Part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival over at TheWorshipCommunity.com - check it out!

I know, I’m late getting this posted.  Life happens sometimes

Before I get into the gory details, here is the list…

• All Because of Jesus
• Glorious (Baloche/Brown)
• Revelation Song
• Indescribable
• kids story
• We Are One/By Our Love (Mark Swayze Band)
• announcements
• message
• The Wonderful Cross
• communion
• Amazing Grace

We were missing quite a few people again this week, but had others back.  The bigger issue that we were facing, however, was that it was the first Sunday we used the in-ear monitors.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Yeah, it was scary.  Somehow, though, it all worked out (at least that’s what people in the congregation were telling me.  Phew!)  The perspective from the stage was a bit less glowing though!

There were a few lessons learned… one main one was that I should never EVER attempt to lead a song that is just “that much” too low for me.  Especially for a kids song.  Yes, I thought I knew this, of course, but I did it anyway.  ugh.

As you can see, this week it is much more of a worship confessional… I confess, it sucked (from my perspective) and I take full responsibility for making it more challenging for everyone.

The upside was that we as a band (albiet missing a few members) have played long enough without any monitors and together as a team that it all worked somehow.  Good job team!

Lesson 2 - when you know you are missing something on Wednesday that you will need on Sunday… make sure that you have it on Sunday!  Some of the extenders for the headphones were mono instead of sterio… and I confess that I still haven’t picked them up.  Yeah, I need to do that.  Tomorrow.  Because I hadn’t picked those up yet the vocals didn’t use their in-ears - and neither our sound guy or myself were aware of that until, oh, about the time the service was starting… too late to set up a wedge.

Lesson 3 - check all batteries BEFORE the service starts.  Voice recorders and wireless microphones.  Yep.  Oh, and a sound check on that wireless mic would be a good plan too (if only the worship leader could get her rehearsal done in time to do it…)

So yeah, it was one of those weekends.

How was yours?

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?

Every Sunday we take part in Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival - if you are interested in seeing what churches all over the world are singing each weekend, head over and check it out!

Wow - it’s another beautiful day today!  It got off to a bit of a shaky start for me - it was around 30F last night and my wonderful car wouldn’t start this morning.  I guess I need to invest in a new battery now that the cold weather is back.  That meant that rather than getting to the church about 15 minutes before everyone else I got there about 15 minutes after them.  Fortunately they had started rehearsal without me.  It all worked out though.

It was a light crowd this morning too - there were quite a few families helping out on an outreach this weekend, a few that were on vacation and a few that have been hit with the bug-o-the-day.  For example: we had a grand total of three kids today.  We usually run a little closer to 15-20…

Anywho, here is the list:

• Happy Day [G]
• Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) [F]
• O Worship The King [F]
• How He Loves [G]
• kids story
• Beautiful One
• announcements
• message
• Made To Worship [F]

Sam did a great job leading out on Happy Day and How He Loves today - even though she wasn’t feeling well.  It’s amazing how He comes through when we are feeling our worst!  We finally settled on G as the key for How He Loves as everyone else can start the verses out low in that key and I can come in at an octave up and it’s not too high that it sounds odd (but just high enough to make it fun!)  I’m curious what key others choose to do it in…

The whole set was my high point today - every one of the songs is an old friend and I don’t have to worry about where I’m supposed to go next or what the words are which is always a relief.  That and it just seemed to flow better today.  I think it was a God thing

The low point?  That came from the knowledge that I had the perfect song to fit the message to close us out with… but it wasn’t the song that I had chosen.  And I couldn’t sub it in at the last minute because a couple of the members of the band have never had a chance to hear it or run through it.  Oh well.  It would have fit so very well though!

So that was our day.  The message was great again (I’m really enjoying our walk through Exodus) and I’ll get it posted later this week - I have to wait for Jennifer to get back and get ahold of the recorder…

Next week I may miss you all - the 18th is a birthday in our house and we have an all church meeting to discuss our possible upcoming move.  It will be a very busy day!

How was your service this weekend?

What a beautiful day it is!  Fall in the Pac NW is near perfection - cool crisp mornings, sunny mid-day and mild temps.  It really doesn’t get much better.

This morning was our first service that was bumped back to a 10 am starting time after being at 10:30 since the beginning of July - and amazingly enough most people were there by 10 after.  Yay!  The list today was one that was mostly filled with well-known favorites with a new one tosed in towards the end… but I’ll get to that.  It was really nice to be able to just flow through the songs without worrying about what was supposed to come next!  Well, mostly anyway *blush*

Der Liszt:

• Sing, Sing, Sing [A]
• Everlasting God [Ab]
• Glorious [G]
• In Christ Alone [G]
• kids story time
• Everyday [Ab]
• announcements
• prayer for Manny & the Bushareds
• message - Elementary, My Dear
• Communion
• How He Loves [G]
• prayer
• It Is Well With My Soul [acapella]

The high point - finally getting to lead How He loves was a high point for the past week leading up to todays service.  Working on it and getting to spend a lot more time with it this week was so good for a reminder of the truths that are proclaimed in the lyrics.  Oh and before you ask - no we did not sing “sloppy wet kiss” (I just don’t think that our congregation would have understood it.  No we didn’t sing “unforseen” either.  We sang “unrestrained” as I felt that it gave the correct emotion without the “what did she just say?” element.)

The high point today, however, was the message.  Pastor Chris laid it all out there today.  Today’s message was part 2 of the 10 commandments - you know the last 6 that were about us rather than the first 4 about God.  The law is summed up on 2 things - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

I’ll post it once it’s up on the site - it was a really, really good one.

The low point - I felt like poo today.  I’m not sure if it’s a cold that won’t go away or allergies, but I woke up with gobs of drainage clogging up my throat.  Ugh.  And when I get sick guess what portion of my voice goes away - yep, the low end.  Guess where all of our songs are pitched.  Right down there where I can’t sing when I’m sick.

Thus, my mind was (unfortunately) a bit distracted with trying to emit some kind of sound when there was very little to work with.  I botched up the 1st 3 songs in one way or another even though they are songs that I know inside & out.  But kudos to our team - they all followed along beautifully!  Well, except when I tried to come in early.  oy.

So, now that I’ve shared my worship confessional… how did it go in your worship service this weekend?

Want to read about other worship services around the globe?  Check them out over at Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival!

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After a day of rain yesterday (which we desperately needed!) today is lovely.  The air looks scrubbed clean with the bright blue broken up occasionally by fluffy white clouds, and there is a hint of coolness in the air.  Autumn has arrived!  (and yes, this makes me very, very happy!)

Our service this morning was great!  We are going though Exodus and following the Israelite’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land… and many weeks it feels like an episode of some reality show called “What Not To Do”.  No, really.

If I remember I will post the link to the sermon once it’s uploaded… tomorrow or Tuesday.  It was a good one!

As for the setlist, well, here it is!

• Blessed Be your Name
• The Solid Rock
• You Never Let Go
• Revelation Song
• kids message
• Beautiful One
• announcements
• message
• Communion
• White As Snow

Personally, this list was a home run.  They are all songs that I love to worship through, and it seemed that many of our congregation felt the same way.  There were times during the quieter moments that I could hear them singing out to God, and it was glorious.

What did your church sing this weekend?

As always, this is part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival - now over 1 year and going strong!  Take a look at what other churches around the world are singing each week!

Wow, what a great time of worship we had yesterday!  Well, at least I had a great time… I can only hope everyone else did too!

The list…

• We Lift You Up
• Happy Day (Kim Walker version)
• Reign In Us (Starfield)
• Revelation Song (Kari Jobe version)
• kids message
• Love The Lord
• message - “Going Down?”
• Great Is Thy Faithfulness

The songs just seemed to flow one to the next lyrically yesterday, and it was amazing.  It was our 2nd week singing “Happy Day” and there was much more participation.  That was pretty cool to see.  We tightened up the vocals a bit this week too, and I think that helped a lot too.  We dropped down to 1 or 2 voices to start each song and added in voices on the choruses, and that in itself helped the dynamics a ton.  Now we just need to get the bass & electric guitars turned up a tad more so I can actually hear them…

High point?  Happy Day ROCKED yesterday.  Sam nailed the verses this week and it just felt… better.  Having the congregation get more “into” it really helped too.

Low point? Love The Lord.  It started really s.l.o.w. no, I mean at like 1/4 the correct tempo.  Take a song that seems to go on and on an on forever and then slow it down?  I was very close to stopping after the 1st verse and saying “Now that we remember the song, let’s speed it up!”  but I didn’t want to call it out  like that.  I kept trying to speed it up, but it just wasn’t happening.  Oh well.

I’m still thoroughly enjoying having the space and the centralized sound that Peace Lutheran offers, however I think we may have figured out why they have their later service in the little white church… that sanctuary is HOT by 9:30 am!  We had a few fans going this week, and they had opened up all of the doors and windows for their early service so it was a little better, but we were still all dripping by the time the service started.  Wow.  Of course, it is substantially warmer than normal for western Washington these days.  It’s supposed to hit 98 today… and we often have Summers that don’t break 80!  Yep, I’m looking for any excuse to find a place with a/c.

Want to read about other worship services around the globe (and possibly win some free stuff?)  Head over to Fred’s blog!  It’s the official 1 year anniversary of the Sunday Setlist Bloggy Carnival this week, and Fred has over $600 worth of goodies to pass on to lucky folks like you and me, so head over and check it out!

Ever have one of those days where you are just tired?  You are tired and you can’t tell if that’s the reason that others seem less”with it” or if they are tired too?

sʎɐp ǝsoɥʇ ɟo ǝuo sɐʍ ʎɐpoʇ

We intro-ed Happy Day today for the first time and while I thoroughly enjoyed singing it (and really, who can’t?) I felt like it just kinda “was”

Some people seemed to really like it (yay!) and others… well… it just “was”  and I’m not sure if it was just me being tired, or if they just didn’t really dig the song.

oh well.  We’ll give it another try next week, right?

So, the list for this morning was as follows:

• Happy Day [G] (Kim Walker version)
• Trading My Sorrows [G]
• The Solid Rock [D] (David Crowder version)
• Majesty (Here I Am) [Am] (Martin Anderson)
• kids message - Jesus did a yucky job to model being a servant
• Everyday [G]
• announcements
• message - Love ACTually
• Happy Day [G] (slightly shorter version)

We kept the other songs more well known since we were teaching a new one, but I’m just not sure how it went over.  Some people said that they really, really enjoyed it, some were singing along right away, and others were just standing there.  Just. Standing. There.

How?

How can you just stand there during that song?  It has more energy than any other song I know!  I mean I was feeling exhausted and I could barely keep from dancing.

High point:
- I actually worshiped this morning.  No thoughts about how everything sounded, no worries about blending, etc.  I was able to move far past that (other than feeling like the 1st song flopped).

Low point:
- feeling like Happy Day flopped.

I have to say though, that the look of pure joy that was on our pastors wife’s face during worship was WONDERFUL to see.  I love it when she sits where I can see her.

So, how was YOUR Sunday?

**part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival.  Go check out what churches all over the world are doing each Sunday!**

Yeah, I may try to get in a nap, or just go to bed early.  Who knows.

Wow!  Today was our last day in the Little White Church for the Summer, and we were running with a skeleton crew for the worship team.  Lots of people were out of town or home sick so it was nearly a skeleton crew in the pews too, but we still had the privilege of gathering together to worship God.

Summer scheduling is often difficult, and the past 2 weeks have been ne exception!  We had a piano, acoustic & drums last weekend, and acoustic & drums this weekend… and no male singers at all for either.  Very girlie lately (which ain’t all bad… but is different).

Anywho, here is the list:

• Lord, Light The Fire Again [E]
• Desert Song [D]
• You Gave Your Life Away [E]
• Take My Life [D] (Tomlin/Nockles version)
• kids message on Trust
• Everything To God [D]
• announcements
• Lest I Forget [B] (Rebecca St. James)
• Communion
• Message
• Blessed Be Your Name [G]

Yep, it was a bit more subdued than normal, but that is to be expected when it’s acoustic led (and not rhythmic acoustic).  Taya had a bit of feedback off and on, but it seemed to work itself out by the 2nd song.  She was using a different amp than normal, since we cleaned out as much as possible last week so we’d have room to pack up everything this week.

High Point:
~ Lest I Forget was cool - we haven’t done it in months (unfortunately) and it was nice to do it with just the acoustic & djembe.  They gave it a very different feel.  Finishing up Jim’s sermon with Blessed Be Your Name was pretty amazing too though.  He shared some of the things that God has brought he & his wife through - especially in the last 14 months of looking for a new job.  It’s always amazing to see someone peacefully and joyfully going through something that would make most of us panic!

Low Point:
~ Everything To God.  Wow, it was sssssssllllllllloooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwww today.  Still a great song, still went well with the message, but needed to be sped up at least double!  Oh well.  That tempo gave the kids time to get all of the motions in!

So, how was YOUR weekend?

*this is part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival - head over to check out what worship leaders and congregants all over the world did at church this week!*