What a wonderful weekend of celebrations! We had our Good Friday service, which was very powerful, we celebrated the wedding of one our worship ministry members on Saturday, then we celebrated Resurrection Sunday! I was so wiped out from all the celebrating that I’m writing this recap Monday morning instead of Sunday afternoon. This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog at The Worship Community, where you can read recaps of worship services from around the world.
Good Friday Service
Did your church have a Good Friday service? It’s been a really neat tradition here to have a service on Good Friday focusing on the cross, and also celebrating communion. This year, we used a little pamphlet by John Piper called “10 Reasons Jesus Had To Die” as the basis for our service. Each of the 5 pastors took two of the reasons, and we interspersed each pastor’s talk with music, videos and communion. It all came together really well! You can see the Planning Center details here and also watch the video.
“This Is How We Know” (Matt Redman and Beth Redman)
– We actually read John 3:16 together before we sang this song, as this song is based on that verse and others. Great song with a great piano lick! 🙂
“More Than Amazing” (Lincoln Brewster and Mia Fieldes)
– One of my favorites right now! So easy to sing, and with the reference to the familiar hymn in the bridge, it really makes a great song for all generations.
“The Wonderful Cross” (Chris Tomlin)
“The Wonder of the Cross” (Vicky Beeching)
– We used this song and the next one during our time of communion. We did communion differently this time; usually we pass out the elements, but during this service we asked people to come up to a table to get the elements, and then either take them at the front or take them back to their seats and take them as a family. Instead of us leading them through, we just had the music playing and they were more on their own. It was neat to see everyone come up and take it together. This song is one of my favorites from Vicky!
“Sweetly Broken” (Jeremy Riddle)
“Jesus Messiah” (Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves)
– Always a favorite way to end this service!
Contemporary Easter Services
What a celebration we had this morning! We had the full worship team and worship choir leading us today. We followed up our theme on Good Friday this morning with “10 Reasons Jesus Had To Rise”. We also used two videos – “He Rose” from Centerline and “Come Awake” with Matt Maher’s song “Christ Is Risen”. You can see the Planning Center details.
“Alive, Forever Amen” (Travis Cottrell, David Moffitt, Sue C. Smith)
– This is one of our team’s favorite Easter songs! We first used it in a musical we did a few years ago, and we’ve been using it ever since. Very fun song to sing, and perfect for Easter!
“My Savior Lives” (Jon Egan and Glenn Packiam)
“Glorious” (Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown)
“Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)” (Casting Crowns)
– A new song by Casting Crowns using the words to the old hymn “One Day” with a new melody. Great song!
“My Redeemer Lives” (Reuben Morgan)
– Wow, it’s been a long time since we’ve done this one! I was looking for an upbeat closer that everyone knew, and this one came to mind. It was so fun with the choir leading and praise team singing the backup vocal parts! He lives!
Cafe Connection Video Venue
Zack led the team this morning in the Cafe, and Patti did such a neat job making it festive in there! Andrew led the service since Jamie was preaching this morning with Pastor Tim. You can see a pic below of the Cafe crew in their Easter suits! Here’s the Planning Center details.
“My Savior Lives” (Jon Egan and Glenn Packiam)
(John Thomas Grape, Elvina M. Hall and Alex Nifong)
– This was the Passion arrangement of this song, which keeps all the verses and chorus, then adds a new bridge. The team did a great job!
“My Redeemer Lives” (Reuben Morgan)
“Alive, Forever Amen” (Travis Cottrell, David Moffitt, Sue C. Smith)
Traditional Easter Service
We sang many familiar, favorite Easter hymns in this service and Rick sang “The Holy City” as special music with piano. He did a great job! You can see the Planning Center details and watch the video.
“Alleluia, Alleluia!”
“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”
“Christ Arose”
“He Lives”
“The Holy City” (Stephen R. Adams)
– Rick sang this as a solo, and I accompanied on piano. Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard this song, but what a powerful story! Great job, Rick!
“Because He Lives”
Barry Westman 