and-red holiday that’s all about luuuv.  ugh.  *grin*

But on a happier note, we had a great morning at Falcon Ridge Fellowship today!  We led All Because of Jesus for the third week, and we debuted another new song today – one that I was really excited about.

We had almost everyone there this morning – we were missing our usual bass player, but David switched over and played today so the sound was great.  The best part though?  I got to sit in the congregation and take communion with Eric… and that hasn’t happened in a looooooong time.

Anywho, here’s the setlist:

• Rain It Down [G] Carlos Whittaker
• All Because Of Jesus [G] Steve Fee
  
• Glorious [Bb] Brenton Brown/Paul Baloche
• You Never Let Go [F] Matt Redman/Beth Redman
• kids storytime
• Glorious [G] Chris Tomlin/Jesse Reeves…
• announcements
• Message
• You Gave Your Life Away [E] Kathryn Scott / Paul Baloche
• Communion message
• My Chains Are Gone – chorus only

We introduced @loswhit‘s new single Rain It Down this morning, and the band was sooooo excited to do it.  It is such a fun song to sing and play, and (hopefully) that enthusiasm was contagious.  I had posted on my FB age a couple of weeks ago that we would be doing it & everyone should download it, and (fortunately) a few had done that and already knew it.  However since I know that a few will be asking where to find it I’m posting the link again – if you want to download it, head over to iTunes here.

All Because of Jesus is a great tune too, and we have a lot of fun with it.  They play it quite a bit on the local christian station up here, so most people already knew it – helpul when your teaching something new. It’s great to see most of the congregation singing along when you’ve recently introduced a song to them.   Baloche’s Glorious is like that too – people connected with that one almost immediately, and it quickly became one of the favorite songs.  I think Glorious and Here I am, Send Me are our two most requested songs.  Having both Glorious’s on the list today was a little confusing, but it worked out great.

Well, I’m off – Eric is taking me shopping for something sparkly and we have to drop the girls off at a friend’s first, (well, after we finish grouting the rest of the tile – soooooo romantic!)  so I’ll catch you later!

As always, this is part of the Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival over at TheWorshipCommunity.com – check it out!

So, how was your service this weekend?  Any songs you loved?  Any you loved, well, not so much?

Ever have one of those sets where you just can’t not worship?  It was like that for me yesterday.  1 brand new song, and 3 songs that we hadn’t done for a while but were great old friends.  You know, the kind that you don’t have to worry about where you go next because you know the song so well that it just comes out.

And I almost missed it.

M has had some kind of cold/flu bug for about 10 days now and I seem to have caught it on Friday night.  I spent Saturday in bed (as much as I could anyway) so that I would be abe to make it to church this weekend.  And I did make it, but it was rather touch-and-go for a bit.  The biggest problem was the sore throat that came & went.  It was gone Sunday morning, but the voice still wasn’t all there.

BUT

I am so thankful for the truth on the lyrics we sang in Baloche’s Hosanna – “when we see You, we find strength to face the day.  And in Your presence all our fears are washed away”  That was so true for me yesterday!  He gave me the strength to face the day yesterday, and I am so thankful!

Anywho, here’s the list:

• All Because Of Jesus [F]
• Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) [F]
• It Is You [A]
• Enough [F]
• kids story
• Love The Lord [D]
• message
• Lord You Have My Heart [D]
• Communion
• Doxology

All Because Of Jesus was brand new for us this weekend, but people were joining in pretty quickly.  We did it in F, however the verse was still a bit low for me (since I was sick).  I’m thinking about trying it out in G next week… or maybe A.  We’ll see how high I can convince them to go

Chris ended up leading It Is You & Enough – which was great because that meant I got to sing harmony – yay!  We haven’t done either of those songs in months and I really missed them.  It was just a morning of truly singing out praises to God and truths about Him & sending them back to Him.

We stayed very simple on Lord You Have My Heart – just 2 vocals, an acoustic and a djembe.  We sang it over the congregation while the bread and grape juice were passed out for communion and asked people to take the time to prepare their hearts and minds for the Lord’s Table.  Then Wayne shared a message about taking in Jesus’ flesh & blood into our bodies as a symbol of taking Him into ourselves.  It was pretty powerful.

After the service the girls decided that they were going to a friend’s house – and then informed all 4 parents involved!  It’s always fun when they try to do that.  Fortunately for them it worked this time!  They left with their friend and Eric & I actually got to have a date!  Honestly it was almost surreal.  He’s been out of town or pulling 14-hour days at the sales meeting for 2 weeks now, so we haven’t even seen each other at all except for last Tuesday evening.  It was so nice to get to go to lunch just with him.  We really need to do that more often…

All in all it was a great weekend – despite being sick.  Today, however, this bug seems to have pulled in the reserves and in attacking again.  Oh well, not much going on now

How was your service?

*This is part of the Sunday Setlist Bloggy Carnival over at TheWorshipCommunity.com – see what songs are being led all over the world!

This is part of the Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival over at The WorshipCommunity.com – check it out!

It was a fun morning today – and one that I almost didn’t make it to.  Sick kids can make things more interesting from time to time!

I did make it in, however, and I am so glad I did!  We had a sweet time of worship this morning, and it was great to see so many really entering in.

Here’s the list:

• Come, Now Is The Time To Worship
• Not To Us
• Here I Am, Send Me
• All I Have
• kids storytime
• I Am Free
• announcements
• message
• Amazing Grace

We had a full crew this morning and it was great to have everyone there.  It was a little chilly since the boiler had gone out, but they got that working and it started warming up.  Hopefully we got a good recording this week (last week’s experiment didn’t, unfortunately) so I will get that posted as soon as it’s ready.

What happened at your church this weekend?

Ever have one of those days where you’re “on” but you just aren’t feeling it?  Let me clarify… feeling the worship, yes, feeling the Spirit, yes!  But physically… well, you just aren’t at 100% (or even 75% for that matter!)

Yeah, that was me today.

I’ve been dragging for about a week (I even took a 3 hour nap the other day and still felt tired).  And I had a headache for most of yesterday which was a big sign that something is UP.  Add that to the low-grade fever I’m sure I was running off-and-on all morning and I think it’s safe to say I’m coming down with something.

Oh fraptious day.

BUT – and that’s always a big one – God is strong when we are weak!  And (especially today) I’m so thankful for that truth!

Oh, and the other benefit today?  Chris was leading most of the songs – which was really helpful when my voice threatened to stop working!

So, the list…

• Glorious (Baloche/Brown)
• God Of Wonders
• Agnus Dei
• Sweetly Broken
• kids storytime – Miracles
• Everything To God
• announcements
• message
• Communion
• Come Just As You Are
• I Love You Lord

It was a great setlist!  All songs that our congregation really seem to connect with, and we had a sweet time of worship.  We were down by a few instruments today so a couple of the songs were missing the fill that is usually played by the 2nd electric (he was playing bass today) and I missed them, but overall it sounded great.  I think we are starting to get this sound thing figured out for the most part.

We changed up Sweetly Broken today just a bit, but wow, what a difference it made!  It’s one of those songs that we love, but it has always felt a little “off”.  With the changes that Chris made though, it really felt great.  All that was missing on that one was the other guitar… it was so nice to be able to just sing the background vocals and not worry about it falling apart (not that any of us ever worry about that happening, right?)

The other high point?  I Love You Lord.  We did it simply with 3 of us singing in 3-part harmony acapella, and it really finished out the service on a great note.  I love it when that happens!

So, what happened in your service? Or, if you were part of ours, what are your thoughts? I’d love to hear about it!

**This is part of the Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival over at TheWorshipCommunity.com – take a look at that songs are being sung at churches all over the world! **

Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s already January 2010!

This weekend was a bit different in that Pastor Chris was home sick with the flu… not fun for him, but we made do without him.  Wayne did a great job on the message yesterday, and Ross went through the 8 principles from Celebrate Recovery to celebrate his 12th anniversary of being born again.  It was pretty cool.

As for the music, we mixed it up a touch by putting the slower stuff in the middle of more upbeat songs… and other than having a couple of different words in a key place it worked pretty well.

Da List:

• Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)
• How He Loves
• How Can I Keep From Singing
• Forever
• kids story
• Glorious
• Celebrating Recovery Principles
• Message
• You Gave your Life Away
• communion
• Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

How was your service this weekend?

The Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival has moved!  It’s now located on TheWorshipCommunity.com – check it out!

*Part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist blog carnival – to see what churches all over the world are singing, head over to FredMcKinnon.com!

We are in the final countdown of weeks at our beautiful Little White Church on the Hill… after today we have just one service left! We had a dessert potluck for the folks at Peace Lutheran tonight (ironically it was at Peace Lutheran…) to say thank you for all that they have done for us in the past year.  As a church they have shown us how to do it right, and I am conitnually amazed by how gracious and giving they are.  What a blesing!

This morning we went back to our roots a bit and did a bunch of our older songs.  You know, those songs that you don’t really even have to think about anymore, but they can just flow from your heart straight up to God.  Here’s the list:

• Forever [F]
• Trading My Sorrows [G]
• Lord, Light The Fire Again [E]
• Glorious [Bb] (Paul Baloche/Brenton Brown)
• kids storytime
• Beautiful One [E]
• announcements
• message – God’s Forget-Me-Not’s
• Lord, Light The Fire Again

Well, it was older songs plus the new Glorious by Brenton Brown & Paul Baloche.  We introduced it today and it was great!  We tweaked it a little bit from the recording, but it worked out really well.

I will admit that I had a bit of trepidation going into this setlist earlier this week – Trading my Sorrows is not one of my favorite songs (something about a 5 week long migraine & singing that song a lot has gotten linked up in my memory… it wasn’t pretty) but at our rehearsal on Wednesday God redeemed it for me.  It was actually fun to sing it again for the first time in a year-and-a-half.  (It could have helped that Chris was leading it again too.)

This week’s passage was from Joshua 3& 4, where the Israelite’s cross the Jordan River on their way to Jericho.  God told them to take 12 stones from the riverbed where the priests were holding the Ark and build a memorial where they camped that evening to remind them and to share with others what God had done for them.  In our home groups we discussed remembrances as well – those things we do as individuals or families to remind ourselves of His faithfulness.  Pastor Chris wrapped the week up with a great message on why we need to remember what God has done in our lives.  Hopefully we will get it up on the church site in the next few days.

One of my personal reminder’s is A’s middle name.  She was born in the midst of what we affectionately called the “Holy Smackdown”  Eric lost his job, his grandfather died, A was born, my dad died and we ended up living with family and friends and eventually moving back to Colorado.  Through it all God was faithful.  He drew us closer to Him, and He provided for our every need through it all.  Her middle name is Faith, because she was born in the middle of a time that truly tested and strengthened our faith.  And the best part?  She knows why that’s her middle name.  She is proud that she bears the mark of God’s faithfulness in our family’s life.

Do you have any “stones of remembrance?”

Are you interested in what songs have been sung at churches all over the world this weekend>  Take a look at Fred’s Sunday Setlist blog carnival over at FredMcKinnon.com!

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What a fabulous weekend we had!  5 of our team members headed down to CMS @Overlake this weekend, and it was soooo great!  Next year we need to bring along the rest of the crew…

We made it back last night though, with plenty of time to get a good night’s rest to be ready for this morning.

This morning, however…

well, we sang through these tunes…

• Happy Day [G]
• Your Grace Is Enough [F]
• Come Thou Fount [D]
• Here I Am, Send Me [G]
• kids storytime
• Everyday [Ab]
• announcements
• message – Oh, Scarlet!
• The Wonderful Cross [D]
• communion
• O, How I Love Jesus [acapella]

Happy Day… in practice we flew through it.  Yep, it went waaay too fast.  However in the service we went just a bit too slow.  OK, so we slogged our way through it. Oh well… it seemed to be the day where a great rehearsal produces a slightly more… well, a more fun service.

Yep, we had a few interesting moments.  However, it all flowed rather well in spite of everything. We were missing a few members this morning – keys, bass and a singer, but it all worked out.  Since Nancy wasn’t there, Chris ended up playing piano for The Wonderful Cross – which worked well for the song with Taya’s new guitar and Warren on the djembe.  We finished out with an acapella version of O How I Love Jesus.  It was a great service.

Oh, and I actually wore jeans to church.  I realize that this isn’t a big deal for most people, but it goes entirely against everything I was raised with.  Fortunately the building is still standing and I wasn’t struck by lightning, so I guess we’re all good    No offense meant to anyone who is on either side of that fence… it’s just been one of those “discussions” we’ve been having.  We’ll see what happens in the future, however I believe an agreement has been reached.

The high point?  Once again having the privilege of worshiping our amazing God in the company of great friends.

The low point?  My family was not there this morning   Because of the conference the girls were at Grandma’s house for the weekend and Eric had gone down there to pick them up.  Fortunately they went to the early service and were done in time to meet me for lunch!

How was your weekend?

What a lovely day!  October 18 is a day that I love, because it is the day that my oldest daughter was born.  Yep, she turned 9 years old today!  Happy Birthday Sweetie!

It was a fairly busy day – church, then a pot-luck and an all-church meeting after that, so I’m a bit later getting this posted than normal.  Well, that and when I got home from the meeting my computer had been taken over and was running webkinz.com and scooby-doo cartoons.

So… church.  It was a Communion Sunday and we had a couple of baby/child dedications and it was also our pastor’s birthday today.  Needless to say, it was a full one.

Da list:

• Sing Sing Sing [A]
• You’re Worthy Of My Praise [E]
• Here I Am, Send Me [G]  (Martin Anderson)
• Revelation Song [D]
• dedications
• kids story – dedicating your treasures to God
• announcements
• message – The Flip-Side of Worship
• Communion
• Lead Me To The Cross [E]
• Take My Life [D] (Tomlin)

Here I Am, Send Me is a great song that was written by a former pastor of mine, and I was thrilled to be able to share it with our body.  I just love the message of it – that we don’t deserve any of the grace that God gives us, and in spite of that God loves us anyway.  The pre-chorus is my favorite part:

You sought me, You found me,
You bought me, You brought me,
You saved me, You sealed me,
You hold me, You heal me,
You take me and break me
And change me and make me,
You fill me you choose me,
You call me now use me!

The message today was on being a servant.  Not just performing acts of service, but truly living out Jesus’ example of service others out of a heart that loves and desires to please God.  We can perform acts of service all day long, but if our heart isn’t right, well, then we have missed the point!

Well, I’m off to celebrate the last few minutes of my baby’s birthday.  Have a great week!

As always, this is part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival - see what other churches are singing around the world!