This past week at Live Oak, we pulled out a couple of classics, and did a few new ones.

1. God of all glory (Riddle/Varietal)
2. Blessed be the name (Redman)
3. We Need Your Touch (Corum/Estes)
4. Only You (Park)
5. You Never Let Go (Matt & Beth Redman)
Ministry: Forever You (Gavin Thompson/VMUK)

It has been a while since we've done "Blessed be the name". The song has gotten a lot of mileage after sweeping the nations, but the song is timeless in it's message and melody.
This week's Lectionary readings were about our desperation for God, and our trust in him, so these songs folded into pastor Steve's message very nicely. Melisa did a neat arrangement of Andy Park's "Only You" on piano, which turned out to be very nice. The song gives the worshiper a voice to acknowledge God's centrality in our lives.

Good stuff.

Labels: Set Lists, Worship Leading

Melisa and I are in the Peach State this weekend, playing guitar and keyboard for my sister's CD release weekend, and we are having a blast. The west coast contingency of the band took the red eye out of Seatac and LAX on Friday night to make it out for the weekend.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

It was a fun trip, because the Californians got to meet up with Rhett(who flew from Seattle) on a connection in Phoenix. We all had to work on Friday, so it was a long day. Thankfully Drew (bass) brought a bag of those sugar-coated orange slices (see picture), which kept us sugar-loaded and chatty. Melisa totally loved the flight from Phoenix to Atlanta, because US Airways showed "27 Dresses", which is that Katherine Heigl movie that she's been so wanting to see.

We got into Alanta airport about 1:15 ET, and we were all hungry. My sis and my parents trucked a couple of their cars down to the airport to pick up four hungry west-coasters and a bunch-o-gear. By this time it was 2AM, and nothing was open. We tried to find a McDonalds or Wendy's that was open to grab a burger, but nothing was open. After a half-an-hour of trying, we gave up and went to Mom & Dad's place in Buford. We were all excited to get home and chatted and ate ham sandwiches until about 3:30 AM. I think I fell asleep at 3:45! Wow, what a long day.

The alarms started ringing at 8:15 AM or so, and the house was bustling with people hooking up their gear, restringing guitars, and sucking down bagels and coffee. We were off early to Sheri's place to meet her and Joshua, pack some more gear and merch, and head on down the road to make a stop at a lunch-party that Melisa's cousins, aunts, and uncles threw for us. It was a blast to see all the Barrett folks again.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

The party was cut short when the road manager (that's me) put his foot down and said we had to leave or we were going to get behind schedule for the sound check. After about 23 hugs and 12 pictures, we left for the Marietta Vineyard.

The soundcheck was a little bit of a process. We were a lot louder than their usual worship team, but Chris, their soundman, is a total pro and dialed the stage in for us. We all felt comfortable and ready for a great night of music, worship, and prayer.


Click here for the photo-set on Flickr

The Marietta Vineyard folks were just so wonderful to us. Dian Thiel is their worship pastor, and for the Live Oak folks that read my blog, we sing one of her songs a lot, it's titled, "If You Say Go". Yep, I knew you knew it. A special thanks to Cathy, Chris, Diane and Tom for all of their effort to make the event go well, and to take special care of the entire band.

The evening was so wonderful, and God really blessed our nite. The high points for me were "Shout Aloud", "Fearless Now", and the ending song, "Sing Your Praise" where we were joined on stage by about a dozen group-vocalists that recorded the group-vocal tracks on Sheri's CD. I hope someone got some pictures of that, because it was really cool.

After the concert, the folks at Marietta sang "Happy Birthday" to Drew (May 1st) and I (May 6th) because we are near our birthdays. Sheri's record officially drops in the US on May 6th, which I think is really cool.

This morning Melisa and I are going to the Methodist church where my parents are pastoring. We are going to lead a few songs for them this morning. Then we are meeting up with the rest of the band for the two-hour journey to Augusta for another worship concert! Phew! I hope Drew has more of those candy-coated orange slices in his backpack!

More pictures and info about August coming up on Monday. Please do check back in!

Labels: Events, Varietal Records, Vineyard Music, Worship Leading

THEMATIC WORSHIP
is a service where a single aspect
of God’s nature or work
is focused on and celebrated,
with the various elements of the service
chosen to support and develop that theme.
-Ron Man, worship.com

Ron Man has a detailed article that gives some great insight on "Thematic Worship", which he describes as tailoring our liturgy, specifically in songs, that highlight a single theme or characteristic of God.

It can be difficult, as a worship leader, to carry a theme throughout a set of songs that flows not only musically, but has a consistent theme or message. However, Ron challenges worship leaders to choose songs that, combined, express a single, cohesive theme.

You can check out the article at blog.worship.com.

Labels: Worship Leading

Northpoint Church has a helpful video on how to join the worship team at your local church. I think I may incorporate some of these ideas into our evaluation of new band candidates in the future at our church.

David, pay close attention!

Labels: Worship Leading

I got a call tonight from our guest worship leaders, Daniel and Nicole. They are having some car trouble tonite, and may not be able to make it to church tomorrow. I'm not sure what to do right now.



Our set was supposed to be:

• Hosanna (Beloche/Brown)
• Mercy Is Falling (Ruis)
• He Reigns (Newsboys)
• Something Happens (Vineyard Music S. Africa)
• God Of All Splendor (Brent Helming)

Danial and Nicole were supposed to lead three of these songs, so I'm not sure which ones to replace right now. Something Happens is a song I've never led, so I'd probably need to do something different.

I guess I'll pray about it in the morning after I take Melisa to the airport at some awful early-morning hour.

Labels: Worship Leading

Love, Splendor, Majesty (Keller)
Great Are You Lord (Tony Sanchez)
Oh The Glory Of It All (Crowder)
Only You (Crowder)
What Can I Bring (Jeremy Riddle)
-----------------------
Ministry: As Children (Riddle)

Labels: Set Lists, Worship Leading

What a wonderful morning at Live Oak Vineyard, at least for me. I felt God's presence today in the worship, in the teaching, the Eucharist, and the fellowship. Our special guest, Daniel Hernandez, did a great job on guitar, and is just an amazing guy to hang around. What a blessing to get to know him. If you haven't met him yet, come to Live Oak on the first Sunday in April. Daniel will be leading some songs that morning, and he will be doing some of them in Spanish. Daniel is from Venezuela, and plans on planting a church there in the near future.

Here was the set list for this morning:

1. Love Me Like You Do (VMUSA)
2. Nothing But The Blood (Redman)
3. Oh The Glory of It All (Crowder)
4. Holy God (Doerkesen)
5. How Great Is Our God (Tomlin)
6. Be The Center (Ministry Time) (VMUK)

For me, "Oh The Glory of It All" was a highlight. Of course, I love doing new songs, because they bring something fresh. I think they also shake things up a bit, and make us really read the words, and think about what we are singing. The song speaks of redemption, repair, and the renewal God brings to our life. I hope that it resonated with the congregation the way it resonated with the team. It's a song that has blessed me so much.

Labels: Set Lists, Worship Leading

Once in a while, God does a "re-alignment" on your life. Maybe it's through something you read, or an experience, or God speaks to you so clearly, that something changes in your life. For me, a re-alignment of my life happened at this weekend's "Lead Us On" conference in Pomona.

Andy Park came into town to co-lead a conference with Terry Butler. These guys are two of the most anointed, gifted, and experienced worship leaders and writers in the Vineyard movement, and in contemporary worship. They brought a two-fold purpose into the sessions. One aspect was in teaching and encouragement, and the other was to lead the conference in extended times of worship.

Andy and Terry brought messages of "resting in the Lord", of remembering the poor, and the Love of the Father. The messages were simple, but the ministry and worship times were powerful.

Saturday night's final session was an amazing experience. I had the chance to play guitar with the team, and I was like a kid in the candy store to be a part of that session. The presence of God was amazing, and the joy in that room was palpable. The worship time lasted for about 2-1/2 hours as God took us on a journey through the leadership of Andy and Tony.

My frame of mind, my heart, my strength changed so much in only 24 hours, it is hard to believe. It makes me realize how important it is to stay connected to these kinds of events, and to continue being refilled frequently.

Labels: Events, Worship Leading

We got back from the opening session of "Lead Us On" tonite. Andy Park led worship tonite, and it was a great time. Terry had a great word for worship leaders, I must say. If you are a worship leader in the LA area, you really should come out to hear Andy's message tomorrow.

Here's the info.

I'm off to bed. Catch me later.

Labels: Events, Worship Leading

As a worship leader, I always try to create song sets that consist mostly of songs that are praise of God and His greatness, and less about "us" or "me". Sometimes worship sets can have all songs about us and what we need, which isn't always bad, but shouldn't be the norm. As many leaders in the Vineyard have said, including Bert Waggoner and Don Williams, worship leaders are preaching the Gospel and teaching theology just as much as pastors and teachers are, we just do it with song.

But now we are in the season of Lent, which is commonly not observed or given much attention in the Vineyard or protestant churches, but our church is embracing this year. As a worship leader, I've had my radar up for songs that really deal with the themes of repentance, dying to self, and turning back to God. It means that some of the songs I will choose for my sets will be a little be more "me" oriented, but are songs that say to God, "I'm turning back to you, cleanse me God!"

I was sitting at my lunchbreak in the car, and I a song by Charlie Hines on the Vineyard Club CD, "Fascinated" really speaks this well. Here are the lyrics:

You wait in silence, You wait with mercy
You wait in love, Lord, You wait for me

You wait in patience
You wait with forgiveness
You wait in tears, Lord, You wait for me

And I can’t go on, have I gone too far
As I turn toward You I turn away
And all my sins You’ll take away
As I run to where I left You standing
I long to hear You say “welcome home”

You wait in joy, Lord
You wait with compassion
You wait with grace, oh, You wait for me

As I turn toward You I turn away
And all my sins You’ll take away
As I turn toward You I turn away
And all my sins You’ll take away
As I run to where I left You standing
I long to hear You say
I long to hear You say
I long to hear You say “welcome home”
No matter what I’ve done
How far from You I’ve run
I always hoped You’d wait for me

Not only are the lyrics excellent, but the song is beautifully written. I really feel like this is a song that I am supposed to add to our next service as we continue in this time of Lent.

Labels: Vineyard Music, Worship Leading

I do this "blogging" thing late at night so that Melisa can fall asleep before I start snoring. Apparently the clicking of keys is music to her ears when compared to the roar of me sawing logs!

Anyway, we just got back tonite from playing a worship set with some friends as part of a "fundraising sendoff" for a couple that is moving to the Philippines to begin a church plant. It was great to be a small part of the night, and see the passion that this church has for missions, and to take the message of the Kingdom to the world. Exciting stuff.

But wow, 6AM was a long time ago, and my eyes are scratchy, and my body is worn out from hauling gear around. It's time to go to bed.

Tomorrow we are going to be working on Melisa's song some more with Milk and Billy-Boom-Boom (also known as my father-in-law). I think Milk has the Pro Tools tuned up and rockin' this time.

As I check around the net tonite, I see that the NASCAR season gets off to a start tomorrow with the Bud Shootout. NASCAR sure doesn't waste any time after the NFL is done to kick off their season, do they.

On a closing note, I'm bored with music. Who has a band that is rocking their world that I haven't heard yet?

Labels: Music, Worship Leading

Get more info at Vineyard Western Region.com.

Labels: Events, Worship Leading

Here's the view from our hotel room in Ft. Collins this morning. The picture doesn't do it justice, but we got a layer of fluffy snow last night and it's just beautiful. The snow is also blanketing out the Rockies in the background, which were just gorgeous when we flew into Denver last night.

Melisa as layered up enough to climb Mt. Everest as she left for her EPX08 staff meeting. She's not used to this cold, having grown up in SoCal. My Midwestern blood is still thicker than hers, but I'm become pretty wimpy after living on the west coast for seven years, too. Right now I'm snug in the hotel room blogging on a pretty nice Wi-Fi connection, and listening to David Crowder Band and reading Psalm 63. We'll head up the mountain at 10:30 to get registration and the sound system all ready to go for the start of the event tonight.


Psalm 63
I've been stuck on one particular Psalm for about two weeks, and I just have been mulling it over and over, and praying it out a lot. I've been in a bit of a dry season, and this Psalm has been an oasis to my soul. Here are some of my notes from my study this morning.

• God you are my God. (v 1a)
  
  --> In our lives we must acknowledge God in our daily routines, our life decisions, in thought, deed, and relationships. And God is a personal God. Not only is he OUR God, he is MY God, and he knows me.....he knows you.
  
  
  
• I search for you. I thirst for you like someone in a dry, empty land where there is now water. (v 1b)
  
  --> In seasons of dryness fruitlessness, hopeless causes, in times of feeling distant from God we must - search, seek, struggle, reach, listen, strain, claw-and-scratch, for Him. We must cast aside all unnecessary weight. When a man is stranded in the desert, about to die from thirst, he cares little about the pack he is carrying, or the treasures he lugs, he only cares to get a drink and casts of the heavy weight that only holds him back from his life-saving water.
  
  
  
• I have seen You in the Temple, and have seen Your stength and glory. (v 2)
  
  --> Remember the things that God has one. Let those things, and the glory of God documented in the Word of God INSPIRE us to seek for God. In remembering the sweet taste of a cool drink of water do we hasten our walk toward the source. Let the remembrance of the sweet taste of God's love and the Holy Spirit quicken our hearts to seek him, to search for him, to not be content with staying in the desert. It's not that the journey out of the desert is easy, nor is it short. But you never get out of what you won't leave.
  
  
• Because you love is better than life, I will praise you. I will praise you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in prayer to your name. (v 3-4)
  
  --> The words, "...all the days of my life..." come jumping out of the page to me this morning. David was a worshiper in all seasons. Sometimes it was worship in laments, sometimes in anger, sometimes in jubilant praise! But it was "all the days" of David's life, and it should be ours. Can I worship in spirit and in truth when I am in the desert? Am I that mature? Most of the time, no. But I can try, and make more effort, and ask God for his grace that is sufficient (as Paul wrote). Praise is something we should do every day of our life if just to acknowledge that God is God, and we are not. But if we understand the depth of God's love for us, even in the desert, we are compelled to do it in response to that love.

Labels: Christian Life, Mediation, Wonder, Worship Leading

In Early January hundreds of worship leaders all over the United States (and the world) converge on a little town in Colorado to worship together, fellowship, and spend time with God. Melisa and I will be packing up our winter coats and gloves (once we find them...they've been in storage for a year) and flying to Denver.

Melisa is part of the event staff, so she has been extra-busy for the last couple of weeks (she also coordinated a wedding). I told her to take an evening off last night, and I forced her to put on her slippers and curl up in her comfy chair to watch Dance Wars, and fall asleep early. She made it through Dance Wars, but at 10pm, I noticed that she had slipped away to the bedroom and was fast asleep. She needed a good nite's rest.


I'm hoping for some rest at Estes myself, the type of rest we call "resting in the Lord". I am on a new journey in my faith as of late, and I am looking forward to a week that is dedicated to seeking Him. Not only do we need to rest our bodies, but we need rest for our souls, for our hearts. The world is constantly bombarding us with all sorts of garbage, it will be nice to be in a secluded place surrounded by brothers and sisters with the same mindset.

I'm also just looking forward to seeing my sister, and friends from all over the country, especially my buddy, Jason. It's going to be fun.

Labels: Worship Leading

My wife and I were appointed to lead worship this morning at church, like we've done many times before. We drove to the church in a state of semi-slumber at 7:30 AM this morning. Melisa hoped that we'd have time to stop at real Starbucks for a pick-me-up, but we were supposed to have the building opened by 7:45, so that wasn't a possibility.

It's been a crazy weekend. Melisa's Mom is a dance instructor and performer, and suffered a fairly bad sprained hip on Friday night, and we were hanging out with her at the hospital until 3:30 AM on Friday nite, and had a very long and busy Saturday. This meant that Sunday morning, we were like zombies. Normally we do our vocal warm-ups on the way to the church, but neither of us had the energy (nor the required mood to make embarrassing hissing, buzzing, and humming sounds required by vocal exercises). So we cranked a CD and kind of sang a lot to try to wake up.

We flubbed our way through the rehearsal of the set of five songs, and went to prayer. I was feeling weak. I was struggling with the music, struggling with my guitar lines, and struggling to focus on God (the whole point). After we prayed with the pastors, we began the praise and worship set.

Our community came ready to sing and participate, and they jumped in right away as we started out with MercyMe's arrangment of "Angels We Have Heard On High". And there's just something about unity in Worship! All of a sudden all of the disjointedness that I had been feeling began to melt away.

Melisa went on to do the middle three songs, including a new song she wrote titled, "The Likeness Of You". It's a song on the same theme as "Change My Heart Oh God", and a very good song, I must say. I'm proud of the wife's effort on that one!

Anyway, I flubbed my way through the set, and at the end of the service a friend told me how great the set was this morning, and how he felt like the whole team was working together very well, and how much he enjoyed it.

It was nice to get some encouragement (I needed it this morning), but also humbling to remember that leading worship is more about staying out of God's way than it is playing the songs right and sounding good. In our weakness, God's strength really comes through. It's just another reminder that it really is all about Him, and a warning to those of use who lead worship to lead in confidence of Him, and not lean on our own abilities. And the more skilled you become as a musician and leader, the easier it is to forget that concept.

Labels: Worship Leading

Ah, the sweet sound of a Telecaster crashing into a delay pedal and then careening in to the glowing vacuum tubes, then resonating out of the greenback speakers of an AC30. It's a poetic collision of electrons that delights the ears, and wows the senses. It makes me want to weep for joy.

Melisa and I were able to join some friends of ours for an evening service at a local Vineyard, and their venue allows the band to crank it up a notch. The church I serve at is a little A-frame building that isn't as conducive to cranked amp tone, so it is a treat to really get the tubes warmed up on my AC30 from time to time when playing as a guest at larger churches.

I've been overdosing on my Les Paul lately, and neglecting my Tele a little bit too much. For some reason, I grabbed the Tele from the start last night, and gave the Les Paul a night off. And wow, did I have some fun. Getting to crank up the AC30 allowed the tele to have both bite and power. When I have to keep my amp turned down, all I get is the bite with the tele. But man, if you get those greenbacks pushing some air, the Tele comes to life.

It was a joy to play last night with abandon, and really make a joyful noise unto the Lord. I don't often get to just play lead guitar any more, due to my commitment to leading worship, so get that chance is a treat for me.

I think I'm realizing that some of my dissatisfaction with some of my gear is due to the fact that it is being mis-used. Electric guitars, by their very invention, are meant to be loud. My success at getting a decent electric guitar sound at a reduced volume has been limited. I think that's why I've been stuck on the Les Paul lately, because it has a chunkier sound at the lower volumes I play at during our weekly worship services. Obviously, the trade off is worth it. Leading a congregation in songs requires us to put others first, and to consider that most people can't tell the difference between the sound of a Fender and Gretsch.

I've been experimenting with an Epiphone Valve Junior head. It's a 5 watt class A tube amplfier that can produce some great sounds at low volume. So far, I've had mixed success. I've done some mods on the amp's circuit that have helped bring out the sparkle I'm looking for, but I've got more work to do. But it sure was nice to get to play 'the real thing' last night and remember why I got so excited in the first place about electric guitar and its potential for musical expression in worship music.

Labels: Gear, Worship Leading

Earth's Moon is Rare Oddball
by Dave Mosther
SPACE.COM

The moon formed after a nasty planetary collision with young Earth, yet it looks odd next to its watery orbital neighbor. Turns out it really is odd: Only about one in every 10 to 20 solar systems may harbor a similar moon.

New observations made by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of stellar dust clouds suggest that moons like Earth's are—at most—in only 5 to 10 percent of planetary systems.

"When a moon forms from a violent collision, dust should be blasted everywhere," said Nadya Gorlova, an astronomer at the University of Florida in Gainesville who analyzed the telescope data in a new study. "If there were lots of moons forming, we would have seen dust around lots of stars. But we didn't."

Gorlova and her team detail their findings in today's issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

Violent birth

Shortly after the sun formed about 4.5 billion years ago, scientists think a vagrant planet as big as Mars smacked into infant Earth and ripped off a chunk of our home's smoldering mantle. The rocky, dusty leftovers fell into orbit around our wounded planet, eventually coalescing into the moon we see today.

The scenario is unique among other moons in the solar system, which formed side-by-side with their planet or were captured by its gravity. Gorlova and her colleagues looked for the dusty signs of similar smash-ups around 400 stars, all about 30 million years old—roughly the age of our sun when Earth's moon formed.

Read the rest of the article

The cosmos is beyond my comprehension. It is interesting to hear scientists try to explain the most incredible, incomprehensible things in human terms. I'm not knocking science, because Science gives us insight into the incredible wisdom, creativity, and intelligence of God's creation. But I think God confounds the scientists by doing things they just can't explain. It leaves us in awesome wonder of Him.

Labels: Christian Life, Wonder, Worship Leading

1 | Blessed Be The Name |Redman |Scott & Melisa Co-lead
2 | Love Me Like You Do | Vineyard | Scott
3 | Mighty To Save | Hillsong | Scott
4 | Above All Else | Vineyard | Melisa
5 | Glory In The Highest | Tomlin | Melisa

We kicked it old-school with Blessed Be The Name, which was a song we had not done on Sunday morning for a long time. This song has been over-used by the contemporary church to the point that I got a bit tired of this great song. I like to pull it out sparingly, but when I do, the people love to sing it to God.

Love Me Like You Do is another song I've done too many times, but it felt right to put some familiar songs at the top of the set. We've been doing several new songs in the recent weeks, and putting two familiar songs at the top seemed to allow many in our congregation to dive right into worship at the-get-go.

Mighty To Save, a song that I've long wanted to include in our worship repertoire, is a powerful song. The power in the message of this song is just incredible. I love singing about our mighty King. I remember the old kids-chorus we sang in kids church, "What a mighty God we server what a mighty God we serve.....angels bow before him, heaven and earth adore him, what a mighty God we serve." Remember that one? Well, Mighty To Save is another great song expressing that same message.

Melisa did a beautiful job leading Above All Else. What a beautiful song, and one that serves as both a reminder that we need Him above anything else, and also serves as a prayer-in-song to God.

Glory in Highest is seeming more and more appropriate as we approach the first Sunday of Advent next Sunday. I love the line:

You are the first
You go before
You are the last
Lord, You're the encore

Chris nailed it right there, and the powerful ending to the song is loud and anthemic. I'm sure that the praise in heaven is going to be louder than anything we've ever experienced on earth. Can you imagine the throng that will be praising at the throne?!

Our good friend, Chris Manus delivered a powerful message as part of our series on the book of James. He led a ministry time that allowed brothers and sisters in our church to wash each others' feet. I'm a little squeamish about foot-washing......it kind of bugs me......I prefer to be the washer, because being the washee is so humbling. And I don't like a fuss made of me. But Chris brought me forward to have my feet washed in front of the entire church. It was humbling. It was kind of weird, but it was good. It was also wonderful to see others getting down on their knees to wash the feet of their neighbors. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Labels: Set Lists, Worship Leading

Today is the day I put out the worship team schedule for my church. It is one of the tasks I take on for our worship community, and it is amazing how fast the weeks go by and my schedule gets outdated. It seems like every time I send out the email and post the web-page, I get this "frustrated" feeling. I always wish that I could do more to minister, train, and pastor our worship community, but don't have the time or resources to do it the way I'd like to.

The Volunteer Leader: 100% heart, 100% vision, 10% of the time of a full-time leader. I'm one of those volunteer leaders that can't quite live up to my own vision. I have a heart to see our worship community gathering from time to time, and going deeper than just doing worship songs together on Thursday nites and Sunday mornings. I have a heart to see our youth raised up in leading worship. I have a heart (and some of the skill) to write songs and record them. My heart longs to do all these things, if only I had the time!!!

So, I have to let go of certain expectations, and serve God the best I can in the place He has put me. Being a volunteer leader also reminds me that my fellow team members are also grinding out the commute, the job, the commute, a quick dinner, and running out the door to make rehearsals and meetings. It's not easy, but the passion for Him, and to see Him worshiped compels us.

Sometimes I get down on myself, and wonder if I'm doing a good job at being a leader. But I pray that there is grace for the time and skills that I lack. I think maybe when I'm down on myself is when I'm relying mostly on myself and not on Him. When I'm really relying on Him, the struggle goes away, and I find rest.

Could we all be doing more as leaders? Maybe? Should we? Maybe....and maybe NOT. Some of us are already stretched. But all of us should do what we do in His strength, and not ours. That's a fairly basic belief of our faith, but I forget it all too often.

Labels: Worship Leading

If you are able to come to the Live Oak Vineyard this week, please do come and join us. Terry Butler is going to be sharing both in song and in the Word this week, and it will be a treat. Terry will have a special message that will definitely bless all who attend. He also will be leading the praise and worship time tomorrow morning.

Directions to the Live Oak Vineyard are here.

Labels: Worship Leading

My wife and I will be leading worship at the Pomona Vineyard this weekend, which is our neighboring church down the 210 freeway. We are looking forward to worshiping together with them. Here is our set list for Sunday.

• Alleluia (Sheri Carr / Stand In Awe / VMUSA)
• Everlasting God (Brenton Brown)
• All I have (Tim Dobbelmann, Gabriel Brennan, Nate Brennan/ Stand In Awe /VMUSA)
• More Than A Friend (Jeremy Riddle / VMUSA / Just Like Heaven)
• Glory In The Highest (Chris Tomlin / See The Morning)
• Ministry: Rescue (Jared Anderson /Vertical Music)

Labels: Set Lists, Worship Leading

Here's the set list for tomorrow at the Live Oak Vineyard. My wifey will be co-leading with Milk. Our buddy, Jerod can't make it tomorrow, so I'll set in on guitar for him.

• Famous One (Jessie Reeves & Chris Tomlin/Sixsteps)
• Holy, Holy (Nathen Fellingham...as done by Tim Hughes)
• More Than A Friend (Jeremy Riddle/VMUSA/Varietal)
• Surrender (Marc James/VMUK)
• All Hail Jesus (James Hellings/VMUK/VMUSA)

Labels: Set Lists, Worship Leading

This Sunday marks the one year mark for the new Live Oak Vineyard. We are a Vineyard church that was established on the first Sunday of July in 2006 when two churches becamse one. It has been a wonderful year overall that has brough a lot of great new friendships into our lives. It has been a year of deep committment by a couple of hundred people to establishing a new community. Good stuff.

This Sunday is special, so we are going to celebrate and thank God for our first year together. We will be doing the following songs;

• Alleluia (Sheri Carr / "Stand In Awe" VMUSA)
• Awesome Is The Lord Most High (Chris Tomlin / "See The Morning")
• As Children (Jeremy Riddle / "In His Presence" VCF Anaheim)
• If You Say Go (Diane Thiel / "Sweetly Broken" VMUSA)
• Forever You (Gavin Thompson / "Sweetly Broken Club" VMUSA)
• Everlasting God (Brenton Brown)
• Bless His Name (Tony Sanchez / "Sweetly Broken" VMUSA)
  

See you tomorrow!

Labels: Set Lists, Worship Leading

Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise..... Ps33:3


I recently pulled out a very old pocket Bible that was given to me when I was in fifth grade. I cracked it open for some reading earlier today and noticed that I had scratched a note in my 11-year-old scribble writing a note that said, "Psalm 33:3 A verse on how to worship".

I thought to myself......Wow, I think that verse must have sunken into me at a young age, because I'm often told that I'm too loud, and that I do too many new songs. The skilfully part....well...I can only say that I do my best. :)

Labels: Christian Life, Worship Leading

Joel Klampert at CECWorship Resources Blog has a cool weekly post of his set list, and I've borrowed his idea. Here is our set list for June 24th:

Set 1

• For Me (VMUK)
• All I Have (VMUSA - Stand In Awe Playlist)

Set 2

• Pour Our My Heart (Vintage VMUSA Classic)
• You Are Wonderful (VMUSA - Never Looking Back)
• If I Have Not Love (Redman - Facedown)
• Glory In The Highest (Tomlin - See The Morning)

Observations:

"All I Have" is a song that seems to be striking a chord with our congregation. They love singing this song.

"Glory In The Highest" was first sung last week by my wifey, and she did great. I wanted to run this one again to reinforce it and get people more familiar with the song while they remember it from last week. I love this song, because its' all about Him, and not about us. We Vineyard folk are often always singing about "us" and our need for Him, and not to "Him" and about "Him".

"You Are Wonderful" is just another great song by Darren Clarke. Simplicity is the strength of this song. And it's another song that speaks to "Him" and of "Him".

It was a wonderful time of worship, and it folded around Jon's message of "extravagant love". I must admit, that in the second set, our songs and words didn't feel extravagant when compared to Mary's outrageous act of love and the tears she dropped on Jesus' feet. It left me feeling like I must spend more time in the word and with Him and get a revelation of how worthy He is, and how much He loves me and has done for me.

Labels: Set Lists, Worship Leading

Tim Hughes has a blog post from a couple of days ago that talks about "worship values". He has some great insight.

He lists them as:

• Christ Centred
• Holy Spirit Led
• Real
• Intimate
• Sensitive
• Transforming

You can read his post here.

Labels: Worship Leading

Charlie Hall (SixSteps Records/Passion Artist) writes:

Of course we know, and have been hearing for a while now, worship is not just the songs we sing. It is a life laid down that says “burn me up God. Use my money, time, energy, skills, family, job, all I have. Help me make you a big deal and pull the attention on you.” Songs are one vehicle that helps a group of worshippers do this. These songs come along and they inspire, remind, and punctuate the life of a Jesus seeker. This being said, the goal of worship is not to just to sing songs.

The goal is Jesus, to peel back the beautiful curtain of “the song” and see the one the song is about. Music, songs, art, are vehicles to pull back the curtain. They reveal Him. When we gather around meeting with God, we can know He is there. But simply knowing He is there and treating Him as the centerpiece of the room is different. We should pull Him to the center of the room and let everyone look on Him and say the most beautiful things that can flow from our hearts.

That is how I approach leading. The songs are built to honor and convey things to him and about Him through art and creativity. As they are sung, people begin agreeing, “yes, God is like that. Look how wonderful He is.” Songs can be sung as songs but there are days when I am tired of the numbness of just singing. Familiarity to anything can create numbness. I want the songs to open up the windows and throw open the curtains to God. I want to pick songs that will engage my heart and leave room for new songs to come and be opened in that moment.

Read the rest at worshiptogether.com

Charlie nails it on the head here. For some reason, Christians fixate on the familiar. I see it all over the Christian sub-culture. If you flip on any Christian CCM radio station for a day, you will hear Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name" about 8 times, sung by 8 different artists, with 8 "cool, new arrangements".

I love Charlie's perspective. Familiarity creates numbness to the message in a song you've sung a hundred times. But something new and fresh brings a song to life, or re-visiting a song that has been off the set-list for weeks or even years.

Be sure to click the link to read the rest! It's good stuff.

Hat Tip: Dan Wilt tipped me off to this article.

Labels: Wonder, Worship Leading

Vineyard Music USA has a preview of "Stand In Awe", their next Playlist release. We've already been doing four songs off of this upcoming CD at the Live Oak Vineyard, because we heard them on earlier club releases.

"Allleluia", "Stand In Awe", "All I Have", and "God Of All Glory" have all been songs that have touched our church.

Some of the songs have been re-recorded and re-arranged, and you can listen to them at VineyardMusicUSA.com.

Labels: Music, Worship Leading

Inside Worship Magazine presented an article by Matt Frise with some ideas on humanizing worship spaces for those of us that are in buildings that aren't as grandiose as a European Cathedral.

Vineyardwestern.com has this article available, here.

Labels: Worship Leading