Monday morning recap for Sunday - May 24, (on Tuesday)

On Tuesday - but come on! Yesterday was a holiday.

Patrick Bush and the Youth Worship Team led worship on Sunday, and did a terrific job. It's easy to leave town when you know that things will be SO well done while you're out.

They opened with Let God Arise, by Tomlin.

After the Call to Worship they sang
Amazing God (Brenton Brown), Reign in Us (Starfield), Our God Saves (P. Baloche), Jesus Paid it All (with the Crowder Tag), and Lead me to the Cross (Hillsong United).

For our offering, they sang From the Inside Out (Hillsong United).

This weekend . . .

This weekend Mandy and Drake and I are up in the mountains with the singles' group from Oak Mountain. We've been leading worship, and I taught a little bit last night. Great group of folks.

Yesterday, Mandy and Drake and I loaded up in the truck and drove to this place in the middle of nowhere with a weird banjo player, and rented some tubes to go tubing down this river. Easy trip. Very relaxing. Much fun. Mandy and I stayed close through the 2 mile journey down the river, most of the time having our tubes locked via my feet. Drake wanted no part of that. He wanted to be on his own - which was fine. The current wasn't strong, and he had a life-vest, but the water was - one degree above freezing. So cold in fact that on the way home I thought my truck was wet - no no no. My back and butt were cold . . .

Anyway - We floated down the river and stayed in the current - but Drake, wanting to be "on his own" drifted over towards the bank at one point - and some guy had just cut his grass, and there were weeds and grass clippings and flower petals all in this fairly still water that Drake had now found himself in. So I paddled over - and stuck out my foot, and said "grab my foot." He grabs it, then pushes me away - thinking he would push himself back into the current - only to find that he pushed himself farther into the stagnant mess. I gave him the "now watcha gonna do?" as he had pushed me back into the current. So he then proceeds to hop out of his tube (water is only 2 feet deep), and immediately SCREAMS because the water is so cold, and now he's waist deep in grass clippings - gross. "DADDY, DADDY, DADDY!"

So I paddle back over and pick the boy up and dump him back into his tube. We had a good lesson when we got out - he was cold and wet - but had grabbed the foot to begin with - he'd be dry, and warm. My thought? How many times does the Father swim back over after we've declared we want to be on our own - only to pick us out of the grass clippings, or weeds, or absolute muck and filth, and put us back into our tube . . .

Monday morning recap for Sunday - May 17

Yesterday's sermon focus was on the 2nd -3rd of our new mission statement "To Exalt Christ by equipping every member to seek grace from God, share grace in community, and show grace to all."

Our Youth Choir opened the service with Lifesong. Let me say this - There's too many kids that want to be musicians that aren't participating in the things that make you into a musician. When I was 16, I wanted to be just like Elton John or Billy Joel . . . but I was marching in the band, singing in the choir, playing bass in the show choir, performing in musicals, and playing piano at church. I didn't limit my musical exposure to what I thought was "necessary" to fulfill my musical aspirations - I used every musical opportunity available to me. In fact, I can't think of anyone in my profession that didn't involve themselves in every musical opportunity afforded to them. YOUTH - ask Patrick about his musical background. He may surprise you.

SO - parents - if you're kids are wanting to be singer/songwriters, that play acoustic guitar and sing, PLEASE, get them involved in youth choir. They learn HOW to sing, how to read music, music theory, blend, balance, pitch . . .


After our call to worship, we sang Come Christians Join to Sing, Your Grace is Enough and Mighty to Save. We then sang Immortal Invisible (God Only Wise). I love the guitar interludes, played by Jack on the electric guitar. The musicality and incredible melodies he comes up with are amazing. We closed the worship set with Never Let Go, by Matt Redman.

RE - Monday morning recap for last Sunday May

So I've been told that my recap of yesterday's time of worship wasn't fluffy enough . . .

Yesterday's worship service was a 1st for me at Oak Mountain, in that it was just me at the piano, without a band or vocal team. Interesting - and as big of a contrast from last week's Super-Colossal as we can get.

We opened with Come Ye Sinners, by Cambridge. I played it in the key of E, and probably started with an E2 in the RH, with an E octave in the LH.

After our call to worship, we sang Forever and Indescribable which were also both in E - on a side note: churches - if you're doing songs recorded by Chris Tomlin in the same keys that Chris recorded - you're singing them WAY too high for your congregations. Drop Indescribable to E. You Gave Your Life Away was in the key of G, and Bob stopped us in the middle of the song during the 2nd service to point out the text on the 2nd half of the chorus "Your grace has broken every chain, my sins are gone, my debt's been paid, you gave you gave your life away for me . . . " I smile whenever we sing the bridge of this song because the congregation has a tendency to jump the gun on the second half "If I could . . . SING forever" there's lots of SSSSSSSSSSSS in the congregation as they jump in on the "and" of 4, and the tune actually starts on the 1.

Following that, we sang "Be Thou My Vision" in the key of D - which I think is a half-step LOWER than the hymnal. E Flat's are hard for ladies to reach at 9:15 in the morning . . .

For our offering song we sang Come Quickly, by Tommy Walker.

Monday morning recap for Sunday - May 10

We opened with Come Ye Sinners, by Cambridge.

After our call to worship, we sang Forever, Indescribable, You Gave Your Life Away, and Be Thou My Vision

For our offering song we sang Come Quickly, by Tommy Walker.

I've managed . . .

to NOT watch the Sound of Music the whole way through, ever . . . but this made me smile. A lot.

Monday morning recap for Sunday - May 3rd

Yesterday was our 20th Anniversary Celebration. Great morning of worship. We had Rev. Barker in attendance and he offered up our pastoral prayer. Also showed a 13 minute video highlighting the founding of the church as well as the impact of the church through some testimonies. We will post it as soon as we "can."

We opened with Awesome is the Lord Most High

After our call to worship, we sang Sing to the King, Not to Us, and the Solid Rock. We followed that with Immortal Invisible, Everlasting God (the Brenton Brown version, NOT the harder-to-sing Lincoln Brewster version), and I am Free.

For our offering, we sang God of this City. Click here for the story behind that song - great background!

For our 20th Anniversary Offering, we sang To God Be the Glory, as arranged and recorded by Tommy Walker. Worship leaders - check it out, and do it with your congregation. GREAT arrangement.

I'm on vacation this week. Here's some ridiculousness for you to enjoy.

OOPS!

Dear Mac -

I accidently upgraded and serviced my non-upgradeable or serviceable iMac . . . Sorry.

See you Sunday

Make sure you click here for the details on Sunday's service and logistics.