It’s a beautifully cloudy day today in Western Washington -we even got rain overnight last night.  After the temps in the upper 90′s last weekend it is a most welcome change!

It’s been a couple of busy weeks for us around here – with the church campout 2 weeks ago and Jim filling in for Pastor Chris last weekend, but I am hopeful that as we wind down to the end of Summer that things can calm down a tad but… maybe.

Ah well, onto the list:

• Salvation Day [E] (Vicky Beeching, Jonny MacIntosh, and Sarah MacIntosh)
• Hosanna (Praise is Rising [F] (Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown)
• You Never Let Go [F] (Matt Redman, Beth Redman)
• Indescribable [Bm] (Laura Story)
• kids story about Abigail
• Everyday [Ab] (Joel Houston)

This was our second week leading Salvation Day, but the first week that Pastor Chris has played it.  It worked out pretty well, but we get to work on it again for next week.  Everything else fell under the heading of “extremely well known” and it was great to see people really entering in and not having to think about how the melody goes or what the words are.

I will be glad when Summer is over though – it’s been crazy with the swinging door we have had through the Summer months with people being gone of vacation.  Although I myself have missed a week or two as well, so I can’t get on anyone too hard!

How was your service this weekend?

Wow – I hadn’t realized how long it has been since I posted a setlist!  Life has been just a tad busy I guess.  Sorry about that!

This week’s topic was centered around worry in our home groups, and the passage we were focusing on was 1Samuel 13:1-14.  It highlights a time when Saul decided to take matters into his own hands instead of waiting on Samuel, or, rather, waiting on God.

Worry and impatience.  Anxiety.

There are so many times in the Bible where this comes up and causes problems for people!

With that in mind, our setlist focused on giving our anxieties to God and keeping a heavenly focus.

• Forever [F]
• Today is the Day [F]
• Rain It Down [A]
• We Will Worship You [D]
• kids storytime
• Beautiful One [E]
• announcements
• message – Staying Small in Your Own Eyes
• Trading My Sorrows [G]

It was a really great sermon, and hopefully we got a good recording of it.  I will post it this week if so.

I really liked leading Rain it Down and We Will Worship You back to back – the first focuses on crying out to God in the midst of the storms instead of trying to run away from them, and the second calls for is to cry out when we get too comfortable, to content.  These songs remind us that we need God in both the good times and the bad – not just the bad.  It is so easy to forget about God when everything is going well… but we can’t!  Our focus needs to be fixed on Him daily.  Our desire needs to be to have a relationship with Him daily.  We need to seek His face… daily.

And that is often so hard to do!

When things aren’t going our way, it is easy to cry out to God.  It is easy to admit that we don’t have it all together.  It is easy to admit that we need Him, because we (obviously) can’t do it on our own.  We need to translate that same need to when things are going our way too.  We still need Him, and we still can’t do it all on our own.  We just so often don’t recognize our need.

We need to continually focus on Him.

After the amazing amount of rain that we experienced yesterday, it was so refreshing to wake up to bright sunny skies – albiet with fog floating around.  Sun, just in time for those Memrial Day BBQ’s that everyone is planning.  Let’s hope the weather continues to improve here in Washington!  It’s still a bit nippy out there today, but at least it’s not raining.

This morning our church surprised me too – there were lots of people there!  I generally expect that on a long holiday weekend we will have a much smaller attendance, but it wasn’t drastically smaller, and we even had some new people there.  Yay!

I was joking with the band this week that maybe I need to shave my head & grow a beard, because half of our songs today were written by Carlos Whittaker… and if somehow you don’t know who that is, well, you need to.  Head on over to RagamuffinSoul and get acquainted.  Hey, the topic was grace, and they just fit!

Anywho, here’s the list:

• Marvelous Light [A] (Charlie Hall)
• Jesus Saves [G] (Carlos Whittaker/Mia Fieldes/Jason Ingram)
• We Will Worship You [D]  (Carlos Whittaker/Jason Ingram)
• Grace Like Rain [Am] (Todd Agnew/Chris Collins/Edwin O. Excell/ John Newton)
• kids story
• Rain It Down [A] (Jason Ingram/Carlos Whittaker/Phillip LaRue)
• announcements
• Message – “Under New Management”
• Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) [D] (Edwin Othello Excell/Louie Giglio/John Newton/John P. Rees/Chris Tomlin)

Yep, it was a message about grace… and how desperately we need it.  Hopefully the recording worked (we have been having some issues between the recorders & the sound board – hopefully that will b resolved soon!)  If it did, I’ll post the link to it later this week.  Or you can head over to FalconRidgeFellowship.com and take a look to see if it’s posted.

Some high’s & lows…

The high point for me was split between We Will Worship You (I love how it’s quiet, then gets really, really loud!) and watching the kids learning the new motions for Rain It Down.  Miss Jennifer did a great job working them out, and the kids were really getting into them.  Overall the whole set was a high for me – they are all songs that I love to sing and have a lot of energy to them.  That and we had almost a full band again this week after a month of missing people each week.

The low point?  Looking out and wondering if I’m doing a good enough job.  Most of the songs today were either fairly new or we haven’t done them in a loooooooong time, so there were quite a few people that weren’t singing much.  I never quite know how to interperet that… do they just not know them yet, or are they a style that isn’t their “preference” or is there some other reason.  I felt that quite a bit today.

That’s my take on our service today – how was your service?

This post is part of TheWorshipCommunity.com‘s Sunday Setlist blog carnival.  Find out what songs were led at churche all over the world this weekend!

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!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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!