70×7 Captain’s Log

This report will be shared with those worship leaders who enjoy reading the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival hosted by Fred McKinnon.  If you’d like to see what worship teams all over the country are doing on Sunday, follow this link:
http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/02/15/sunday-setlists-30/

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This weekend was a reminder that God will be praised, regardless of circumstances!  Our week started off with stormy weather that knocked out power all over the region.  Thousands were left without electricity or heat in their homes as utility crews scrambled to restore service.  One of the neighborhoods affected was Timothy Drive, in Elizabeth, home of Central Highlands Community UMC.

We had a Saturday night worship plan in place, and Pastor Starr was going to deliver a sermon about the acceptance of changes in the church.  But the power provider informed the pastor that service would not be restored until Sunday or later.  As a result, we had to come up with a contingency plan for a candlelight, acoustic-only service.

Further complicating the situation was the nasty flu bug that was going around.  It made its arrival at our home last weekend with my son Bo, and this week it was my turn to be ill.  By the time Saturday morning arrived, I had developed a bad cough, a fever, gastrointestinal discomfort, and dizzyness.  It was going to be a challenging day.  My rehearsal preparations included a wicked combination of Alka-Seltzer Cold, Mucinex DM, Robitussin CF, Throat-Coat tea, Thayers slippery elm lozenges, and Robitussin cough drops!  About an hour before rehearsal was scheduled to start, we got the word that power had been PARTIALLY restored to the church.  One of the three phases was on, and we could almost pull off a normal Saturday night with some improvisation.

Bo and I grabbed extension cords and power strips, and packed a couple of Par 38 lighting trees in the car along with our usual gear.  When we got to the church, our crew was busy running power from different parts of the building to get electricity to the main amps.  Some of the outlets around the altar area worked, and some did not, so we ran power strips to get it where we needed it.  The projector was hard-wired, so we were going to have to do without EZ Worship.  The sanctuary lights were dead, so we set up the two lighting trees on either side of the worship platform, and a couple of bright halogen lights aimed to reflect off the ceiling in the back of the sanctuary.  We also had one spotlight on the cross behind the altar.  Another bright light was set up in the narthex so folks could see where they were walking.  Then it was just a matter of running an extension cord into the church office so we could use the copier to print handouts of the song lyrics.

Despite all of the extra setup, our rehearsal started only a half hour later than usual, thanks to the efforts of Mike, Shawn, Dave, Bo, and Jen.  It was a great team effort!  As we began, I found that my voice was quite weakened from the flu, and despite the assortment of meds, I still couldn’t get through songs without coughing.  Jen was also suffering from the effects of a bad cold, and Bo was still recovering from an entire week with the flu.  To preserve our voices, we limited our rehearsal to a single run-through of each song, even the new one.

God, as usual, honored our desire to serve Him. We opened with a light-hearted hand clapper of a song, “Every Move I Make.” Not much clapping was going one because everybody was holding on to their printed song sheets, and I think we all gained some more appreciation for the projected lyrics that free our hands for worship. We followed that with Lincoln Brewster’s “Let The Praises Ring,” which is a much-loved standard at Central Highlands. We then moved into our most challenging song of the night, “Did You Hear The Mountains Tremble?” It was somewhat appropriate that during this Delirious song, I began to feel dizzy. The song takes a lot of air to sing. We then moved to Aaron Shust’s “Give It All Away.” I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it, and it centers around God’s people submitting to His design and His will.  But for some reason, this song has never gotten much of a reaction from the people at my churches. The musicians all love the song as much as I do, but I think the ending of the song leaves people guessing. In this case, the ending of the song left people wondering even more, because I became very dizzy and had double-vision at the end, lost my place, and it pretty much ended in a train wreck.

I took a couple of deep breaths, and rather than praying at that time, I moved directly into the introduction of the “Lord’s Prayer” song which was to be sung by Jen. The couple of minutes break from singing allowed me to recover, and after announcing the offering, we played an offering song I wrote based on verses in the book of Joel, entitled “New Wine.” Halfway through that song, which was written in the upper part of my vocal range, my voice started getting very rough and gritty. By the end it sounded pretty shot-through, just in time for us to step off of the worship platform. While Pastor Starr began his sermon, I stepped outside to get some fresh air and clear my head and get a cup of Throat Coat tea. (That stuff really works, by the way! It’s made by Traditional Medicinals and sold at GNC stores.)

After the sermon, we came back up and played Lincoln Brewster’s “Surrender.” It’s a powerful song, and we ended it with just the congregation singing the chorus acapella. During the communion, we played a heart-felt rendition of “Change My Heart Oh God,” and at the close of the service, we sent the people home by introducing a new song. The worshipers were excited by the song, “Hallelujah! Your Love Is Amazing” and the service ended with a loud applause. The band vamped on the chorus of the song as our congregation departed to the dark exterior of the church, which was unlit because of the power situation. I was so relieved to have made it through the service, and hurried home to get some rest.

When the alarm clock went off at 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning, my first reaction was, “oh no…” As I showered I came to the realization that I could barely talk, and that it would take a miracle for me to lead worship at three services that morning at Homestead Park UMC. Bo and I started our day with a bowl of oatmeal and a large mug of Throat Coat tea. Knowing that none of our other vocalists were going to be at church for the 9:30 and 11:00 services that morning, and that it was up to Bo and I to lead the singing, I prayed during the drive to the church.

Pastor Rich was continuing his “Radical Christianity” series, this time with a Valentine’s Day flair as he preached about God’s jealous love. Here is the call to worship that I wrote for the 8:15 traditional service:

Leader:       We are the children of an awesome and loving God.
People:      LORD, THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU.
Leader:      We are His people, and God has known us since before time began.
People:      LORD, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ONE LIKE YOU.
Leader:      Our God is the same today as He was yesterday, and as He will be forevermore.
People:    LORD, THERE WILL NEVER BE ONE LIKE YOU.
Leader:      God’s love endures forever, and He wants us to serve only Him.
People:      LORD, WE SHALL BOW OUR KNEES TO YOU ONLY.
Leader:      Out of the abundance of His love, God protects us and provides for all of our needs.
People:      LORD, YOUR LOVE IS ALL WE WILL EVER NEED.
Leader:      With thankful hearts, let us sing praises to God alone.
People:     WE SHALL SING TO THE LORD, FOR IT IS RIGHT TO GIVE HIM OUR PRAISE!

The reading that I selected was Psalm 5.  Fortunately, three of our traditional service singers came up front to sing with me, and we opened the service with “Ye Servants Of God.” Our song of preparation was “Be Thou My Vision,” and we closed the service with “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.”

We welcomed a group of new members to the congregation during the 9:30 service, and there was a baptism in the 11:00 service, so we had a little less worship time than usual. Our prelude was “Come And Fill Me Up” for the second consecutive week. I will often use our prelude time as an opportunity to introduce unfamiliar songs to the congregation. This song was very well received by the people at both services.

The opening song of our worship time was the Big Daddy Weave song, “Fields Of Grace,” which is one of Pastor Rich’s favorites. We followed that with “Hallelujah! Your Love Is Amazing.” Just like the traditional service, our song of preparation in the later services was “Be Thou My Vision.” At the close of the services, we sang “The Wonderful Cross,” which has all the same words as “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross” plus a really cool chorus.

Throughout the morning, I was amazed that I was able to get any sound to come out of my mouth, but I just turned up my monitor, sang more softly than usual, and turned up Bo’s microphone. Instead of singing his usual harmonies, Bo reinforced the lead vocal. It was quite providential that the songs for the day were all in the lower part of our vocal range. If we would have had upper register songs in the service, I’m not sure we could have made it through with any voice to spare!

The guitar work in our 9:30 and 11:00 services was outstanding this day, and I received numerous compliments from the people, some of whom were visiting the church for the baptism. It is wonderful to have two accomplished lead guitarists lending their talents to our team.

As I sit and type this report, I’m amazed how everything came together this weekend in the face of so much adversity. It seemed that I needed a miracle, and God provided it. Through it all, God made a way, and God was praised. Now it’s time to take some more medicine, get plenty of rest, and recover so I can be at my best to lead God’s people in worship of Him next weekend.