Today was a bi-polar worship day.
At CrossPoint, we have two identical one-hour worship services: 8:30a and 10:30a with Sunday school sandwiched in between. The first service is notoriously groggy, and today was no exception. It felt like I was singing alone at times. The contrast between the 1st & 2nd services was pretty extreme today.
Problem areas…
I don’t think we had the songs down as well as we could have (I take the full blame for not working with the band long enough ahead of time, although we were much more prepared than last time). Also, we were missing a couple of volunteers in some key service areas, which made the weak areas of the worship team all too noticeable (read that: it stressed me out). So, sleepy parishioners aside, I would give the worship today a 5.5 out of 10. (Just to clarify - that isn’t a criticism of the other volunteers or musicians… just myself.)
Here’s the setlist from this morning…
Hosanna - Baloche
Shout to the North - Smith
My Savior’s Love - (hymn)
announcements / offering
Enough - Tomlin
“How to Be a Good Neighbor”, Robert McKeehan
Nothing But The Blood - (hymn)
The closing hymn was wonderful. We made a last second decision to drop the drums in lieu of a djembe, and it worked perfectly. It gave a classic hymn a rhythmic and worshipful feel.
Two things I’m focusing on this week: We need more volunteers to help with sound and video, and I need to start learning more new songs. I read one of my old blog posts and am completely ashamed to admit that I’ve been using the same songs week after week, month after month, year after year (here’s the evidence… see for yourself).
Okay… my wife pointed out that it’s really not THAT bad, but it’s close enough to warrant some self-reflection.
A little late on this update, but here’s the setlist for last Sunday, June 15, 2008 at CrossPoint Church.
Robert gave the message Making Marriage work by the Grace of God (mp3). I led the band on guitar and vocals, Marshall left his beloved electric guitar to play bass and Brandon nailed it on the drums. The first service was a little rough… but we made up for it during the second service.
Forever - Tomlin
Shout to the North - Smith
The Solid Rock - Mote, Bradbury
Grace Flows Down - Bell, Giglio, Padgett
“Making Marriage Work by the Grace of God”
- Robert McKeehan
This is my Father’s World - Shepherd, Babcock
Lesson learned this week: Do not skip practices.
It showed on Sunday that we weren’t as prepared as we should have been. Granted, scheduling didn’t work out for us, but I realized this week how absolutely vital it is to prepare - especially since this band isn’t used to playing together like the group was at Twelve Oaks.
Amazing worship service this week.
This was the first time CrossPoint has ever had a full band for worship, so I was both excited and anxious leading up to the service. Excited to make history that morning, but also anxious and nervous about how the people would react. But I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback, so as far as I can tell …it’s all good!
My Savior’s Love - C.H. Gabriel
Hosanna - Paul Baloche
Enough - Chris Tomlin
How Great Is Our God / How Great Thou Art - Chris Tomlin / Carl Boberg
Beautiful One - Tim Hughes
I hate goodbyes.
I heard Tony Morgan say during a podcast a while back that “…leaving a church is like breaking up with a girlfriend.” Except that since you’re dealing with several relationships in the church, you have to break up a dozen or more times instead of just once.
After last week, I couldn’t agree more.
When we first announced that we were changing churches, it was incredibly difficult. Now that the buzz of leaving has moved throughout most of our social circles, it’s getting easier. It’s less of “…we’re leaving,” and more of “…these are the reasons behind it.”
Here are five things I’ve learned from this process… Continue reading ‘How to Leave Well.’
So, in case you didn’t catch the news yesterday… it’s official:
Rachel and I are changing churches.
The new place, if you didn’t see the great big logo just an inch north of this paragraph, is CrossPoint Church. For the locals readers familiar with the greater Peoria area, it’s located in East Peoria on Pleasant Hill Rd., right next to the old Pleasant Hill middle school. Here’s a map…
I’ve already had the opportunity to Continue reading ‘the New Digs.’
