by 70x7 | February 10th, 2009
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/2009/02/08/sunday-setlists-29/
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Since the day I was born again, I have felt the joy of salvation in my heart. Like a death row inmate who receives an unexpected pardon from the governor in the eleventh hour, my relief from anxiety over my circumstances was complete, and emotionally charged. Even though I’m a lousy dancer, I felt like dancing. Although the enemy has tried to steal my joy away a few times, I remain joyful, so happy in the knowledge that nothing can take my salvation away from me, thanks to the loving kindness of almighty God.
It has been my strong conviction that worship music should remind people of the joy they must have felt in the moment when their name was first written in the Lamb’s book of life. There will be time for quiet reflection and introspection later on. When I open a worship service, I want to do it joyfully and triumphantly! And so my worship planning usually includes at least a couple of opening songs that are celebratory and full of energy.
This week was no exception. At Central Highlands Community United Methodist Church, Pastor Bill was preaching on the power and authority of Christ, as he recounted the story of Jesus driving an evil spirit out of a man in the synagogue. (Mark 1:21-28) It was obvious to me that the perfect opening song was our powerful and triumphant version of “We Declare That The Kingdom Of God Is Here.” In the words, the song states that the Kingdom of God is here among us, and the verses declare, “the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame men are walking. Sicknesses flee at His voice. The dead live again and the poor hear the good news. Jesus is King, so rejoice!”
Yes, this was the perfect opening for the pastor’s lesson. As we prepared for worship in the prayer room, with our usual spirited and ever meandering conversations, we were presented with a difficult subject. The father of our 16-year-old worship team singer had died the night before. She hadn’t sung with us for several weeks because her father was very sick in the hospital, and she spent all of her time by his side, along with the rest of her family. Someone suggested that our pastor should inform the congregation of what had happened, as we had all been praying for this man’s recovery for some time.
As the lights came up on the worship platform (the room is darkened before the start of the evening service) our pastor welcomed everyone and then made the difficult announcement. A collective moan came from the entire congregation as they digested the fact that a beloved man of the faith with a wife and three children in our church had just succumbed to his battle with illness. Even though I knew beforehand, I just had not anticipated the power of the moment when the announcement was made. After the pastor lead a quiet prayer for the man’s family, he turned it over to me, and I almost balked at what to do. The triumphant song I had planned for the opening of the service suddenly seemed horribly out of place because of the change in mood that had just taken place.
But then I quickly realized, this song was EXACTLY the song that our congregation needed to hear at that exact moment! Even though our friend had died despite all of the prayer on his behalf, God was STILL sovereign, and He still possessed all authority over death! God, in His wisdom, had simply called His servant to come home with Him, because it was His will for it be that way. What resulted next was the most passionately sung version of that song that I had ever witnessed. We sang it loud and strong, with conviction and in the unity of the Holy Spirit. God moved in His people at that moment.
We followed up with a fast-moving song that declares God’s greatness: “Majestic” by Lincoln Brewster. But we weren’t done singing about the incredible and powerful nature of God. For the first time at Central Highlands, we introduced the song “Indescribable” by Chris Tomlin. It is a breathtaking song, and the people responded with great applause at its conclusion. The last song of the opening worship segment was Michael W. Smith’s “Above All,” and it lead us into a time of prayer about God’s power over sickness and death. We then sang “The Lord’s Prayer” song written by Eric Park, and invited the children to be dismissed to “The Fold.” After making an announcement that the offering would be received, we moved into a traditional 6/8 gospel waltz version of “Power In The Blood” before leaving the worship platform.
On this particular Saturday night, Pastor Bill decided not to use Powerpoint slides during his message, which he delivered in a style I had not seen from him before. In a word, it was excellent. To follow up his message, the team lead the congregation in singing “Majesty.” Once we moved into the time of communion, we played “In Christ Alone” in the style in which Stuart Townend performs it. Our closing song, as it was in the previous week, was “Glory” by Casting Crowns.
Musically speaking, the team performed wonderfully, with strong guitar, bass, and drums from Shawn, Bo, and George, plus some excellent vocals by Jennifer. We were particularly proud of my son Bo, who fought off a fever of 102 and made it through without incident. God be praised.
The following day, Bo and I drove over to Homestead Park United Methodist Church on less than six hours of sleep, and although he was not feeling great, his fever was down and he was once again able to play bass and sing a little. Pastor Rich was preaching another installment of his “Radical Christianity” series, and was focused on how God’s love enables us to love others. Considering the events of the previous evening, I thought it was ironic, in a God kind of way, that Rich recounted the story of the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak and was healed as a result, and the story of the man’s daughter who had died, and whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
In our 8:15 traditional service, the opening call to worship I had written touched on the pastor’s theme for the day:
Leader: The Gospel, in a word, is love.
People: LORD, YOUR LOVE IS BEYOND MEASURE.
Leader: It is the love of Jesus that sets us apart in the world.
People: LORD, THIS WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS YOUR LOVE.
Leader: The world will know that we are Christians by our love for others.
People: LORD, WE WILL SHARE THE LOVE OF JESUS WITH ALL THAT WE MEET.
Leader: God’s love endures forever, and He wants us to love each other as we love ourselves.
People: LORD, GIVE US YOUR EYES SO WE MAY LOVE OTHERS AS WE LOVE OURSELVES.
Leader: God is love, and as we grow closer to Him, our love for others also grows.
People: LORD, ALL WE NEED IS YOUR LOVE, SO DRAW US CLOSER TO YOU.
Leader: With the love of Jesus in our hearts, let us lift our voices in praise.
People: WE SHALL SING TO THE LORD WITH LOVE IN OUR HEARTS!
Our organist and singers opened with the hymn, “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.” The scripture reading that followed was Luke 6:27-36. The hymn of preparation before our time of prayer was “Lord I Want To Be A Christian.” Following the sermon by Pastor Rich, we closed the service once again with the singing of “Where Charity And Love Prevail.”
In the 9:30 and 11:00 services, we were thrilled to welcome a new member of our worship team for his first service with us. Greg’s terrific lead guitar work was very strong, and we received a lot of compliments following both services. Our prelude song asked for the Holy Spirit’s presence with us. It was entitled, “Come And Fill Me Up.” Following the welcome and announcements, we got the people to clap their hands as we sang “Every Move I Make,” featuring an extended “la-la” section at the end with just the people and the drums. Because we had a baptism that day, we slowed down the pace in the second song of the worship segment, playing the Phil Wickham song, “Here I Am To Worship.”
Following the baptism, our song of preparation before the time of prayer was “I Can Only Imagine.” The closing of that song lead to some inspired moments with our prayer leader. Following the sermon, we closed the service with the Chris Tomlin song, “Be Glorified In Me.”
After the service, we had ten minutes to regroup, pray, and then start it up again! Both the 9:30 and 11:00 services were excellent in the content of the music, prayer, and preaching. It was a satisfying morning of ministry!