i am an offering

Just wanted to give some simple updates:

• Thanks so much to those of you who commented/tweeted about missing me blogging - much appreciated!
• I will be blogging regularly again soon.
• Life is in a bit of a transition right now and I’m trying to figure out how to manage some things wisely.
• Ministry at Living Word is happening big time, and I’m excited to see where some recent conversations and plans will bring us.

More to come…next week…

Yesterday at Living Word can be summed up with one word, I think: energy.  Not in the new-age sense of the word, but just a general excitement around the place.  Sunday school kicked off yesterday, and consequently, our normal numbers of people attending picked up.  It was so much fun to hear lots of people singing again!   Some dear saints led us in worship by doing a medley of choruses and ending with a song I hadn’t ever heard before, but really enjoyed:

• How Majestic is Your Name
• Great and Mighty (our daughter starting bouncing and clapping during this song, she’s starting early!)
• Almighty
• Antiphonal praise (a great echo song I had never heard before) - Wilson mentioned that the word “alleluia” means “praise the Lord” in virtually every language, so when you say (or sing) it, you know how to say “praise the Lord” in almost every language - fun stuff!

After the service we had a fairly busy, but relaxing day due to the fact that I was involved in a retreat and some teaching sessions all weekend (more in that the rest of the week) and my wife played for a wedding on Saturday, causing us to not get much housework done on Saturday in order to rest Sunday.  However, we still enjoyed the day thoroughly, with lots of time spent with family.

And the icing on the cake: the Bears won :-)  And Matt Forte glorfies Jesus more than himself after playing a record-breaking game as a rookie running back.  I have a feeling this is going to be an enjoyable season.

This post is part of the Sunday Setlists community.

As always, another great day at Living Word.  And a fantastic day of rest with the family.  I’ve been attempting to set aside Sundays as a complete day of rest from several things (computer, housework, yardwork).  Of course it has to start after the service, but even to have the majority of the day be restful is extremely helpful.  It’s given benefits already.

Here’s what the service looked like yesterday:

Pre-service gathering song: Let Your Kingdom Come - Sovereign Grace Music.  More on this song in a minute.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord (Strong Tower) - Love this song.  It’s such a great reminder of who God is and so good to repeat these thoughts as we worship.  And, several people started the clapping in the congregation - thank God for worship leaders who don’t even know they’re worship leaders!

Let Your Kingdom Come - we officially taught the song here.  I love this song as it talks about making our desires His desires and making His “glorious cause” our own.  In the midst of our new building project I think this song will play a pivotal role in reminding people that we are about building God’s kingdom, not just having a place to come to church.

I usually like to use a new song as a pre-service song and then do it again during the service after people have it in there heads a bit.  How I taught it was by singing a phrase and then having the congregation repeat the phrase.  We did the whole verse, and one spot in the chorus that has a note that sort of comes out of nowhere.  It seemed like the congregation grasped this song very quickly and it seems like teaching them a new song this way seems to work really well.  Does anyone else have expereince with this?  If you were at Living Word yesterday, did it work for you to learn the song this way, or was it distracting?

Closing song - In Christ Alone - Unfortunately, the words to this song were not right on the screen.  The words we had up were from Brian Litrell’s “In Christ Alone” (which is a great song - just not the one we needed!)  This is a good reminder that we always need to double and triple check things and not rely on the song title alone to enter a song.  Many people knew the first verse and we’re singing along with me as I tried to figure out what to do.  I just simply stopped the music and read the words to the fourth verse, which directly applied to the message that had just been given.  A few people told me how disappointed they were that we didn’t get to actually sing the song.  We’ll do it again soon.

The message was very convicting and encouraging at the same time.  We learned about subtle ways that we steal and how important it is not only to tell the truth about our neighbor but to “build their reputation” as well, as Luther mentioned in his explanation of this commandment.  It was a great morning.

(This post is a part of the Sunday Setlist community at Fred McKinnon’s website.)

Yesterday’s service was great.  Especially the message.  Man was it hard-hitting and necessarily so.  I love how our pastor will constantly challenge men in the church and cause us to think hard and fast about what we’re really doing to lead our families.

Some highlights for me were that “some things you just can’t do in the recliner.  You have to get up, turn off the TV and do them.”  I’m not much of a recliner and TV sort of guy, but the concept applies to whatever area of life has become “your lazy” area if you will.  Pastor Wade also gave us the challenge that if we have problems with daydreaming/fantasizing we should focus that energy on how to make our marriage better and how to honor our wives and families more instead.  What a great concept!

We are also held accountable for making sure we talk to our daughters about modesty.  Men, we understand how these things work - we were (and maybe are) all there at one point or another.  We need to teach our daughters especially how their dress affects other men.  Great challenges yesterday.

The songlist (posted in collaboration with other worship leaders at Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlists)

• Wonderful Grace of Jesus - gathering song.  Being a fan of Southern Gospel music and in particular The Cathedral Quartet, I’ve always loved this song.  It was a great way to remind us of what God has done for us in Jesus.  The only problem with this song is that it can get a bit too high at some points for your average singer.
• The Name of The Lord (Strong Tower) - hadn’t sung this for awhile so it was fun to sing it again.  The congregation seemed to lack a little energy and I was wishing so much that we had some hand-clapping or some percussion involved on this one.  I suppose I could have started the hand-clapping.  Whoops.  Leading worship from the congregation didn’t work on that one from me this week!  Guilty!
• When I look into Your Holiness - I had only sung this song a couple times but for some reason the words really struck me yesterday and drew me into worship.  Such a simple song, but so effective.  “When all things that surround become shadows in the light of You - I worship You!”  What can help us to make the things that surround become shadows so that His light shines brighter in our lives?
• Oh the Glory of Your Presence - I had never heard this song before.  I’m not sure if it was because my heart was already very open to worship or if the song was just well-written, but I was able to really enjoy worshiping through this song as well.
• ‘Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus - closing hymn.  Another classic.  However, this one also gets a little high.  I love the fact that our pastor also knows how to lead worship, though, because he had us repeat the chorus after his closing thoughts - but he brought the song a few keys down.  Nice work!

We also had the experience of hearing from my friend Tara who shared about her time as a missionary in Sudan.  It’s exciting to hear the work that God is doing throug her.

The rest of the day was filled with eating with friends and family and watching lots of olympics.  And boy am I glad we stayed up to watch the men’s swimming relay race.  What a race! Our men certainly represented our country well - both in how they swam and how they handled the interview afterward.

Yesterday was week #2 of guest teachers at Living Word.  We were blessed to have a message from a guy that I actually counseled at camp once who’s now helping with the youth at our church.  He’s grown a lot and it’s been really amazing to see.  He shared from Hebrews 10, continuing where I left off last week. There are five great encouragements in Hebrews 10 that I’d definitely encourage you to check out.  We sang:

• Soon and Very Soon (traditional hymn)
• Beautiful One (Tim Hughes)
• Before the Throne of God Above (hymn reworked by Vikki Cook)
• Victory in Jesus (hymn)
• These songs are part of the Sunday Setlists post from Fred McKinnon.

Yesterday was also a complete sabbath from any computer time from me and boy, I didn’t know how much I needed that!  Lately, God has been opening my eyes to some ways I need to remanage my time and it’s already beginning to pay big dividends.  More on that to come.  Enjoy your week!