PRESSING ON

WORSHIP TEAM CHRISTMAS VIDEO #7,8,9

2011-12-19T23:00:00.001-06:00

ALL THE POOR AND POWERLESS
Led by Jacob and Meredith Sooter

CHRISTMAS MEDLEY
led by The Burlock Family

GLORY IN THE HIGHEST
led by Matt Mccoy

This is an original written by Jacob Sooter

WORSHIP TEAM CHRISTMAS VIDEO #4,5,6

2011-12-12T22:44:00.001-06:00

THE EARTH STOOD STILL
Led by me and Meredith Sooter

really pleased to have led this song. The video edit by Trent Jones is incredible.

EMMANUEL
Led by Eddie Hoagland

This is an original by Eddie, one of our 2 main campus worship directors. Whether in an initmate setting like this or last year when we played this with a full orchestra it always retains that 'epic' feel by the chorus.

HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING
Led by Dan Sumpter (HBC Crystal Lake)

Dan brings all the enthusiasm needed for this song.
Also another drumming oppertunity for me. Totally chuffed the guys let me play.

WORSHIP TEAM CHRISTMAS VIDEO #2+3

2011-12-04T17:43:00.000-06:00

GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN
led by The Burlock Family

THE FIRST NOEL
led by Seth Mcconkey (HBC Niles)

WORSHIP TEAM CHRISTMAS VIDEO #1

2011-11-29T19:59:00.001-06:00

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
led by Kyle Fredricks (HBC Aurora)
and Celby Hadley (HBC Gospel Choir)

This was a pretty special one for me. I got to fulfill a dream by playing drums on a live recording. :) I'm really proud of our team as this was a completely live audio recording too.

more coming soon...

WE'RE UNITED

2011-11-21T20:21:00.007-06:00

A few months ago, Pastor James asked me try to write a song about unity in the church. The specific request was 'a lot like Bob Gillman's 'Bind us together' but with a driving beat and a celebratory chorus.'
He then started unpacking concepts and ideas of things to say, quoting from Psalm 133 'Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!'. It's extremely useful to write when someone gives you a theme, scriptures and an arm full of quotes that come from a biblically saturated mind. One might say, a lot like when sitting in a Sunday church message ;)

Pretty quickly after my first draft this became a co-write with James...
Version 1 had an entirely different chorus that we cut.
Version 2 we changed a bunch of lines. Line 1 and 2 switched around etc etc. We also dropped the lyrical bridge. There was a line i thought was fresh about being in God's family, but i'm thankful now that it never made the cut.
Version 3 added the new chorus, a few melodical tweaks and the choice to do an instrumental.

I'm glad we stuck with it. It's an interesting song. Some may say not very cool - but it's been well received at our church and we've heard much feedback on the uniqueness of it's topic.

here's the chord chart in C
here's the capo chart in G
here's the link to the song if you can't see the file below

WEEKEND REVIEW #59

2011-11-08T00:21:00.002-06:00

Incredible video played this weekend at our church, capturing the last 6 weeks as James has led us through the series on change and personal revival...

1. Lift up the name
2. Your love is amazing
- set up for open mic scripture
3. Not for a moment (new harvest song)
- open mic scripture reading
4. Stronger
- prayer

special: Light shine in (new harvest song)

WEEKEND REVIEW #58

2011-09-19T23:39:00.000-05:00

This was Harvest's 23rd anniversary weekend.
Choir, Horns, Baptisms and James kicked off a new series, 'Lord, change me'

1. Hosanna (Praise is rising)
2. We're united - new song (video coming soon)
3. I call you faithful
4. Praise to the Lord the Almighty
5. All Glory

special: Never Once

SOMETHINGS

2011-08-26T17:00:00.002-05:00

something worth reading:
1. a challenging letter to worship leaders that i agree with 85% of.

something i didn't know:
2. Apparently we need to smoke cigarette's to keep Bible's on the shelf.

something that i needed to see:
3. if i was invited to lead worship for a weekend at this church... i'd consider accepting. But just for one weekend. It all get's fun at 30seconds in:

WEEKEND REVIEW #57

2011-07-24T13:56:00.000-05:00

Great weekend at Harvest in Elgin. Something special happened at the 5pm service on Saturday. Although the spirit is present at all services, we'll never know why it sometimes chooses to fall heavier in the room more than others. A lot of clapping, shouts of joy and weeping. A really special moment to be a part of as we kept the set going for a few extra minutes.

Opening Special: High and Lifted up - Choir
1. Come, Christians, Join to sing
2. Awesome King
3. I call You faithful
(Celby and i headed down into the congregation during this song and had people shout out attributes of God that we then had the choir sing)

Baptism Video recap. (I could watch this over and over!)

5. The Stand
- bridge of 'Forever Reign' - "My heart will sing, no other name, Jesus, Jesus"
- chorus of 'Jesus You are Worthy' - "Worthy is the lamb that once was slain..."

Special: Declare Your name - Choir

MATT REDMAN - 10,000 REASONS

2011-07-18T12:42:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year i attended the recording of Matt Redman’s new record ‘10,000 Reasons’ in Atlanta.

Having grown up as a young leader watching Matt lead thousands in worship every summer it was spiritually refreshing to be back under a fresh showering of what i have come to regard over the years as one of our modern day psalmists.

On the first night of the recording as Matt taught us the song ‘Holy’ there was one of those moments, and lasting memories - when the spirit of God falls in the room and you can tell everyone senses it, acknowledges it and then responds. To witness God choose to do that through a song is a special moment. Other songs like ‘10,000 Reasons’, ‘Never Once’, ‘We are the free’ and ‘O this God’ produced a similar response in the room.

When capturing powerful live worship events, there’s always a fear they can be ruined in post production - but Nathan Nockels again produces the special sauce he used for ‘Facedown’ to capture the powerful annointing of these songs, which i believe will trancend to the hearts of many as if they had been there for the recording itself.

The depth of lyric stands shoulder to shoulder with only very few other offerings in the last 5yrs that i can think of. I want so much for this record, even just through one song to add a new color to the fabric of our current worship culture.

It’s fantastic. Pick it up on July 12th.

VAIL COLORADO

2011-06-29T12:32:00.006-05:00

i just got back from a few days in Vail, Colorado. We were leading worship for the Acts29 Lead Pastors and wives retreat. Leading people in worship that lead other people in worship is always electrifying. We poured ourselves out and in return got spiritually fed ourselves.

ALL GLORY - INTERNATIONAL VERSION

2011-05-13T12:48:00.002-05:00

this week i read a tweet by Matt Boswell that said ‘If the Church never sings one of your songs, your reward is Christ, and He is better’. I agree. I also wrote back and said… ‘and if your church does sing one of your songs, it isn’t really your song anymore’. Video’s like this prove that to me. When your church takes ownership of one of your songs, it then becomes their anthem. With ‘all glory’ it has been a privilege simply as a witness to see that when God gathers a wind behind a song and an idea, the writer just fades away and ALL the glory goes to Him.

IDENTITY CHECK

2011-04-16T12:38:00.000-05:00

this week i was in Chicago for the Gospel Coalition conference. During a message by Tim Keller, i heard him say "You're not saved because of the quality of your faith. You're saved because of the object of your faith". That really hit me because i often catch my identity as a Christian beginning to wander toward how well i'm doing as a believer (or even a worship leader), rather than simply grounding it on the personal relationship i have with Jesus Christ alone as my Savior. I am saved because of what Christ has done for me, not because of what i can do for Him.

As worshippers who are on an elevated stage for the weekend services we rightfully pursue excellence in music and performance. We desire to provide something pleasing to God and accessible to our congregation in worship to Him. However, i challenge you this weekend to keep your guard up and not let your identity as worship leaders and musicians rest upon the 'quality of worship set' more than the 'object of our worship'.

I'LL BRING YOU MORE THAN A SONG

2011-02-25T12:39:00.000-06:00

Over the past year i’ve learnt more than ever that God seeks songwriters to simply write as an act of worship to Him. The success that a writer feels is too caught up in the success of each song - and that is a very tough mindset to break.

A volunteer drummer and full time student at our church, Josh, was recently given an old car for FREE!. He was so proud and humbled to receive it - and it was such a joy to have him show it off to me. In his eyes that car is as new as the day it came out of the dealer. He’s so excited that he can now freely get around to whatever locations he chooses. Wherever Josh drives to, soon enough he’s getting excited again to jump back in his vehicle and go somewhere new.

I want to see my songwriting like Josh sees that car. A vehicle to learn how to drive better in, and to take me to locations i’ve never visited before. I don’t want to ever forget that the gift of songwriting was given to me for free - and never the promise that a song, like a location, will be a reason that i’ll never have to get back in the car again and there won’t be more places to visit.

The locations are a joy to arrive at, but as writers, we’re being called to visit, then get back in the car and keep driving somewhere new - to see and say new things about our great God. If we are faithful to simply… write… and hold loosely to whether the songs will work with congregations or not, i truly believe God will still be fully honored.

And in return, we will still find ourselves experiencing a true satisfaction of writing as an offering of worship and less about the longevity or success of a song.

BEST NEW SONG THIS CHRISTMAS

2010-12-14T20:13:00.000-06:00

A teenage girl and her soon-to-be
A simple trip far as they could see
The sky was clear and the hour serene
But did they know what the night would bring?

Lonely hearts strung across the land
They’d been waiting long for a healing hand
My heart was there and I felt a chill
When love came down and the earth stood still
When love came down and the earth stood still

Shepherds stared at the starry skies
Tasting grace that would change their lives
The angels trembled and the demons did too
For they knew very well what pure grace would do

the hope of the world on a baby boy
I remember Him well like I was there that night
My heart was there and I felt the chill
When love came down and the earth stood still
When love came down and the earth stood still
When love came down and the earth stood still

WEEKEND REVIEW #56 +BAPTISM VIDEO

2010-11-07T22:47:00.002-06:00

- Call to Worship
1. O Worship the King
2. Unchanging (this was 'bring back')
3. Jesus, Faithful King (How Great is the love)

- communion set-up
"Last weekend in the message from Exodus we studied the Passover together. What a vivid illustration foreshadowing our Lord and King, Jesus Christ, being crucified on a cross.

We felt the tension of seeing a live lamb on the stage, a knife pulled, and we gasped with the thought of the blood being spilt from the little, helpless lamb.

Blood required, needed for the doorposts, an identification of allegiance to God who would save and protect from the 10th plague.

Now, this week, we come to our Passover, no need for another lamb to be brought on stage. Jesus, the Lamb of God, has been sacrificed, once and for all, for the sins of the world.

As we take communion, we reflect on Christ’s sacrifice because He wanted to save us from our sins. If you are not a follower of Christ, let the communion elements pass by. If you are a follower of Christ, His sacrifice is for you, remember what He has done, take time to meditate on the forgiveness of your sins and the riches of His grace."

(as we played an instrumental of 'how deep the Father's love for us' we ran the lyrics on the screen so that people could use the words to meditate as the elements were passed)

- taking of elements
4. Worthy is the Lamb
5. Stronger

- Announcements
Offering Special: This is our God

this was the Baptism highlight video from the previous weekend.

Spontaneous Baptisms, October 30/31 from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.

WEEKEND REVIEW #55

2010-11-04T17:01:00.000-05:00

note: we've been using an instrumental of our offering special as the prelude music. It's working as a nice way of acclimating to the special music before people sit down and hear it performed. It's the little things :)

you can click on the images below to enlarge them..

VISUAL CANDY

2010-11-01T13:55:00.002-05:00

Really excited about what our newly tuned video production dept are creating here at Harvest in Elgin. Here are 2 recent video's to share with you...

our new series at Harvest is called 'Get healthy'. I'm loving everything i'm learning.
here's a excellent intro video the guys made for this weekend that explains the whole series...

next, we recently used one of Meredith's songs as an offertory special. Coming from a family with adopted children, this song was written about a young boy Meredith met in Haiti who stirred her heart for further for adoption. The people in this video are all adoptive families from Harvest...

I SURRENDER ALL

2010-10-13T15:24:00.000-05:00

Jacob Sooter and i wrote a new version of 'I Surrender all'. Same verse lyrics but with a new melody - and entirely new chorus and bridge.

If you can get past my pitchy vocal through the board mix, you get the idea of the song. It was received better than we thought (not all our new songs are received well!). It's one of those hymn re-makes that our people caught onto immediately and embraced.

all to Jesus, i surrender
all to Him i freely give
i will ever love and trust Him
in His presence, live

all to Jesus, i surrender
humbly at His feet i bow
worldly pleasures, all forsaken
take me Jesus now.

I surrender all
I surrender all
all to You for all You've yet to do
I surrender all

all to Jesus, i surrender
now i feel the sacred flame
oh the joy of full salvation
glory to His name

come fire, come rain
come joy or earthly pain
Lord, hear me when i say 'You are worth it'
and if this offering costs me everything
Lord hear me when i say 'You are worth it,
You are worth it, You are worth it all'

IN JESUS NAME

2010-10-09T23:01:00.001-05:00

referring to this earlier post, here's the video of Jason Ingram teaching 'In Jesus name' from the new OSS record due out on Tuesday.
He starts singing the song around 5:20.

CANADIAN WORSHIP MUSIC'S BEST KEPT SECRET

2010-10-09T15:22:00.000-05:00

i remember the day Delirious? reached the top 20 on the UK charts and Simon Mayo, BBC Radio 1 DJ dubbed them 'Pop's best kept secret'. It wasn't just that Deirious? had been lying low til that point, but as they busted through the grass roots veil into the mainstream music scene, they did it with one almighty round house kick to the enemy's face.

I would commend to you that the very same thing is occuring from Canada's worship music movement. On tuesday of this coming week (12th) Joshua Seller's new record 'My King is coming' will be available to all who love to worship the Lord. In a similar vein to the musical muscle of Fee's 'hope rising' LP and the energetic ascension of Tomlin's stream of radio hits, this serious offering of Josh's has the clout to stand up shoulder to shoulder with any of those records flowing from the current musical spring of Christedom.

As we often cry out with the Psalmist, 'Restore to me the joy your salvation' (ps51), One of the forms in which God responds is by giving us vehicles of praise to ascribe worth to Him and communicate how awesome He is through the testimonies of other current psalmists. This vehicle is a GT500 in 'Joy' - and with Seller driving on a very specific route - get vertical. You'll hear as you progress through this 11 track offering, Joshua has a lyrical road map to drive his verses into choruses that shout of God's holiness, worthy-ness, worshipfulness, and glory. You won't find many records where that economy is so high - and refreshing to experience as it becomes a new friend to your album collection.

Lastly, what i really like the most about this record is Joshua. Having spent some quality time with him on and off stage in the last 4 years, it's been a joy for me to watch him find his feet pastorally and his direction sonically - and not without a distinctive and lovable energy on his part of that pursuit. I truly believe this record to be an accurate representation of Joshua's heart and life as a worshipper before the living almighty King who is coming.

Download it on your regional itunes this coming Tuesday.

THE VEHICLE, THE CONTENTS, THE DESTINATION

2010-10-08T13:36:00.000-05:00

the new One Sonic Society record is out on Tuesday. It's a blast.
the lead singer and chief songwriter of this band works closely with us here at Harvest. In the last few months he's been in discussion with Jacob and i about what our 'sound' or 'style' is or more importantly, what the 'default' is that we exist within so that we can step one foot out for eg: orchestra style weekends but keep one foot in the default sound and then return to the default after that. That's the musical side.

However, the worship industry is so saturated musically, and i would suggest visually as well right now in terms of what a worship team should 'look like' (sad, i know!) - that it almost terrifies me to even be part of the conversation. One thing i've observed with the OSS projects and the band itself is what they are pursuing to create is lyrically deep songs and skip the band idea and attempt to create a 'movement' in worship music. That resounds with me a lot. Not because i should therefore study and copy their every move, but because movements don't carry the baggage/damage that the worship industry has self inflicted on it's own appearance, bands and artists whom may even have pure motives in their ministries.

Great worship music doesn't just need to sound great to be great. Depth is greater than breadth. Musically, OSS have 2 former members of delirious? in the line up - so obviously it sounds a little like 'the d?' - and that only proves my theory to me. Musical excellence is a value, but is ONLY the vehicle. What matters is who's in the vehicle and where is it going - right? I don't have a car that looks like delirious - but i can carry the same passengers to the same destination - regular people, good songs to a great God.

I'm learning this... content and style are both good - but in a fist fight here at Harvest, content should win and drive you not to glorify the vehicle but the destination. Although for us that might be a long way off, i believe the OSS projects are creating a small path for us to follow in that.

I've been listening to the OSS 2 record 'sonic' for a few months now. It's a step up from the first e.p and is gonna create some waves in the worship world. I suggest you get your hands on a copy this coming Tuesday.

Highlights are:
Almighty God
In Jesus name
Now and forever.

HARVEST IS LOOKING FOR WORSHIP LEADERS....

2010-10-07T15:52:00.000-05:00

Over the last ten years I’ve been serving as a worship leader for Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago, IL. Every weekend we serve 13,000 people on five campuses in the suburbs and the city of Chicago with high-impact worship services. It was around the time I joined the staff that our Senior Pastor, James MacDonald fronted a vision to launch independent Harvest church plants across North America and beyond. There are now 53 Harvest Bible Chapel locations, 42 in North America and 11 overseas.

During that time, it has been incredible to watch a community of gifted worship leaders and pastors grow together in community with one another. Many Harvest Worship leaders are in regular contact with each other and take part in a number of gatherings for training and fellowship.

Some of these current Harvest Bible Chapels and future churches are looking for worship leaders to serve in their ministries.
If you're not currently serving at a church, would you be interested in filling that role?

Rory Noland, Worship Pastor here in Chicago and author of Heart of the Artist says, “Basically, we’re looking for someone, first of all, who has the musical chops needed to be an effective worship leader. The person has to be able to sing and/or play well enough to draw the congregation into worship as well as garner the respect of other musicians and be able to give basic musical direction to their players."

“Prospective worship leaders also need to be team builders, recruiting and mobilizing musicians and singers to be part of a worshiping community. Their job is to equip the saints and to set others up for meaningful ministry experiences. Worship leaders need to see themselves as pastors and shepherds, not just someone who stands in front of the congregation singing worship songs,” Noland explains.

“The worship leader should be someone that others enjoy being around. We have to respect each other and be able to work well together.

“And last but not least, worship leaders need to be mature spiritually, exhibiting humility and teach-ability. They need to read God’s Word regularly, pray, and practice private worship as a spiritual discipline. They also need to model godly character. Leading worship in church is high calling and should be treated as a privilege.”

If you are interested in using your gifts to serve the ministry of Harvest Bible Chapel and to find out more about the locations currently in need of worship leaders, e-mail me at arozier@harvestbiblechapel.org

Send me in one e-mail your resume and any samples of you leading worship (video from Youtube or Vimeo would be best, audio alone would be second choice)

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Andi Rozier
Associate Pastor of Worship Leadership
Harvest Bible Chapel

Read more about the Harvest Bible Fellowship

NICOL SPONBERG - ON OUR WAY HOME

2010-10-04T23:51:00.000-05:00

Nicol Sponberg's new record 'On our way home' releases today. Recorded over the last few years, this record is collection of songs of which some are Nicol's powerful response to the tragic death of her son Luke in 2008 - and some others that Nicol loves to sing when worshipping the Lord.

Two of my songs made it to this record - 'Downpour' written by my pastor, James MacDonald and I - and 'Hallelujah for the Cross' which i wrote a number of years ago and is still in use at Harvest here in Chicago.

It's been over a decade since i had a song featured on an album that wasn't my own. And as i'm humbled again that such an opportunity would come my way it's proof to me that once songs are completed, it's ultimately God that then chooses someone else besides the writer to favor a song in this way... and that, i love.

HITTING THE MARK.

2010-07-21T15:29:00.000-05:00

this guy has given me a new vehicle in worship to God of late.
really appreciating him.
his re-released album 'the medicine' is really the freshest and most creative worship project i've heard this year. Although 90% unaccessible in corporate worship, i've been starving for records that feed my soul in worship when the door is closed.

a close second are these guys...

TWITTER FOUL

2010-06-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

As a God fearing worshipper, I'm about to constructively critique something i know i'm guilty and convicted of myself. i'm therefore pointing no fingers at any individuals but instead i'm gonna be 'that guy' to fire a flare up for those who read this as a precautionary warning of a potentially self-exalting misdemeanor that i want to make you aware of..

the crime: 'Twitter Foul'.

here are the examples:

Example 1:
RT @littlebirdy: hey @culprit, God is powerfully moving through your worship leading. It's filled with Holy Sprit.

Crime: Stripping the Glory from the Lord.
What is your agenda in re-posting this if i asked you? does your flesh want everybody within range to know how awesome you've been? I know you'd say not. But tweet's that look like this are dangerously interpreted as absorbing glory that is not yours to receive. So, when someone tweets something like this about you, well, that is very encouraging and praise God for it, seriously! But instead of re-tweeting this, why don't you Direct Message @littlebirdy back in private and say, 'thanks mate, i'm humbled by your comment. Glory to God'. Matthew 6v1-4 comes to mind.

Example 2:
RT @littlebirdy: i love @culprit's album/blog/song, you can check it out here. www.justanotherworshipalbum.com

Crime: Shameless self promotion.
Please forgive me for asking this, but are you the guy or girl who writes your bio for your website in the 3rd person? Do you struggle with letting God consider the breadth of your ministry while you consider the depth - or the other way round even?

Imagine having that tweet as a conversation in a real group of people.
- eddie to small group of people (inc. culprit) "have you heard culprit's album, i like it a lot"
- culprit to same group "yes, have you heard my album, eddie likes it a lot"

awkward huh? I've heard a lot of people justify it as it being purely because of the song, album, blog etc, but i think when you're the person re-tweeting and it's your own product, it's hard to see pure motive and humility in 140 characters. (If you don't believe that, then try arguing with someone on text message. also EPIC fail.)

I'm talking about specifically re-tweeting. Don't get me wrong, Twitter can be used as a promotional tool, especially in it's grass roots culture - and a number of artists make their bread and butter on record sales so they need any platform they can get for promotion. So If you can gather as many followers as you want, and find a means to promote your product in a selfless way, then have at it! However, I'm ok though with being the guy that feels the need to say that when you re:tweet other people pushing your 'thang', as much as you innocently want it just to look about the product - it never looks that way.

Example 3:
Had a great time tonight. It was fun hanging out with you, @ChristianCelebrity. Say hi to your Mom.

Crime: Name dropping. (the elevation of yourself by using someone's status through their status (rank) and because they have more followers than you)

(disclaimer: on the basis that 'famous' people have/need friends and are usually telephone buddies with other famous people, i'm not sure this applies to them entirely. And because they in a sense are elevated in our perception, (hopefully not by a fear of man but by position) - whether they chose their fame or not, when they name drop, it's interpreted a lot more as banter on a level field)

name dropping for nobodies like me: I did this about a week ago, and even though @thatperson would (i hope?) call me a real-life friend, as soon as i did it, i knew how it would appear - and thought 'EPIC FAIL'. Bottom line on this one is, you just know when someone is 'famous' or not. That person probably didn't choose to be surrounded by hoards of people who really, really want to be their friend too. So why don't you honor your friendship with them and the privilege you have in that by keeping it private - and not hit 'send' knowing that potentially 'X' amount of people are now going to maybe think more highly of you because you're attributing your name with another name when it should only ever be pointing toward the name of @Jesus.
(Oh, but if you do do it, we'll try to not be so envious either. :-)

"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Phil 2:9-11

A final word: Prov 27:2 - Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

OUT.

2010-05-06T19:31:00.000-05:00

I'm checking out for a while.
maybe gonna find a home somewhere else.
gotta get working on a new record.
build myself a little retreat room.
gonna seek the Lord there.
there's things to say.
and i want to say them in a fresh way.
dunno how long that's gonna take.

pray for songs.

GOD IS STILL GOD

2010-03-24T16:35:00.001-05:00

This video rocked me when i watched it today. I sat in my office and just cried. Why, cos i've had a crap week and my family has probably suffered because of it. Bottom line is this, what Zac Smith (who doesn't know me from Adam) taught me today is that i shouldn't have to have cancer to put my priorities in order, to remind my wife every day that i'm passionately in love with her and adore her, to recklessly love on my kids and to thank God every day that i have life and breath to be with them.

My Mum and her Dad died of cancer. What are the chances that i get it too? I don't know. I'm so angry at myself that i would take any day or moment for granted with the people i love. Whether God chooses to heal Zac Smith or not, he got the message loud and clear. God has given us life to give Him glory. I want to honor the fragile life of both my Mum and Zac Smith today by living my life in the way they learnt to, and fully embracing the good gift of health that God gave me today.

Thanks Zac for teaching me that today...

The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

NEW EP FROM NICOL SPONBERG

2010-03-17T08:37:00.001-05:00

The new e.p from Nicol Sponberg (former member of Harvest in Chicago and vocalist in the band Selah) entitled 'You are my God' has just released this week. This is the first record release from Nicol after an extended break away due to the tragic death of their newborn son Luke in 2008. The track 'home' on the record is a moving tribute to him and captures the hope that Greg and Nicol have in knowing their son is with the Lord. The record also features a version of 'downpour', the songs that James and i wrote for the downpour preaching series for our church.

EASTER SONGS

2010-03-16T13:23:00.000-05:00

Easter is just around the corner. Usually our service tends to plan itself with so many people making suggestions in the weeks leading up to the planning meeting . There are so many options for songs and so little time to get them all in. Today Ben Cantelon (a Canadian, now residing in the UK and working at HTB) released this song 'Saviour of the world'.

I remember 'Happy Day' by Tim hughes was released just before we had our Easter Together service a few years back. There just wasn't room to get the song in and we ended up waiting a whole year to use the song. Crazy to think back about that now.

A few others that have and haven't made it this year are:

Rise and Sing - Fee
Christ is Risen - Matt Maher
God is alive - Fee
Happy Day - Tim Hughes
Lift up the name - Josh Caterer
Stronger - Hillsong
True love - Phil Whickam
How Great is the love - Paul Baloche and Meredith Andrews
the Power of the cross - The Gettys
Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin
Christ is Risen - Jeremy Riddle
Stand in Awe - Jeremy Riddle

These are just to name a few.

Q. Which songs have you been choosing from for your Easter service this year...?

NEW ALBUM FROM MATT MCCOY

2010-03-16T01:12:00.000-05:00

the new full length record 'heaven calling' from Harvest Worship Leader Matt Mccoy is available now to download.

Matt has been on staff at Harvest for around 8 months and was working long hours before that time to complete this project. 'Heaven Calling' is a punchy reflection of Matt's worship style and youth orientated writing.

It's been a joy to work alongside Matt and i'm looking forward to seeing these songs used at Harvest - and for what the Lord does through this project as it begins to touch hearts.

Matt's website is here - where you can also download the project before the physical release date.

NEW EP FROM JOSHUA SELLER

2010-03-16T01:02:00.000-05:00

The new e.p 'Passionate Reverence' from Joshua Seller, Worship leader for Harvest in Oakville, Canada (and who led at our Elgin campus 3 weeks ago) is releasing on April 6th.

Here are some links:
Joshua's Myspace
Joshua's blog

and a video previewing 1 min samples of the new songs...

more to come on this e.p and how to get a copy...

DO YOU WANT TO BUY MY GUITAR?

2010-03-03T01:03:00.000-06:00

Here it is.

I played it on this project:

MEREDITH ANDREWS - AS LONG AS IT TAKES

2010-02-28T20:11:00.000-06:00

Harvest's Meredith Andrews releases her second album on Word Record this coming Tuesday. I've been listening to it for the last few days and although it's clearly not pitched toward a 32 year old male, the songs are beautiful - and the track 'come home' written for her brother pretty much had me blubbing in the car on the way to church this morning. The songs are solid, the production is too - and as always, Meredith wears her heart on her sleeve in writing and vocal delievry. This girl is the real deal - passionate about the Lord. She deserves a record this good.

pick it up from itunes here on Tuesday when it releases.

TOUR GUIDE #3 - THE SON HAS SET ME FREE

2010-02-18T16:04:00.000-06:00

the sound of the lo-fi fits exactly how i heard this song when i wrote it. Late one night, in the middle of a quiet time, when it's all silent at home.
Recording it today, I asked Lindsay to sing along. My voice is too dark and congested. blah.

::The Son has set me free::
I gave up the fight at the feet of the King
He spoke to my heart and uncovered my sin.
Now walking repentant, a new day begins
The Son has set me free

I'd carried the weight of my shame for so long.
When mercy and grace had been there all along.
He showed me forgiveness and how to press on
The Son had set me free

One perfect provision of grace
Christ on the cross, there in my place
Broken and beautiful, now I can see
The Son has set me free
and I am free indeed.

His gift of salvation, my choice to receive
By name I was chosen, by faith I believe
Lord, Teach me to follow but never forget
The Son has set me free

W&M Andi Rozier
(c) 2010 Andi Rozier

TOUR GUIDE #2 - HALLELUJAH FOR THE CROSS

2010-02-15T20:02:00.000-06:00

A while ago i was asked to bring back 'Hallelujah for the cross' to our weekend song list at Harvest. I first wrote this at the dinner table late one night in London, 1997. My theology has a long ways to go but was lacking severely as a new Christian, spewing new worship songs to play at my local youth club. It needed a re-write - and after pulling in a couple of close friends, i started to fall again for this song. The re-write gave it a life that sounds and says so much more than it used to. It's become no.2 on the contender list for tour guide.

below is the work tape.
(you can also watch it the first weekend we re-introduced it at Harvest in the video below too.)

Lyrics:
There is singing of His name, there is freedom from our shame
There are lives restored again, when we come before the cross
There is healing, there is prayer, in His sufferings we share
but with boldness we draw near, when we come before the cross

One day every ear will hear of Jesus
And those in Him will shout out without shame

Hallelujah for the cross, Hallelujah for the cross
Hallelujah for the cross, where Jesus died for us

There is mercy, there is grace, there is Jesus in this place
We can meet Him face to face, when we come before the cross
In our sadness and our fears, we find comfort for our tears
By His love He draws us near, when we come before the cross

W&M Rozier, Sooter, Caterer
(c) Andi Rozier 2010

OUR GOD IS GREATER

2010-02-14T11:56:00.000-06:00

i like this song a lot. We used it as the 'special' in the offering slot this weekend. I thought it went well.
I'm now wondering whether it would work as a congregational song in our church...?

ENCOURAGING, INSTRUCTIVE EMAILS

2010-02-12T16:54:00.000-06:00

I intercepted this e-mail from one of our band leaders to a new(ish) drummer who's stepping up to the plate for us this weekend. I thought it was a great combination of encouraging and instructive - and i'm loudly promoting more of it...

"Thanks for being willing to play on such short notice. I've been excited to have you play in Meadows on a big weekend for a while now. There are a couple of things I want to make you aware of in the set. You are the drummer, so you are the quarterback in alot of ways. You have to be really certain of the transitions and formats. We are going to try to stick to the formats I've got listed below, but its always a good idea to bring a pen with you to mark down the changes that will certainly occur in rehearsal. Right now here is what we have:

Prelude: Hallelujah For the Cross (Intro, V1, V2, PreCH, CH, CH, intro)

***Amena Brown (guest poet) will do a poem/call to worship and we build the bridge of "Salvation is Here" under her

1. Salvation is Here - (Bridge building, Intro, V1, intro, V1, CH, intro, V2, CH, CH, Bridge, drums CH, big CH, intro)

2. I Call You Faithful - bring your pen on this one because we tag "Great are Your Works" (Intro, V, intro, V, CH, intro, V, drum hits V, CH, CH)

3. You Alone Can Rescue (down V1, V1 with drums, CH, V2, CH, CH with ending tag)

***Amena Brown poem

4. You Alone (V1, V1, CH, V2, CH, CH)

****Communion
5. He Is Exalted (Chorus only

Announcements

Offertory Special "Our God Is Greater" - EXACTLY like recording on Planning Centre"

BAPTISM VIDEO

2010-02-08T09:20:00.000-06:00

We haven't had a spontaneous baptism weekend for over a year (i think?). It was incredible to watch so many people JUMP from their seats at the call to come forward. I am always, in a way 'changed' by hearing stories of other peoples changed lives. I know many others are too. It is an honor to witness this incredible weekend at our church... God's church, His people.

(if you want to count, you'll see every single person who was baptized in the video!)

Baptism Highlights 2010 from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.

TOUR GUIDE #1

2010-02-05T11:32:00.000-06:00

I'm going on a journey i've never taken before. After some prayer, procrastination and testing of the waters, i've decided to set the wheels in motion for the making of my fifth record - and i'm going to journal the whole process - the journey - the tour. For previous projects i've tried to keep the process under wraps with some kind of strategy in surprising people with some over-presumptuous expectation of the project when i thought something of myself that i don't even desire to become now. Lord willing!

One of my life verses this year has been Psalm 24:3+4a - 'who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in that Holy place? - He who has clean hands and a pure heart'. I have it written on a ring that i wear every day.
During that time i've found myself using the term of 'worship leader' as a 'tour guide', ascending the hill of the Lord, leading God's people to the top of that hill where the ground is level for all to meet with the Savior, Jesus. The tour guide is never celebrated, he's just the hired hand who leads the special guests, in anticipation to the centre piece of the tour. In this case, i am the tour guide (aided by the spirit), the tour is free for us anytime, you are the special guests and JESUS is the centre piece. And in a nutshell, that's what i want to create with this record - a tour. A 5 or 6 song project where people can take in the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord as we ascend the hill together in praise to Him.

I am regularly and literally silenced at the weight of being given this task every weekend - to lead, to be a guide. My drive to church at the weekend is usually very quiet and mediative. Then out of my need of Him and personal pursuit of holiness bursts songs and sound. Simple songs turn into passionate cries to meet with God. Sung prayers become anchors of theology for me to attach myself to. This is what i want SO MUCH for others too, every weekend and every day in between. so i'm taking the job and i want to make a tour worth going on.

tour guide.
let it begin.

REND COLLECTIVE

2010-02-02T12:39:00.001-06:00

Loving this.
Loving how new expressions of worship are rising up.
the album is fantastic.

from the website:

"Well a movement of friends is a hard thing to package. When something happens locally that is real and sincere, it probably doesn't need too much hype. The Rend Collective Experiment started in 2004 as a group of confused 20 somethings started trying to figure out life, God and community. Then in 2007 it grew into a collective of musicians and artists trying to share with the world what they were learning. All our music is grown out of an organic environment and we hope you can appreciate our bond through our music. We try to make journey music that talks from the heart and trys to follow God's heart yet its music for all not just the religious! A huge part of our ethos is about generating money that can help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Not making them charity cases but standing with the poor and oppressed in solidarity as one family. Oh and there are about 15 of us all together so don't let the photos fool you, they are just the ones who where around the day we found a camera!'

NEWS X2

2010-02-02T10:23:00.000-06:00

1. 428 people baptized this weekend across our 5 campuses. Yep numbers are big sometimes - that's 428 rocking testimonies of God's faithfulness. Pray for our video editors as they have to watch every single one of them this week for the coming weekend's video recap.

2. Speaking of this weekend, Heather is back up in Rolling Meadows after taking time for the birth of their first son, 'John'. It was fun to see Heather in church this weekend in the 'parents with babies' section. I'm sure a year ago, she would have never pictured herself there for a while. Totally surreal that the very same night she WON A GRAMMY for best Contemporary R&B Album. Wow, congrats Heather. I sent her an e-mail of congrats and was delighted to get a response that showed how happy she was, but also humbly could see in perspective how many other things in the past year have clearly become more significant awards to her. Praise God for her.

RISE OF THE VJ

2010-02-02T09:56:00.000-06:00

This morning was the first time i heard the term 'VJ' (Video Jockey) used in a conversation. I'm pretty sure i'm not out of the loop - maybe it's cos i moved my office to a quiet corner? Anyway, Sources close to me tell me that the production world spotlight is starting to shine brighter on this selfless creative contributer of worship services. 'Hurrah' i say!!

with that said, Joel Smith introduced me to a guy he knows named Stephen Proctor who goes by the title 'WorshipVJ'. Stephen is known by gear heads to be somewhere near the top of the mountain of sought after VJ's on the planet and is on the leading edge of this new creative wave.

FREE ALERT!! Just to sweeten the moment, if you have a vimeo account and are using pro-presenter you can download a whole truck load of FREE backgrounds from the Worship VJ right here.

injoy.

TRANSITIONS TRANSITIONS

2010-01-29T10:46:00.000-06:00

I was just catching up my blog reading a noticed my good friend Josh Seller had written a post about transitions and used a video from one of our services.

1. Read his blog.
2. I wanted to add a little more to this. The transition between the end of the worship set into announcements has always been a struggle for me/us. The Announcement Person (AP) can sometimes, in honesty, KILL the moment right after the worship set. It can often feels like to the Worship Leader that they are running a train into a brick wall. I've just spent 20+ mins pouring my hearty out to get this church to the foot of the cross and then you go poop all over it with a cheerleader style intro. wow. I've found myself getting frustrated at them, when all along it's my problem. We rehearse the set before hand and at Harvest here in Chicago, we also do a full run-through of the service as the last element of the rehearsal (including announcements) just to iron out a lot of kinks. Not saying there won't be changes still being made, but by that point i have a strong idea of how the set will finish and how i can instruct the AP to transition into announcements.

Here's a few of my notes.

- announcements are still 'worship'. There's plenty of announcements in the Bible. It's the way we communicate to the church about the church system and how to be a part of it. It's a way we communicate most of all the importance of giving both in effort, time and financially - which is an act of worship.
- 90% of the time when we finish a worship set, the last thing you hear me say after a song or after the greeting is "let's take a seat as we continue in worship"
- when i connect with the AP before the service, i explain to them how the worship set will finish, what the content is, what the feel will be in the room (charged, clapping, slow, meditative)
- together, we decide exactly how that transition will go. I like it most of all when occasionally i get the AP to come up on stage during the last chorus of the song and pray at the end of the set to close it out. This makes their role more clear as part of the worship time in the eyes of the congregation. This is largely defined by WHO is giving the announcements though. People who have an introvert personality, cannot command attention, or seem to not understand the concept of all of the above points should not be giving announcements - even if they hold some authority in the church. We've worked hard on that - and still working on it.

the video below is a good example of how Mark took the baton from Jacob as he finished the worship set - and knowing how the set was going to finish, made reference to what we had just sung and transitioned out...

I wasn't part of the set-up conversation the night this was shot but you can see me on stage, honestly, with my mouth open, thinking 'nice job Mark' - and during the greeting told him so.

INOT ILIKE IPAD

2010-01-28T10:01:00.000-06:00

On the basis that i don't have money to buy one in the first place, with the IPAD i was hoping for so much more. My good friend Jeremy Lindsay will vouch for me that i have close to 100% success at predicting Apple products about 2 years prior to their release. Although i was spot on with the concept and design, functionally the ipad is half of what it could be. It's an ipod touch for giant people really. just a big toy. Why would i want that when you can already do all that (and more) on a smaller, more manageable iphone? isn't that a backwards move? Now i have to wait another 2 years for Apple to make one with an OS system (and a front facing camera would be nice) so that we can transition from 'toy' to 'computer' (that's a prediction by the way). Drat. and Drat again - but thanks to Apple for saving me from some idolatry issues.

GET YOUR WORLD ROCKED.

2010-01-26T20:23:00.000-06:00

Watch this.

"we need to mature at the rate of need, not of convinience"

...and listen to this (not quite as convicting!).

Marc Broussard will hopefully get saved one day.
Until then, this guy 'Chris Mcclarney' hit the ball OUT THE PARK!

Chris is actually the writer of 'Your love never fails', recorded by Jesus Culture which i posted the video of a few weeks back.

Here's a video from one of the tracks from the record:

WEEKEND REVIEW #54 (BUMPER VIDEO EDITION)

2010-01-26T11:33:00.000-06:00

80+ people came to Christ this weekend. That's the high point.
James preached an incredible message in his continuation through the book of Revelation. He also mixed in a report from his trip to Haiti, with pictures - and ultimately, a challenge for us to act and to repent.
Here's the rest...

In the content+creative world, this weekend worked great. On all campuses the worship teams responded well to the plan as they used it to lead.

We tried two new things this weekend:

1. We regularly have 'God at Work' video's in our worship sets. Usually we roll them in between songs, people are seated, and each video lasts around 3-4 mins. This weekend we tried a condensed version within a song that ran just under 2mins - people stayed standing.

2. This was the first week we rolled out a new version of 'Hallelujah for the cross'. James suggested to me a while ago that we bring it back. I had some major reservations, mostly on the lyrical side - so i got my head together with Jacob and Josh and ended up changing 30% of the lyrics, the 4/4 time signature to 6/8 and made (what i think) to be some major melody upgrades.

I've uploaded below here a large part of the set. Let me break it down...

- 'Hallelujah for the Cross' (new version)
- transition into 'You alone can rescue' - Bethany Smith reads from Psalm 145 v13-21
- The band is playing a groove i've affectionately called 'John'. It's the combination of a drum groove with the snare turned off, the keys playing pads, and guitars adding some etherial sound over the top. It takes a while to finesse it - and now i just refer to it as 'John' and everyone seems to get on board. Not the best choice of names i know.
- After v, v, ch - we roll into the shorter 2 min 'God at work' video w/ Bill Weter
- out of that we reprise the rest of 'You alone can rescue'

(it's a whole 8mins of service - so be patient to let it load)

Outside of this, we played 'Awesome King' going into 'Hallelujah for the Cross'
After 'You alone can rescue' we went into 'the stand' and a chorus of 'I surrender all'

At the end of the service we prayed a prayer that was written for us by Josh Caterer.
Josh did a great job with this. It worked beautifully - and totally got us to a vertical place at the end of the set.

here it is:

(Prayer NOT on screen. Worship Leader prays after
“I Surrender All” to close worship set.)

Lord Jesus, we surrender our ALL to You;
You who laid down your life for us, to pay for our sins;
You who are now exalted to the highest place,
far above all thrones and powers and rulers and authorities.
You are the Sovereign One, the One who made the universe and who sustains all things by your powerful word.
You are the Matchless One, the King of kings
and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal
and who lives in unapproachable light,
whom no one has seen or can see;
and yet you call us into fellowship with yourself;
you invite us to come before your throne.
And so we come, with reverence and humility,
and we surrender our ALL to you, the All-Powerful God,
who is able to keep us from falling
and to present us before your glorious presence
without fault and with great joy.

“Now let’s lift our voices together and read this out…”
(Scripture verse ON SCREEN)

To the only God our Savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, dominion
and authority, before all time,
now and forever. Amen.

(Jude v25)

WEEKEND REVIEW #53+

2010-01-20T12:33:00.000-06:00

Here's Driscoll's prayer from the service last weekend in Elgin...

The team arrived back last night. Here's a short report of what happened.

Plans are in the works 'by the hour' here for the churches helping churches initiative.

WEEKEND REVIEW #53

2010-01-17T23:38:00.001-06:00

Really interesting week and weekend for me.

i got sick in the week, wrecked my throat, handed the keys over to Josh Caterer this weekend in Elgin and scheduled myself to play guitar on stage instead. Then Saturday's plans changed when we needed a video for a powerful new song written by Linds, James and Ingram that was rolling at the end of the service that night. I had 4 hrs to do it and made a last minute decision to run it from PowerPoint. It was good enough to get the message across but It taught me a few things - 1) this was my first small way of serving the people of Haiti. 2) I still led worship in the way that God wanted me to on Saturday in RM- and 3) my congregation cares not one little bit for how sweet our video production gear is.

On Sunday i headed back to Elgin to play guitar on stage with Josh and the choir. Josh led us in strong time of spirit-filled song worship. The choir sang on 'soon' like i'd never heard before. Passionate crying out to God. Wow, what a prayer - it was wrecking me. At the 9am James was there to preach. Mark Driscoll was also there and sat in on the service. He prayed an incredible prayer at the end of the service for the people of Haiti. Mark and his team (who are flying out to Haiti with James) are a great group of guys. In the short time we got to hang, i could tell that at Mars Hill they are REALLY interested in people's lives. Genuine, worshipful and no sense of celebrity whatsoever. Another lesson in whether i come off the same way? crazy thought.

Our church worshipped God in song - big deal. The songs became insignificant this weekend for me in learning through God's word and all the things i went through this weekend the many ways God wants me to grow in worshipping Him.

Wake up Andi. Rise up Andi. Respond Andi.

IT'S AS SIMPLE AS STRUM, TUNE, ROCK...

2010-01-15T17:33:00.001-06:00

if you're a minor guitar gear watcher like me, this new Tuner looks preeety sweet. For someone who is obsessed as i am with consistent tuning and cannot tune by ear, this would save a few precious seconds of finding exactly what string is the culprit.

"It's as simple as strum, tune, rock....!!"

O LORD, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL

2010-01-05T17:44:00.001-06:00

a very, very beautiful version of a very beautiful Keith Green song by 'Jesus Culture'
at 2:00 it becomes radiant...

if you haven't heard this song either, this is really strong...

YOU VERSION

2009-12-30T20:56:00.001-06:00

I've been seeking out Bible reading plans for 2010 and i came across You Version. This site has over 20 plans, 2 of which i've signed up for. One of them is 'New Thru 30', which covers the whole New Testament in 30 days. A little steep? yep, so i changed the parameters on the site to fit my schedule and it will send me the readings every day to my phone. sweet. Worth a look at the site if you're interested...

WEEKEND REVIEW #52

2009-12-22T22:53:00.000-06:00

This was the second weekend of our Christmas tour. I was with the Orchestra while the other campuses had choirs.
This was probably one of my favorite services of the year - if i'm allowed to say that?! Some services just click. It's a little to do with the planning and the intentionality behind leading people, but this simply felt worshipful - and everyone jumped on board with that. When 'you can't lead people where you haven't been', it helps when you all genuinely go 'there' together!

plenty of video for the review....

Prelude: 'Christmas Medley' - Harvest Volunteer Orchestra.
(please note - sound board feed - which means you hear every little mistake!- we're clearly not perfect without room ambience)

Special: 'Come and Worship' (Bebo Norman version)

1. O come all ye faithful (Jason Ingram version)
During this song i read from Luke Chapter 1:31-33

2. Emmanuel (by Chris Tomlin)
Here's a clip of the ending of the song. Our production guys did a great job of setting up all the lights this year. There were a lot of them to say the least. Thousands of Christmas lights in canopies, hanging from the stage all the way out across the seats to the back of the worship centre. I used this part of the song to make a feature of the lights and stars, and draw attention to that one star of Bethlehem that led the shepherds and wise men to the new born King.

- Greeting (at which point myself and the 2 other worship leaders came down from the stage to greet people too)

3. What child is this (Future of forestry version)
In this song, after the greeting, the worship leaders and i stayed down off the stage. I used this element to bring attention to heavy amount of string parts in the song. Being the Christmas service, i also felt i had license to make some bolder moves that would usually be more of a distraction. It worked out better than i thought and received a lot of positive feedback from folks who appreciated us coming down from the stage and getting closer to the congregation while we all worshipped together.

- Advent Video 'Love' (3rd weekend of Advent at Harvest)

4. O the love of my redeemer (harvestsongs)
5. Glory to God (Fee)

- Announcements

Special: 'He has come for us' (Meredith Andrews)
One of the ways we've incorporated some of our drama folk into the services is by having them narrate scripture. This has usually occurred between songs to make a bridge section although for this song i gave Eric Johnson, (one of our most authentic drama guys at Harvest) the task of delivering Luke 2:8-14. It was perfect!!

Message: Rev 5 - James

Close: Revelation Song (Jennie Riddle / harvestsongs version)

BEST OF 2009

2009-12-15T19:10:00.000-06:00

...and by 'best' i mean - what made an impact on me this year, spiritually and creatively...

Albums:
Fee - Hope Rising
best worship album of the year in my opinion. From start to finish, this record is made by guys who love the Lord, can play music well, rock out - and write completely accessible songs for the corporate church.

Phil Wickham - Heaven and Earth
Seriously well written songs. Intoxicating melodies. This could be on repeat and you'd never get bored.

Matt Redman - We will not be shaken
The modern-day psalmist writes again. The lyrical content puts him at the front of the writers line.

Matt Papa - Scripture Songs and Hymns 1
This album could easily slip past the radar. I'm so glad it didn't. One of the best un-sung worship albums of the past few years for me.

Tim Hughes - Happy Day (live)
Whatever special sauce Nathan Nockels used on the Facedown record, he had some left over for this. Best live worship album of the year for me. being real is for real.

Paul Baloche - Glorious
Love Paul's heart and songs. This stands shoulder to shoulder with his previous records. The chorus to Glorious is glorious.

DC*B - Church Music
A prophetic glimpse of more to come - so hold on.

Hillsong - Faith+Hope+Love
I like this record.

Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane
The first switchfoot album i've actually bought. A ridiculously well written, audio roller coaster. This is played very loud in my car and i meet with God every time.

Jeremy Riddle - The now and not yet
Worship Pastor who writes real worship songs disguised as very cool Christian worship rock star who just wants to be a Worship Pastor who writes real worship songs.

Free Chapel
Not sure about the whole album but i remember where i was when i heard 'for who You are'. It took me to higher ground.

___
David Gray - Draw the Line
One of my favorite writers. Went to the gig. Both were great.

The Swell Season - Strict Joy (w/DVD)
Best gig of the year and in my top 5 of all time. Excellent CD and the live DVD is worth every penny.

John Mayer - Battle Studies
Another one of my favorite musicians. Not such a great album compared to Continuum - but his version of Crossroads is killer.

Mat Kearney - City of black and white
This was my summer album of 2009. End to end - this album stands alone. Great writing, great production. A happy album.

The Fray - The Fray
I like this album too.

Mute Math - Armistice
10/10 for creativity and production. Blew my mind.

Iain Archer - to the pine roots
I was waiting for about 10 years for this album and it did not disappoint. Grass roots acoustic beauty at it's best.

Sleeping at last - Storyboards
More soaring melodies. Beautiful songs.

Fiction Family - Fiction Family
Jon Forman meets Nickel Creek.

Matt Weeks - Here comes the dawn
You may not have heard of this guy. 'Come and sing' is a great track.

Jason Mraz - We sing, we dance, we steal things
Well produced, funky and fresh. lot's of pap papapapaaa from horns - which i like a lot.

U2 - No line on the horizon
I like it more than the rap it got. The gig was a visual spectacle i will never forget.

Matthew Mayfield - Five chances remain hers
Haunting acoustic and strings. I'm glad i have this record to stumble across every now and again.

Favorite Songs of the Year:
The Greatness of our God - One Sonic Society
to be released in 2010 - it's gonna be big! - and i mean BIG!

Poison and Wine - The Civil Wars
This was my 'wish i wrote this' song of the year. audio bliss. listened to it over and over and over again.

Mess of me - Switchfoot
Power pop and sing along at it's best. Love the energy.

i want to know You - Matt Papa
Ownership of a song on the side of the recipient is the most important thing at the end of the day.
This song spoke to me the most through the second half of this year.

LEADING WORSHIP AS A PASTORAL FUNCTION

2009-12-14T00:41:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had a life defining moment besides say becoming a Christian, getting married, seeing your children be born? I've had those - and a few more too. One of them took place a few years ago when i was honored to be at dinner with Bob Kauflin and a couple of close frie nds of mine. (Honored?, very, but dinner with Bob was not the defining moment.)

We were at a restaurant downtown, catching up, talking 'Chicago', 'Moody' etc when quickly enough the conversation turned to our favorite thing of all - Worshipping God. Within a few minutes of conversation with Bob, he used the quote "Leading worship is a pastoral function more than it is a musical one". That was the moment - right there. Worlds, memories, philosophies all collided into one - like a black hole mixed with a heart of thankfulness. Seriously! It was like the Lord handed me a bag, big enough to now carry around all the right things i'd learnt so far about leading God's people in worship. It was also lasting enough that when i started this blog, as you can see - i used that line in the sub-title.

These videos below are a conversation between Bob and David Powlison (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation) on the topic of 'Counseling and Worship'. Bob and David bring clarity to the role of the weekend worship leader - and in the last few moment Bob wraps the bow on it with that great definition. I'm so very thankful for Bob's ministry. This is such rich content for worship leaders to hear, and for worshipper to expect from their leaders.

CHRISTMAS SONGS

2009-12-10T12:43:00.001-06:00

This Christmas at Harvest we're using some strong songs in our song-worship that i'm really excited about...

Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground) - By Chris Tomlin.

We're using this for the whole month of December as a congregational song. Usually we find ourselves getting tired of carols real quick - not sure why but we do. This song is a great addition to our song worship and brings a strong, fresh addition to the team. On my tour with the Orchestra over the next two weekends, I'm going to avoid verse 3 as i feel like it drifts from the Christmas message. The chorus is really strong though and is the main thrust of the song. I have a few idea's cooking on how to use it creatively too - i'll try and shoot some video.

Winter Snow - Audrey Assad

We've got this song lined up for Christmas Eve. This really is a great song. The imagery on the chorus lyrics will, i'm sure provoke some comments. Clearly Jesus' birth was not 'quiet and soft'' - but within the context of the song it fits and says something fresh. You don't need a voice like Audrey's to pull the song off either as long as you don't try to replicate the way she sings it. I think the song stands up by itself.

You are the light - David Hodges.

We've used this for the last 4 or 5 years since we found the song. It's still got some life in it and it's very well written and accessible for a band. We recorded the song this year with a bunch of worship leaders together who will be singing on all our campuses - so after Christmas Eve i'll be able to share that video. A little trivia: David used to be in the band 'Evanescence' and also produced the last Charlie Hall record.

(here's a video from last Christmas - i think)

Song of Hope - Robbie Seay Band

We used this last year in the way we're using 'Emmanuel' this year. It's a fresh, rocky sounding song with a strong lyric. I'm sure it wasn't written as a Christmas song but it's worked well for us - and besides the uber high note at the end of the verse, our people have taken hold of it.

ONE SONIC SOCIETY

2009-11-30T23:32:00.000-06:00

I strongly encourage you to check out the One Sonic Society website within the next 90 hours of this post where you can listen to one of their new songs: 'Forever Reign'

'OSS' as they are also known, comprise of Jason Ingram, Stu G, Jon Thatcher and Paul Mabury.
Stu G and Jon are both from the former band (as of about 24 hours ago), Delirious. Jason is currently producing and writing on a whole bunch of records in Nashville. He's an uber humble guy with a passion for the Lord and His word - and Harvest has had the privilege of developing a growing relationship with him and providing him with a home-from-home over the past 8 years to come serve and be served. Paul hails originally from Hillsong (AUS) but has worked on a number of Christian records and tours in the last few years in the US.

I'm very excited about the new songs these guys have been writing. There is one in particular called 'the Greatness of our God' written by Jason, Stu G and Reuben Morgan (Hillsong). When Jason was last in town he played the song to some of Harvest writers. This really is an incredible song - again, this really is an incredible song- and i'm very excited about it reaching the corporate church in 2010. OSS are releasing an e.p in May and Hillsong are also cutting the song along with 'Forever Reign' for their next record too. Not sure which one will hit the streets first but the OSS tracks are big, loud, solid God honoring songs and i'm excited to see how the Lord will 'open up the doors' with this new ministry to impact the wider church in 2010.

Here are the lyrics to 'The Greatness of our God'...

The Greatness Of Our God
Reuben Morgan, Stu Garrard, Jason Ingram

Give me eyes to see more of who You are
May what I behold still my anxious heart
Take what I have known and break it all apart
You my God are greater still

No sky can contains
No doubt restrains
All You are
The greatness of our God
I spend my life to know
And I'm far from close
To all You are
The greatness of our God

Give me grace to see beyond this moment here
To believe that there is nothing left to fear
That You alone are high above it all
You my God are greater still

No sky can contains
No doubt restrains
All You are
The greatness of our God
I spend my life to know
And I'm far from close
To all You are
The greatness of our God

And there is nothing that can ever separate us
There is nothing that can ever separate us from Your love
No life, no death, of this I am convinced
You my God are greater still

THE CIVIL WARS

2009-11-12T20:19:00.000-06:00

Joy Williams and John Paul White - The Civil Wars.

Breathtaking. Incredible.

(thanks to Jacob for being a great friend and showing me this. it made my day)

SONG OF THE ANGELS - JOSH SELLER

2009-11-05T10:13:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Josh Seller from Harvest in Oakville, Canada - who was nominated and then recently awarded the Scripture Song Award by the Canadian Gospel Music Association.

Josh deserves this more than for the song itself - but because he puts the energy into continually developing his craft as a writer - and this song is a glimpse into that pursuit. With that said, i hope that for the remaining years i'm entrusted to lead God's people in worship and beyond- Josh's songs will be shown favor on and used by many worship teams wanting to sing truth to God in new, creative fresh ways.

I had the honor of partnering with Josh to record this song. Here's the video of the song from the 'Lift up the name' DVD and the news report from the Canadian Bible Society...

"More than 350 songs were submitted to the competition for the categories, Song of 2009 and Scripture Song of 2009. The judges narrowed the list down to six finalists for both categories and Joshua Seller was the Scripture Song winner for his song entitled, Song of the Angels. The Scripture in the song is found in Revelation 4.8 and 4.11.

Joshua serves, as worship leader at Harvest Bible Chapel in Oakville, Ontario and it is his desire to write songs for the church and to see God glorified through his ministry. About winning the Scripture Song Award Joshua says, “2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that, ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness’. God will draw men and women to himself and use His Word to help us better know and love him. Writing songs that are theological and doctrinally sound is a key component in seeing our Saviour displayed both Biblically and accurately. This award brings such honor and joy to know that my Lord would use music to display His glory throughout Canada. Our Country needs Jesus Christ and what better way for people to understand Him better than through His Word. I commend and count it a privilege to partner with the Canadian Bible Society in their endeavor to see God’s Word go out across Canada.”

Joshua Seller will be the guest of honour at the CBS office in Toronto on November 17, 2009 where he will share his testimony and his song. On this day, Joshua will receive the custom Nova Scotia Crystal Award and a complete CD recording package at AME recording Studio from CBS National Director, Ted Seres. Rev. Seres says, “CBS is thrilled to have sponsored this award and we look forward to doing this for years to come. It is critical for God’s Word to be impacting our culture and this is just one example of how the Canadian Bible Society is partnering with individuals and organizations to accomplish this goal.”

WEEKEND REVIEW #51

2009-10-27T11:30:00.000-05:00

9 horns on stage with me this weekend. Paaaa-pap-pap! Lot's of that going on.

Prelude : Horns Special.
1. Happy Day
2. Salvation is here
3. Thank You, Jesus, for the cross (with scripture video)
4a. You alone can rescue (v1, v1, ch)

God at Work video

4b. You alone can rescue (v2, v2, ch, ch)
5. Blessed be the Lord God almighty (ch, ch)
6. Holy

Announcements

Special: Let Your Kingdom Come

WEEKEND REVIEW #50

2009-10-20T16:36:00.000-05:00

What would be a good way to celebrate 50 Weekend Reviews?

Well, this weekend i had the honor of sharing the stage with the Burlock Family from our church. What i love beyond the singing they excel at publicly - is that through the years, Verlee has raised her kids to worship the Lord this way privately by making a sweet sound to the Lord with the incredible voices our incredible God has given to them. They captivate an essence of song-worship for me - purity, simplicity and joy... and this song captivated me...

Prelude
- Greeting
1. Lift up the name
2. King of Glory
3. He is my fortress
4. Fairest Lord Jesus (v1, v2)

Scripture Reading:

(Eph 1:7-10)
In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
making known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his purpose, which he set forth
in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time,
to unite all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth.

(Rev 1:5-6 (Paraphrase))
To Him the faithful witness,
To Him the first born of the dead,
To Him the ruler of the kings on earth,
To Him who loves us,
To Him who has freed us from our sins by His blood,
To Him who made us a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father,
To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen!

5. None but Jesus
6. Jesus, You are Worthy (ch, ch)

Annoucements

Specials: The Burlock Family
- Walk and talk with Jesus
- God is

Message: Rev 3:1-3 - James

Close: You never let go

WEEKEND REVIEW #49

2009-10-04T10:01:00.000-05:00

Kind of a crazy weekend. Friday night Keith & Kristen Getty were in town at Moody. Sunday they are in Ohio. Saturday night, they came to visit us. They are on like an 8month tour right now - crazy. Good people. Completely real and down to earth. Great for our church to surprise them. We're very blessed that they feel comfortable at our church.

After the service James and i drove them out to Dave Corning's house. He's the chairman of our Elder board. He just had both his knees replaced. Ouch. He just returned from a long stay at the hospital and while there asked for a Getty CD to listen to - so we surprised him too by turning up at his house and playing a little impromptu concert for him. It was a simple, sweet time of worship.

Sunday - we're back to normal...

Prelude: Beautiful One
1. Glory of God
2. All hail the power of Jesus' name (with new chorus)
3. You alone can rescue
- call forward for prayer
4. (reprise) You alone can rescue
5. Your name
ss: Lord Most High (C, C)

announcements

special: Made me glad

Message

Close: All Glory / Soon.

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

2009-09-28T10:13:00.000-05:00

I feel like when i'm waiting for one anticipated album to get released, a whole drove of new albums are released at the same time. Our value isn't to play new music just because it's new. When we introduce new songs, we're committed to them for an extended season.

Here's a list of all the new music i've been listening to. I've put a * by the songs we've already introduced or have tagged to be used in our services.

Have you listened to any of these albums?
If so, could you e-mail me or comment with some recommendations - or other songs from other projects that would work well in your services too...?

David Crowder Band - Church Music

1. Phos Hilaron (Hail Gladdening Light)
2. Alleluia, Sing
3. The Nearness
4. Shadows
5. Eastern Hymn
6. SMS (Shine)
7. The Veil
8. We Are Loved
9. All Around Me
*10. How He Loves
11. Can I Lie Here
12. Birmingham (We Are Safe)
13. Church Music - Dance(!)
14. What a Miracle
15. Oh, Happiness
*16. God Almighty, None Compares
17. In the End (O Resplendent Light!)

Desperation Band - Light up the World

1. You Started It All
2. You Hold It All
3. Be The Change
4. Solid Rock
5. God Be Praised
6. Dawn Till Dusk
7. Highest Place
8. Great God
9. Joy Will Come
10. The Morning
11. Light Up The World
12. Mercy is Falling
13. Burning Tree / Holy Ground
14. Angel's Song
15. Rescue - BONUS
16. I Am Free - BONUS

Brenton Brown - Introducing...

*1. Adoration - New version
3. Amazing God

Matt Redman - We shall not be shaken

1. This is how we know
2. We shall not be shaken
3. Through it all
*4. You alone can rescue
5. The glory of our King
*6. How great is Your faithfulness
*7. Remembrance
8. The more we see
9. For Your glory
10. Gloria
11. All the really matters
12. My Hope

Fee - Hope Rising

*1. Rise And Sing
2. Greatly To Be Praised
*3. Glory to God Forever
*4. God Is Alive
*5. Everything Falls
6. We Crown You
7. Hands Of The Healer
8. Promised Land
*9. Arms That Hold The Universe
10. Your Love Is Better Than Life
11. Send Me Out

Matt Maher - Alive Again

1. Alive Again
2. Shout of the King
3. Sing Over Your Children
4. Hold Us Together
5. No Greater Love
6. Love Comes Down
7. Flesh and Bone
*8. Remembrance (Communion Song)
9. Letting Go
10. You Were on the Cross
11. Christ is Risen
12. Gaden

Ben Cantelon - Running after You

1. Not Ashamed
2. God of All
3. Jericho
4. Coming Back
5. Remain
6. Breathe
7. Carry On
8. Running After You
9. Hallelujah
10. You Alone

Keith and Kristyn Getty - Awaken the Dawn

1. Hear, O Israel
2. Come, People of the Risen King
3. Creation Sings the Father's Song
4. Still, My Soul, Be Still
5. By Faith
6. Behold the Lamb (Communion Hymn)
7. All Around the World
8. Every Promise of Your Word
9. Compassion Hymn
10. When Trials Come
11. Benediction (May the Peace of God)
12. Reading, Psalm 57
13. What Grace is Mine

WEEKEND REVIEW #48

2009-09-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

Back on stage with the choir this weekend. Split worship set - love it! New song by Hillsong 'Soon' as James is preaching through Revelation - such a strong song!

We have a problem though, being a video campus in Elgin on Saturday night - that when the worship team at the Rolling Meadows campus goes long - we have to make up some content on the spot so that we can 'take' James live and not clip into them finishing up their worship set. This is something i am not afraid of - in fact, i really love to have that little extra room to be free and let the spirit lead me in leading a few more songs.

With that said, this exact problem happened this Saturday night and i had to make up 6mins on the spot. I lead our church in time of personal prayer on our knees before the Lord and then we sang 'so let Your name be lifted higher' from 'Stronger'. The spirit was moving strong in the room, you could feel it. But it reminded me of this - Music is powerful tool in the hands of a Worship Leader. Music can connect with the mind and manipulate the 'vibe' and even emotion of the congregation. However, music is just a form - and the Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated - only He can speak lasting change into the soul. I've seen too many scary Worship Leaders over the years that have got this wrong. We are just a tool in the hands of a Holy God, entrusted with His Word and a form that God uses to do much more in hearts than just singing and clapping. Enough said.

Here's what we did...

Special: Souled Out - Choir
1. Awesome King
2. I call You faithful
3. Stronger
4. You name (2 choruses)

Announcements

Special: The Lord is my shepherd - Choir

Message: Rev 1:12-20 - James

5. How Awesome is Your name (V1, Ch, Ch,)
6. Soon (V1, V3, Ch)
7. Song of hope.

GIGS#2 - U2

2009-09-17T11:39:00.000-05:00

I saw U2 at Soldier field on Sunday night. Wow. After letting all the crazy people in for 45 minutes who had been there since 5am, we walked in to find a stage so huge that we just strolled right up the front. I'm telling you - it was massive. Musically, i've seen U2 before and they were consistently on their game. As strong as ever. They rocked - my face was melted. Snow Patrol also opened the show. First time i've ever seen them live and i was so impressed by their writing and musicianship. (That's them in the picture)

One interesting moment was at the end of the 'I'll go crazy if i don;t go crazy tonight' (remix / jam session) where Larry (drums) finished the song and The Edge (guitars), still in the moment just kept chugging along for an extra bar before he awkwardly ended the song...again. I was close enough to lip read Larry scream over at The Edge "That was you - that was your fault" - and the first thought that went through my head was 'Well, it happens to us all!!'. It was good to be reminded in that moment that even U2 can't always get everything right.

The production for this show was off the chart. I have never experienced anything like it. Words cannot describe the enormity of excess production during this show. See for yourself on the videos below. Overall, incredible show. Cannot wait to watch it all again on DVD.

GIGS #1 - DELIRIOUS?

2009-09-17T10:57:00.000-05:00

It was about 15 years ago when i was at a summer camp and someone handed me some new worship music to listen to on a tape. It was the Cutting Edge band. I still have the tape and keep it in my office. The first listen was something i will never forget. Hearing 'Message of the cross', 'Singers Song' and Lord, You have my heart' was a life changing moment for me as a worshipper first, but then also a worship leader looking for musical direction, inspiration and creativity.

From then on i attended Cutting Edge events, humbly recorded a 4 song tape with my band at the same studio with some of the guys and watched 'Delirious?' be born make a massive influence on a hungry worship culture by 'taking the music wherever it goes'! I still remember the gig when Martin first introduced "History Maker' when they were still figuring out the arrangement. I've even heard the likes of Tomlin even say that he goes back to the first 4 cutting edge tapes as his foundation for writing modern worship songs.

Last night i attended their last gig ever in IL. It was more sentimental and emotional for me than anything. To be honest, in the days of 'cutting edge', 'King of fools', 'glo' and 'mezzamorphis' i witnessed delirious? in their prime. Crowder and the likes were not on the scene fully yet - and these guys were giving it all they had. Last night it seemed performance-wise that they were already looking on to the next chapter that God had for each of them. However, as they played through 'Obsession', "Lord, You have my heart' and 'Jesus never leaves me' one more time, i recalled some of the sweetest moments of true spontaneous song-worship to God over the years that these guys had led me in.

So many powerful memories over the years of calling on the spirit of God for heart-change in our generation. I truly believe that delirious? held fast to thier call and if nothing else "opened up the doors and let the music play"... that influenced thousands of other messengers to write songs to God. At the end of the gig, Martin laid the mic stand down on the floor - as i guess a symbol of the end of an era. I'm not sure i'll ever forget that moment.

HALLELUJAH, OUR GOD REIGNS - MICAH KLUTINOTY

2009-09-11T10:46:00.000-05:00

Micah, Worship Pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel in Granger, Indiana just wrote this new song "Hallelujah, Our God reigns'. Micah is a strong worship leader and growing song writer with his heart fixed on knowing Jesus more and more each day - this song spilled out of his quiet time with the Lord yesterday. I listened to it last night and found myself singing it on the way home in the car. Great work Micah, great song! thanks for blessing us with it.

Hallelujah, Our God Reigns from Micah Klutinoty on Vimeo.

Hallelujah, Our God Reigns
Music and Lyrics by M. Klutinoty

Verse 1:
In you name there’s hope
A love beyond compare
With each passing day
Your mercy finds a way.

Verse 2:
A King Beat and Bruised
Led to the Cross
Was nailed there to die
And He was crucified

Pre-chorus 1:
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Our God Reigns

Verse 3:
The King placed in a grave
Sealed behind a stone
The ground began to shake
On the third day He rose (begins to build)

Pre-Chorus 2: (building)
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Chorus: (Band Big)
Our God reigns, forever He reigns
Power and strength, are found in his name
In Christ the Son, Victory is won
With angels we sing, the wonders of our King
Our God reigns….

Verse 4: (beginning riff driving)
By the cross I’m free
In your death there’s life
Through your blood I’m cleansed
And given life Again!!!

REQUIRED WATCHING: LESSONS LEARNED

2009-09-10T10:28:00.001-05:00

This past Worship God conference rocked me, (incase i forgot to mention that!)

Here's a video from the last night of the conference. An interview between C.J Mahaney and Bob Kauflin - chaired by Jeff Purswell.
C.J has some incredible insight for worship leaders and the responsibility of pastoral leadership on and off stage. The audience present was captivated by the zeal of this Senior Pastor and his passion for God, his humility and his wisdom for leaders.

Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Leading from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

WEEKEND REVIEW #47

2009-09-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

For a service without a sermon, I was extremely nervous. It'll never be a format that will even be regular - but it turned out to be a powerful service reflecting on God's faithfulness.

Redman's new communion song went down great. Such powerful lyrics.
more video to follow as i get hold of it.

Prelude: (piano)

1. Blessed Assurance / This is my story (V1, C)
Video: (with James & Kathy intro section in the middle)
Blessed assurance (V2, C, V3, C)
Video: James & Kathy Testimony video

2. Holy, Lift Up His Name
3. Salvation Is Here

Video: Josh Caterer’s testimony video

Testimony: Tara
5. Befriended

Friendship Reg./Announcements/Baloche Song: John Smith

Offering Special – Jesus Saves – Andi/Tara w/loop

Testimony: Andi
6. Thank You, Jesus, For The Cross
7. Tis So Sweet

Testimony: Dave & Diane Learned
Set Up Communion: Dave Learned

8. Communion Song (Redman)

Receive Communion: Dave Learned
9. Nothing But the Blood (Redman)
10. Glory to God

Close: Dave Learned

THIS WEEKEND...

2009-09-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

... will be interesting! A long, long, long time ago i worked for a church where the Senior Pastor would every once in a while boycott the message because he believed the Lord had something to say to us prophetically through the songs. Bells rang so loud, i got a headache. Bottom line, he had nothing prepared. The exposition of God's word is also prophetic bro (to be clear, forth-tell, not foretell) (1 Cor 14:26).

But i equally have a many problems - one of which is swinging to extremes like a pendulum - so since then i've been a little wary of never having some kind of sermon in the service. This Labor Day weekend however, our senior pastor is away for one more weekend before he jumps into the mighty task of leading us through the book of Revelation. We're taking a chance and having a whole service based on God's Faithfulness through testimony. Psalm 71:15 says 'My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge." In the last few years we've made a stronger move toward the consistent sharing of testimony in our services. If testimonies are about us, they are just stories - if they are about God and His grace, His Mercy, His love - and bathed in scripture then it can bring powerful truth into other people's lives. I'm excited about it. They'll be 7 testimonies on each campus.

Then at the end of the service, our campus pastors will encourage the church to write their own testimonies out in 3 sections...

1. I was...
2. But God...
3. And now...

It's a good practice to have. Know your testimony. Know the point that you came to Christ. Know what you were and who you are now because of grace. Great application.

We're also singing 2 new songs i'm really excited about.

Remembrance (Communion Song) from the new Matt Redman album

and this one...

I've review after the weekend is done.

WEEKEND REVIEW #46 // VIDEO EDITION

2009-09-02T15:44:00.000-05:00

It's always a joy to sing with the choir. Choirs are underrated. They represent the corporate body of worship much better than a worship leader could ever single hand-idly do on stage. All you need is to be all looking in the same direction - musically, theologically and philosophically and it's a powerful tool in the box for worship leadership.

This weekend also fulfilled a career ambition of mine to have a DJ on stage during some of the worship. It worked even better than i thought it would. I got a little recap video together for this one...

We also did a new chorus to 'all hail the power' that i heard at the recent WorshipGod conference i attended. Written by the guys at Covenant Life church in Gaithersburg.

Prelude: DJ Kenetic
Opening Special: Souled Out - Choir

1. All hail the power of Jesus name [w/new chorus]
2. One way

3. Jesus, You are worthy
4. Jesus, Name above all names
5. All Glory

Announcements

Special: The Lord is my shepherd - Choir

Message - James : Psalm 25

Close: To You oh Lord.

10 YEARS

2009-09-02T15:22:00.000-05:00

this week marks 10 years since i first visited the USA. I had just released an album in the UK that was picking up some label attention. Our manager, Ravi had just left for a work placement in Chicago. He invited me out to visit him for the last 10 days of his visit. I had no idea what to expect or what was ahead for me.

I arrived at O'hare, wide-eyed, feeling like i was on a movie set. I'd only ever seem America in the movies and now it had exploded into real time. The people at Harvest welcomed me with open arms. Ravi and i spent some time in Chicago before we took a few days out in Nashville. I bought a Martin guitar from Gruhn's Guitars on the main street in downtown Nashville. We made a lot of friends in the 10 days and when we left I had no idea i would return and that when i did, i would be coming home. I could never have imagined what my life would look like even 5 years on from then, let alone now.

A journey of mountain peaks and valleys was just beginning...

The more i thin about it, the more i am genuinely amazed of how God has fought so hard over the years for me.

I am so grieved by some of the choices i've made, the people i've hurt along the road but so overwhelmed by the choices that God made for me. He trumped me. I've lost so many battles but God won the war. It's God's mercy. It's His grace. It's His faithfulness. It's His reckless pursuit of the man that He wants me to be. Why is that becoming so much easier to see now? Why did it take so long?

Phil 3:12-14 'Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. '

ON MY MIND

2009-09-01T21:15:00.000-05:00

Memorizing all the bridge illustration verses / new Matt Redman album / Listening to Grudem on podcast / playing x-plane / trying to completely erase all e-mails from my inbox / Derek Webb album / Snow Leopard / Galatians 2 this Thursday at 6:30am / finding more worship leaders / worship leader meeting this thursday night / mutemath / writing my testimony for this weekend's service / maybe a fast from tweeting / selling my scooter / my wife's birthday coming up on the 14th / making a new live album / writing songs for James' Revelation series / eliminating my constraints / being better at connecting, assessing, responding and encouraging when counseling / the twix bar in front of me right now / 'Forgotten God' - the new book by Francis Chan / need a work out plan or i'll never get to it / start with loosing some weight / prayer cards to go through first thing tomorrow morning / how to make time for God...

ALLOW ME TO RE-INTRODUCE THE CHRIST

2009-08-28T11:29:00.001-05:00

WOW.

thank to LMac for this.

YAHWEH

2009-08-12T14:38:00.000-05:00

So i'm like the 51st person to post this video - 'Yahweh' from the new Hillsong CD - 'Faith+Hope+Love'.

One of the quotes from the WorshipGod conference i just attended has been in the front of my mind since i heard it. It was from C.J Mahaney on the last night. He was saying that 'before we can come to worship God, we must first come to receive what only Jesus Christ can offer'. I did a lot of thinking over that. 1 John 4 sums it up well... verse 10 - "In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins'. We must first receive God's love for us before we can then respond with thanks for it. It makes a lot less sense to truly thank someone genuinely for a gift you haven't opened.

Secondly, If being a worship leader is like being a tour guide, leading the tour up the holy hill on the way to the cross, then how bad would it be if i just remained silent and didn't explain at all who it was that we were going to meet when we reached the top. How annoying i would be also if all i did was talk and never gave people a chance to take in the wonders of the view as we ascended. And how sad it would clearly be if i tried to explain who it was that we were going to meet but had never met Him personally myself or didn't really know too much about Him.

This video represents good worship leadership - coming across a huge word like - 'Yahweh' - the name of God Himself - and taking a moment before responding in song to explain who Yahweh is, what He has done for us - and educating the congregation in how to worship him by name. Awesome. A huge lesson for me.

Yahweh - Hillsong Faith+Hope+Love from Fred McKinnon on Vimeo.

HILLSONG CREATIVE TRAINING

2009-08-12T13:03:00.001-05:00

This week we've been looking at the new creative training DVD from Hillsong. The DVD covers 5 Hill-songs(?!) - Run, No reason to hide, You deserve, You hold me now - and - This is our God.
You can watch the band play through each song, then hear an explanation of how it could be performed by regular people like us (the most helpful part) - and lastly, watch each of the instrumentalists play each of the song individually.

I found it interesting to watch. You can for sure learn how to master those 5 songs - although i was hoping that they would discuss even just a little musical philosophy behind their sound and how they approach new songs. I don't want to sound like Hillsong or play their songs exactly like they do. I do want to get inside the thinking behind their sound though. If you're looking for a small insight into the band - and a big insight into these 5 songs then it's worth the purchase.

lastly - i was hoping i would be instantly filled with incredible musical skill and find myself with a sweet rigid rock'n'roll haircut just by playing the DVD. That did not happen. You still have to practice a lot to be good at anything.

WORSHIP GOD 09

2009-08-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

ok, well i have no idea where to start in summarizing the Worship God conference at Covenant Life church this past week. Probably one of the most valuable, impacting, spiritually refreshing and challenging conferences i've ever been to. I am so thankful to Bob Kauflin for his heart to resource the worship leadership community with this opportunity.

Here's where i'll start. The following list my run of twittering during the conference. I was frantically making notes in my journal all week but some things go by so fast you miss them.. so most of the time i was following quotes that other people were also making note of too. Some of them are a little more impacting than others. Most of them all though i've began to build some context around them so i can begin to apply all these thoughts to my own ministry. i have a hundred more in my Journal...

"weekend musicians are not just serving with their skill but serving with their example" - CJ Mahaney

"the more we prepare what we are going to say the easier spontaneity will come" CJ Mahaney

"you can be a bass player and sing" - @bkauflin

"when leading a band the drummer 'drives the bus' but I 'own the bus" - Bob Kauflin

"is the church the only place where our bodies can't express what our minds are comprehending and our hearts are feeling?" -Kauflin

"In our singing we are addressing God. In preaching God is addressing us. Which is more important?" - Jeff Purswell

"The essence of worship is the experience of being SATISFIED with all that God is for us in Jesus." John Piper

"sometimes we don't feel that God loves us because we don't spend enough time gazing at the place where God revealed it"... @bkauflin

"The cross marks the end of human self-exaltation & is the birth of radical human exultation in God's self-exaltation." - John Piper

"Am I excited about the cross because God makes much of me, or because I have been set free to make much of the righteousness of God?" - John Piper

DEAR GOD...

2009-07-29T07:56:00.000-05:00

... Can we sing this song to you in heaven?

if not, can it at least replace the ring on my mansion door bell?

please?

track 10

Love You. a lot.

andi.

(Israel Houghton co-write, 8.26sec of complete song-worship joy - that works out at 5.1 secs per cent. well worth it.)

WEEKEND REVIEW #44

2009-07-28T17:47:00.001-05:00

Four horns on stage with us this weekend. Pap, papapa pap!! Gotta love it.

I was down in AZ the weekend before last - where i led at 'the Grove Bible Church' where my great friend whom i learned much of this worship leader skillz from - is the Pastor of Spiritual Formation. They have announcements, greeting and welcome after the first song. It's a consistent form for them but i liked it a lot enough to give it a try - and promptly stole the idea.

1. Adoration - Andi
- welcome, greeting - Andi

2. Beautiful One (from the new T.Hughes record) - Andi
3. Good to me - Linds/Andi

-prayer - Linds
4. Jesus, You are worthy
5. The stand (v1, pre, v2, pre, pre)
- scripture reading...

Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

5.5 The Stand (Ch x4)

Announcments
Special - O Bless the Lord - Lindsay

WEEKEND REVIEW #43

2009-07-09T00:27:00.000-05:00

Acoustic, low key, vibey(!) - worshipful. Great communion service. Everything flowed so well. Got to sing 'Your love is strong' too - which was one of my favorite songs of '08. I am constantly humbled to be in the position i am - to lead God's people in worship to Him when i am so undeserving. That hit me hard this weekend.

Prelude - Wonderful, Merciful Savior

- call to worship - Lindsay
1. Our Great Savior - Linds
2. He is My Fortress - Andi
3. How Marvelous (v1, Ch, V2, Ch, Ch) - Linds

- set-up communion - Andi
- 50 Reasons why Christ died - video

The Power of the Cross (instrumental during scripture meditation)
4. Jesus, thank You (teach) - Andi/Linds
- receive communion - Andi
- sing bride and last chorus of 'Jesus, thank You) after receiving elements - Andi

The Lord's Prayer (all read together) - Andi
5. All Glory - Andi / Linds

- Announcements

Special: Your Love Is Strong - Andi/Linds

Message - Rock Donald

close: Humble King

SONGS FOR SINNERS

2009-07-05T23:56:00.001-05:00

tell 5 friends - cool.
pay what you want - and the money goes straight to my next project...also cool.

GOOD FRIDAY VIDEOS

2009-07-02T10:16:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to share these videos for a long time. For our past Good Friday services at Harvest we tied Biblical characters from the Good Friday story (Caiaphas, a Solider and a Centurion) to real life testimonies from people in our church. The connection between the stories powerfully to closed the distance that can often be created when trying to relate to people in the scriptures from 2000 years ago.

This first video is of my friend Anthony Siete. Out of the 3 amazing testimonies - Anthony's seemed to connect the most on that evening. The response was heavy and moving in the room at all services.

Technically, the video montages were shown in full screen on the overhead weekend screens. Anthony appeared as life size on screen on the stage - as to appear 'life-like'.

The testimony is worth every minute - all the way to the last moment. Probably one of the most moving testimonies i've ever filmed or watched...

[first video]

Below is the complete video of all three powerful testimonies. The entire service (not this video) lasted an hour with songs used between some of the segments. I'm so thankful for these three guys to share their stories for our church. It was a night i was honored to be a part of - but devastated to be the reason for...

[second video]

PROJECTION PERFECTION - 'RISE OF THE WAP'.

2009-06-24T23:14:00.000-05:00

I'm writing this blog with a serious face. Although this may be thought a trivial subject, over a number of years i have come to respect and highly value the role within the worship service of the 'projectionist / power point operator / pro-presenter dude' - or whatever you may call this selfless individual who gets shouted or pointed at for not operating at the level that the worship leader requires.

One of the most noted relationships within the church to cause tension has been that of the worship leader and the Senior Pastor - although over many weekends i've seen too many looks fly or voices raised between the worship leader and the poor guy or girl operating the computer at the back of the room - so i felt the need to address this. To take the edge off, for the rest of this blog i will refer to this loving volunteer as the 'WAP' (word advancing person). After some time observing this role from the stage as the worship leader and to my small credit, participating as a WAP myself on one or two occasions, i've gathered some thoughts that i think could ease the tension...

- for everyone else.
1. This is not a simple task. There are many tasks that take place during the worship service that allow the person responsible to take a few moments to switch off. This is not the case for the WAP. Through the worship set - then announcements - then the offertory special - then listening intensely through sermon points - through closing songs - and maybe even for multiple services, the WAP has to be on guard and fully alert 100% of the time. So take a step back before you loosen your tongue buddy!

- for the guy who pays the bills.
2. Note: the better software you buy will not make the WAP any better at their job. There might be better functionality / computer performance / clarity on screen but the finger will not go down on that right arrow key any faster than it has done before. Address the real problem before you spend money on complicated software.

- for the WAP.
3. You are a crucial part of the worship leading mechanism. You are not just a finger attached to a verbally abused human. I mean that. You hold within your finger the power between the people in your church 'watching a worship band' and 'participating in sung-worship'. If your worship leader hasn't told you this then I'm telling you now. If you don't get the right words up at the right time, you're creating a 'gig' rather than a participatory event. You can also kill the 'moment' - which i don't have time to go into so ask your worship leader about that one. With that said though...

4. It's not your fault when the worship leader thinks that a) you are telepathic - and b) that you should know the title to every song in the database when they start singing from the second verse or bridge. Note to worship leaders: if you're going to stray from a plan and you know the WAP will be clueless - give some direction over the mic. You're not Bono.

5. HOWEVER (back to the WAP), listen to what is going on - and even participate as a worshiper yourself. This is the common area of weakness i see from the WAP. You are too tense and engrossed in what is coming up next that you're tripping over yourself. Seriously, this could be rooted in an unhealthy level of perfectionism, people pleasing or a fear of man. Address this one right away.

6. Timing is key. Please don't switch to the coming slide a milli-second before we're going to sing the first line. People need a little breath to compute what the first few words are before they sing it. In addition, please don't advance to the next slide before we get to the end of the last line - as not everyone is reading ahead or knows the line by heart. I know it sounds like I'm asking for blood - but this is at the root of your responsibility. It's the calm, educated and rehearsed practice of switching between slides that is free from distraction to both worship leader and congregation. In this case, i think educating yourself with how the songs go and the worship leaders style of leadership will be your best friend.

7. When editing the words on slides - be mindful of line breaks.

Example (wrong)
In Christ alone, i place my
trust. He is my light, my strength, my
song.

Example (right)
In Christ alone, i place my trust.
He is my light, my strength,
my song.

People cannot sing commas, but they can read them. It's good to have a developing understanding of how the songs are sung - which will give you a heightened sense of where the line break should be.

8. You can use cool backgrounds but remain appropriate. I once heard of a guy whom during a song about 'the Cross', used a video background behind the words of a cross that was completely on fire. I get what he was thinking - 'my heart burns for the Lord...' or something like that but... no. A) Appropriate and b) easy for the lyrics to be seen - that is a great direction to go whilst still keeping the cool card.

9. Sit in for the rehearsal. Rehearse the switches. Take notes. Read along as the worship leader sings. Take more notes. It will pay off.

10. I'm sorry if you've ever been treated badly. I really am. You're loved and you play a huge role in worship leadership. Most of you are volunteers and you give up your precious time for this usually thankless task. If you're committed to the task though- good for you. Be open to direction, be humble, serve the Lord and keep pressing on...

CREATIVE OFFERING

2009-06-07T12:07:00.000-05:00

At Harvest we've been rotating a number of creative ideas to make the offering a little more interesting during the service. It deserves some creative input when it's such a key function to our church's existence and important/consistent part of worshiping God during the week and feature within our weekend services too.

- prayer
self explanatory - happens after announcements have been given and usually WAY TOO LONG! (Just pray for the offering and the message the Pastor is about to preach)

- cheer
Set up by the announcement person. Once announcements have been given, they usually read or quote 2 Cor 9:7 'Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.' and then says 'so Harvest, it's time to take up the offering...' at which people CHEER! Then they pray. There's always an interesting look on the faces of visitors - and we love that!!

- song
We've used a couple of songs that we sing a verse of as the offering prayer. It's the most creative of this list and i like it the most. Once announcements have been given, the song is set up, we sing, and then the announcement person then says 'in Jesus name.. Amen' and we launch into the offertory special song.

The 2 songs we currently use are:

v1 and v2 from 'breathing the breath' by Matt Redman

We have nothing to give that didn't first come from Your hands
We have nothing to offer You which You did not provide
Every good, perfect gift comes from Your kind and gracious heart
And all we do is give back to You what always has been Yours

Who has given to You that it should be paid back to him?
Who has given to You as if You needed anything?
From You, and to You, and through You come all things, O Lord
And all we do is give back to You what always has been Yours

or

'offering' by Paul Baloche

We bring an offering of worship to my King
No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing
Jesus may You receive the honor that You're due
O Lord we bring an offering to You

- elder prayer
after the announcements are given, an Elder is introduced who comes up onto the stage. The Elder usually then reads a short scripture motivating us to give unto the Lord and then prays for the offering.

- staff introduction
after the announcements are given, a staff member not usually seen on stage on in a major public role is introduced who also reads some scripture to bring perspective on giving and then prays. The staff and Elder prayers are both features we have sensitively tried to make sure is kept short.

- bring forward
this is the trickiest of all! once the announcements are given, we go right into the offertory special which usually lasts about 3 to 4 minutes. About 30 seconds before the song finishes, 3 or 4 of the ushers bring collectively all the offering bags down to the front. The announcement giver or usually the Senior Pastor will then pray before launching into the message. For some reason this rarely goes as planned but the idea is good and when it works - it works well.

hope this helps.

WEEKEND REVIEW #42

2009-06-07T11:51:00.000-05:00

God is awesome. He gives strength to the weary - and that was me going into this weekend. I spent a few days writing songs with Jason Ingram (who was in RM leading this weekend), Josh Caterer, Lindsay, Jacob Sooter, Jacob Ronan, Matt Mccoy and Chris Moeller. It was a powerful and humbling time together. Too short but i learned A LOT!

So, this weekend...

opening special: Song of hope

call to worship - Andi (Matthew 21 8-11)
1. Hosanna - Andi
2. Everything - Andi
3. It is well [v1, v4, ch, ch] (i pulled this out at the last moment)

Annoucemnets

special: Life Light up - Tara (GREAT SONG!)

Message - Chip Ingram

4. O the love of my Redeemer - Tara/Andi
5. Your name - Tara
6. Lord of all - Andi

close.

TUTORIALS

2009-05-28T08:08:00.001-05:00

Worship Central have started posting some fantastic tutorials for worship team members.

Here's a great electric guitar tutorial from Tim Lost. Specifics are effects and good use of them.

Here you'll also find 'Keyboards Tutorial' from Steve Harding.

If you've been listening to the new Tim Hughes record, they have also posted some drum tutorials on how to play some of the songs. I think the one for 'Jesus Saves' is even worth even a watch to note some of the solid techniques of these drummers.

injoy.

MUSIC MONDAY #4

2009-05-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

Two albums i am not disappointed with...

one:
Mat Kearney - City of Black and White.

I first saw Mat live when he opened for John Mayer in Dekalb a few years ago. This album far out weighs his last offering. You've got to get past the slight pop-feel edge and the Chris Martin sounding vocals - but you do - and it's really worth it. The songwriting is outstanding. Every track on this project is a 'wind your windows down and sing loud' song. Do you also sometimes think "I wonder what that contemporary guy who sounds nothing like bland Christian music would do if he got saved?" - Oh, he is! - and he went and found himself a great producer too. Worth every penny this one. (if you're interested the producer is the same guy currently working on Matt Redman's new project too expected late August)

two:
Hillsong United - A_CROSS // The_EARTH: Tear the walls down.

Got this album about a week ago and i'm still only just getting through the surface of how great it is. These united projects have songs that tend to take some time to grow on you - but when they do - WHAM!. The United crew deliver again. The strongest point for me is the combo of tracks of 7 (tear the walls down),8(soon),9(You hold me now) and 11(Your name high). If you're a worship leader or in a worship team - this project is a stake in the ground whether you agree or not. It's worth just listening to how they are playing, arranging and writing new songs. If you love worship anthems, go buy this. Released in the US tomorrow i think.

PULLING UP THE WEEDS

2009-05-20T15:02:00.000-05:00

I'm in London for my Grandad's funeral. He died suddenly from Leukemia after living a relatively strong, active and healthy life. He was my only remaining grand parent and it was sad today, being at his house for the last time. So many memories of growing up. Being over there when my younger brothers were born. His beautiful well kept English garden. Taking me up to the local race course where on Sunday people used to fly model air planes. I'll miss him for sure. The saddest thing of all though - is that as far as i know, he didn't personally know the Lord. They played 'my way' at the funeral. That was when i wept. But you can never really know a) what the Lord knows for certain and b) what happens within the heart of a man on his death bed after he's heard the gospel preached many times before but as far as you know has not accepted it up until that point. As i read from Romans 8 at the funeral 'It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died...' it confirmed for me that I have to leave the outcome of his life in the Lord's hands now - just as He will also judge mine.

While i walked up and down Grandad's garden for the last time ever i looked at what i remember to be his beautiful flower beds, now beginning to be overcome with weeds. This would have been about the time he'd be heading out to pull the weeds up, ready for the English sunshine. And there it was - My life is like that flower bed - full of weeds that i need to always pull out, making what is meant to be there the main thing on display for all to see as it was created to be. No matter how much i pull those weeds out though, they'll just keep growing. It's nature. It's my nature. But i have to commit to the goal and just keep pulling. I hope that in my Grandad's life he too might have seen his tiring hours of gardening the same way - and he too was trying to rip out the weeds in his life away from the flower beds for something he new would eventually be much more breathtaking than that. i can only hope - and press on.

Stanley Norman Bicknell. 9th February 1926 - 5th May 2009

MUSIC MONDAY #3 (UK VERSION)

2009-05-18T11:20:00.000-05:00

so I'm in London visiting my family for a few days. Thought i would choose some music from the old country for this edition of MM.

one:
God of this city - Bluetree.

I've got to say i was a little unsure about this song from Irish based worship band 'Bluetree' when it first had a rocket ship attached to it on Tomlin's last record. However, at Harvest we've just kicked off our missions month - looking not only overseas but local missions too. We used this as the theme song and our church took hold of it right away. It has a great story behind how it was written, some catchy hooks and the lyrics stay grounded and on theme. We need more songs written about local missions. This is a worthy offering to the table.

And here's a video about how it was written - worth the watch...

two:
Happy Day - Live in London - Tim Hughes. CD and DVD.

Whatever special sauce Nathan Nockels used to cook up Matt Redman's facedown record, he obviously had half the bottle left over for this project. Live from one of London's popular gig venue's, this CD and DVD combo named after one of Tim's new smash songs is simply rocking. It doesn't contain 100% new material like the facedown record did - but the old songs have been given a 'facedown sounding' creative and fresh new life and the new tracks are all stellar. Highlights for me are 'Jesus saves', 'Remember' and believe it or not 'Here i am to worship'.

The offical site is here.
You can get the audio here.
and the combo here.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?

2009-05-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

Paid Worship Leaders, this is primarily for you. Volunteer worship leaders and musicians - this might be worth thinking about.

I remember a visiting pastor who came to preach at the weekend services a few years ago. There was something odd about his delivery. I couldn't put my finger on it until i noticed that he was reading right out of a book from the pulpit. He had written the content of the message but for the most part his eyes were completely fixed upon the pages - only looking up to connect with the congregation maybe once a minute. It bothered me a lot because his lack of interaction with the congregation created a huge deficit in the impact of his delivery. I'm sure a lot of preparation went into the message - and I don't want to suggest that the power of God's word will return void if the preacher doesn't have good communication skills. It made me question myself though - how much do i bury my eyes in the music of a song i've played maybe between 5 and 30 times before?

It was in that moment i decided - i've got to get my eyes out of the music and engage the people. My pastor spends maybe 15-20 HOURS a week preparing his message. That's a long haul in comparison to how long most worship leaders prepare for the weekend worship set. He even writes notes on how to engage the people physically with his eyes or reaching out to touch a shoulder or two during that time too. It's the small things. So why do i come ready to lead without knowing the order that 5 or 6 chords go in for a 3 min song? seriously?!

Now, i'm not saying that i threw the music stand away. Yes, there are weekends that we're playing a gospel song that requires more fingers in a chord than i have on my left hand - and i buckle. But for the most part, i've made an active choice to over prepare before i lead at the weekend - and even the rehearsal. I've been pushing myself to know the songs back to front instead of blagging my way through them, trying to pretend that the most important thing is leading the people. I've also adopted a method of having the music in front of me all the way through the rehearsal but trying not to look at it - which when i need to give direction to the band helps me to show them what part of the chord sheet i'm talking about - and if i slip up, it's right there. But, once the rehearsal is finished, so is the music stand. bye-bye stand. No excuses on my part - what about you?

To the volunteer worship leaders and musicians - without any doubt you selflessly give the small time you have to fulfill a major role for your church - and YOU ARE LOVED for that. There's no reason why you shouldn't have a fresh crispy set of chord charts begging for your attention the whole weekend. However, i want to push you a little to just think over how many times you might have played those songs? Sometimes, i think we get in a rut where we read the chords but don't begin to learn them - and there's some room for growth there within your craft. You'll only become richer in your creativity and in participating within the band by knowing the songs by heart. The people in the congregation are watching you too (whether you like it or not) - and they want to see how you're reacting to the song. They are using you as a point of reference in how to worship in the corporate environment - and what better way to serve them with your face up, mouth open singing along with praise to our great God.

All this with a desire to love the people more than the music and to do so with a pure motive.

#72

2009-05-15T23:42:00.000-05:00

#72 made it to the Huss & Dalton on-line gallery. You can find out more about these great guitars here - and the gallery here. #72 is in the middle.

Off to London tomorrow for a family funeral. For me it's more of a mission. Will report more on my return.

WEEKEND REVIEW #41

2009-05-14T13:32:00.000-05:00

The use of well placed, thought out scripture readings to set up or bring grounding to songs can add a massive advantage to the flow of the worship set. 'He is able' is a song we used only a few times and always delivers. It's an old song - but always works great coming out of a testimony song and moving in a lyrically vertical direction. The scripture that we used around it was read antiphonally.

Extended Prelude: 2 songs

Call to Worship: Andi

1. Holy Holy (Lift Up His Name)
2. He Is My Fortress

Antiphonal Scripture (Psalm 18 v2-3(men), 2 Cor 9:8(women), Jude v24 & 25(all))
3. He Is Able
- first time all together
- second time (focusing on trials & trusting the Lord) Andi set up/Sandy sings
- third time all together again

4. None But Jesus
5. Lord Most High

Announcements -Jeff Donaldson

Offertory Special: God of This City – Andi / Sandy

Church Plant Video 2009 (Oakville) – James set up

Message: James MacDonald

Close: Glory to God

BUILD PT.4

2009-05-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

And it's here. Finished. Thanks to the amazing team at Huss & Dalton. Probably the best acoustic guitar i've ever played, owned or designed - and still in my budget - but let's get perspective on this...

Tonight we had an all church worship and prayer night. I remember a few years back when in Elgin we had 8 people turn up. Tonight there were probably over 800 intentional, passionate praying worshipers from our church at just the Elgin campus. They were reaching high with their hands in worship and on their knees in honest prayer to our powerful God.

With just me on guitar, 1 other vocal and piano player - we lifted up the name of Jesus Christ in song-worship. If i had an old beat up guitar it wouldn't have made any difference to what playing a guitar for me is all about. Isn't it all just wood and steel anyway. In the presence of a loving God who has given me the honor of leading people into song-worship - it's just a guitar. But I'm very, very thankful.

MUSIC MONDAY #2

2009-05-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

one:
'Glory to God' - Fee. This song was written by Steve Fee and Vicky Beeching. I remember hearing 'the stand' and 'stronger' by Hillsong for the first time. You know when you know that a song is gonna be big. Yep, this one has it. It's a catchy song - but more importantly for the most part it's VERTICAL. To me, that is a slightly unknown lyrical writing ability within the current Christian song writing community. That makes this a great song to start or finish a worship set with. You can download the PDF to this great 5-chord-masterpiece here

Below is an introductory video to the song from Steve...
(I would recomend that you also search for the song on YouTube. There are some good videos captured with the full band version)

two:
PAGE CXVI - HYMNS

'Page CXVI' comes from a reference to page 116 in a copy of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It is a poignant passage where Aslan begins to sing Narnia into creation out of a black void. Go figure.

This collection of 'Hymns made accessible' is not a new thought. (stay with me) It seems to be more of an expected trend in the past few years to add a new chorus and a rocking band to an old hymn when making a worship record. I stumbled across this site though and ended up purchasing the full copy of the cd - and, i'd have to say - i think they did a great job with it.

The versions of 'in Christ alone' and 'nothing but the blood of Jesus' are creatively very well thought through and produced. If you are - (like we are) - often looking to keep Hymns riding on the cultural wave - this wouldn't be a bad project to pick up - even if it was just to stir up your own creative juices.

visit the site and preview the songs here.

THE ROLE OF THE WORSHIP PASTOR

2009-05-08T09:07:00.000-05:00

A week ago i highlighted some thoughts and insights from 'Qualifications for a Worship Pastor' by Barry Keldie and Matt Boswell.

At Harvest we allow female worship leaders to lead in the weekend worship services. They are not only skilled musically, but also have a high leadership ability - and to someone attending our services would be 'seen' in a pastoral role. As the director of worship leadership, I sensitively control the content they lead in ushering our people into the throne room in song-worship, whilst maintaining boundaries that are only for elders/pastors of the church through a male leader also being present on stage. [The Scriptures clearly state that men are to serve in the office of Elder and that women are not to serve in church positions in which they exercise authority over men or in which they teach doctrine to men (1 Timothy 2:12; 1 Timothy 3:1-2; Titus 1:6-9).] see here for more.

In highlighting the 'pieces that i agreed with' from the resurgence article i failed to see that the thoughts of that post were in part contradictory of my role in pastoring female worship leaders here at Harvest. In so i deleted the post for that reason although i still agree with a number of valuable points highlighted by that series of posts - 'Above Reproach', 'Respectable, Well Thought of by Outsiders, Not a New Convert', 'Sober-Minded or Disciplined', 'Not Arrogant or Conceited', 'Not Violent but Gentle, Not Quick-Tempered', 'Not a Drunkard' and 'Not a Lover of Money'. I have in response begun planning my own series of thoughts based on the role of a worship leader and pastor here at Harvest.

HEAVEN SONG

2009-05-07T14:39:00.000-05:00

Ladies and Gentlebloggers... Phil Wickham.

SING - AUDIO / CHORD CHARTS / LEAD SHEETS

2009-05-05T16:21:00.000-05:00

'SING' is new cd featuring songs currently being used in corporate worship at Harvest Bible Chapel (Rolling Meadows campuses).

In addition, the cd also contains a PDF of the chord charts and lead sheets to all the songs. So if you're a worship leader, musician or singer this resource enables you to learn the songs directly from the cd. A great resource at a reduced price.

you can pick one up HERE.

track list:
lift up the Name
the new song we sing
O the love of my Redeemer
He is my fortress
thank You, Jesus, for the cross
o bless The Lord
the glory of God
awesome King
offering of love
all glory

MUSIC MONDAY

2009-05-04T10:26:00.000-05:00

(the first in a series i hope)

one.
Here's the new video of the LeCrae single, 'Don't Waste Your Life'. Inspired by the John Piper Study of the same title. The video was also created by the production guys at Desiring God.

You can read the lyrics here.

two.
i remember the first time i heard the song 'more than a friend'. It was in 2003 on a Vineyard tape that i was listening to in my Mum's bedroom. It stood out beyond any of the other songs - in writing, delivery and production. That was my introduction to Jeremy Riddle. Since then Jeremy has crafted some incredible worship songs - a number of them we've used in our services.

Full attention is a powerful dose of old theology in a fresh package. He's clearly digging down into God's word and pulling some solid truth up into his beautifully soaring melodies.

It's hard to pull just one track out but the lyrics to 'prayer for the church' really got to me. Again, Jeremy lyrically found a new theme and brought it to life in the 3rd person to create this incredible song...

Prayer for the church

Where she is weak
Strengthen arms now, steady feet
That she would care for, she would seek
Welcoming Your lost and wounded sheep
Coming home to You

Where she is stained
Bring Your healing, bring Your rain
Wash away now her disgrace
'Till she shines in white, she radiates
She now mirrors You

(We're praying)
No more compromises, no more moral crises
Tonight may she move and act as You
No more small divisions
No more lack of wisdom
Tonight may she move and act as You

Where she is right give her courage for the fight
Full of salt now, full of light
Standing firm where truth and love collide
She remains in You

Now she's shining
Her light is blinding as she sings Your name
Now she's beauty
Up from the ashes, Your love is on her face

Where she is strong, keep her moving, pressing on
Bringing justice, righting wrongs
Demonstrating now Your Kingdom come
She's in step with You

HARVEST UNIVERSITY - SONG LIST

2009-04-29T14:01:00.000-05:00

Here's the song list for Harvest University...

Monday Morning.
Leader: Luke / Lindsay

1. Forever (alt.version) [tomlin]
2. Happy Day [hughes]
3. Glory to God [fee]
3. None but Jesus [fraser, hillsong]

special: You'll come [fraser]

Tuesday Morning
Leader: Andi / Meredith

1. Hosanna [baloche/brown]
2. Unchanging [tomlin]
3. O the love of my redeemer w/video [caterer]
4. Stronger [hillsong]

special: You invite me in [andrews]

Wednesday Morning
Leader: Lindsay / Josh C

1. Lift up the name [caterer]
2. Your grace is enough [maher]
3. Mighty to save [hillsong]
4. Revelation Song [riddle]

special: O Bless the Lord [westerholm/mccaul]

close: In Christ alone [townend/getty]

HARVEST UNIVERSITY

2009-04-27T14:48:00.000-05:00

For the next few days, we're hosting an annual event here called 'Harvest University'. It's an opportunity for leaders from Harvest's, prospective Harvest's, affiliates and other guests to get some training in their particular field of ministry.

Here's the plan for what our ministry is leading...

1. Harvest Worship Philosophy (Andi/Rory)
2. Planning and evaluating a service (Andi/Luke)
3. Using video in worship (Joel)
4. Breaking a fall from sin (Rory)
5. Planning Centre On-line (Josh E/Andi)
6. Songwriting for your church (Andi/Meredith/Lindsay/Josh C)
7. Production values in worship (Joel/Steve/Rece)
8. Instrumental worship (Josh E/Chris M/Andi)
9. Pastor and WL Relationship (James/Rory/Andi)
10. Q+A - (HBC Worship ministry)

We're leading a small time of song worship each morning. I'll upload the song list soon.