We had a wonderful morning of worship today at Bethel, using Romans 8 as the basis for the service. What an encouraging and promise-filled chapter! Another huge first today was using a click track on one of our songs! I also used the Honor The Brave Countdown from Jitterbug Media for Memorial Day today – very powerful! This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival at The Worship Community.
Contemporary Services
So the big news this week in our Contemporary Service was that we were going to try to use click tracks this week for the first time. We’ve talked about doing this for a while, but after attending the All About Worship Retreat last week, I was inspired and encouraged and informed by talking with other worship leaders, so I decided to finally just try it. It was quite an adventure, but that whole story is for another blog. You can watch the video of this service and see the Planning Center details.
“God Is With Us Now” (Walker Beach)
– This is a brand new song that we introduced today from Gateway Worship’s God Be Praised CD. I’ve been looking for more upbeat service opener type songs, and this one is great. It’s challenging for the band, with lots of punches, breaks and rhythms; a great call to worship. Since Romans 8 was the basis for the message today, I tied in each of the songs with one verse from Romans 8, and read the verse before the song. For this song, I used Romans 8:38 – nothing can ever separate us from the love of God.
“Our God” (Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin and others)
– I used verse 31 here – If God is for us, who could be against us. We added a click track on this song today, and I have to say it was very challenging! This was our first time using a click track on any song, so it was a new experience for us all. I downloaded the files from Praise Charts, which included a click on the left, and loop on the right. We used both, sending the click to our in-ears only, and the loop to both the ears and house. I still have so many questions that I would like to ask those of you who use clicks, but again, that’s for a separate entry. Needless to say, it went OK – meaning, no train wrecks where we had to start over or turn off the click. We made it through. But, I wouldn’t say any of us enjoyed it, or felt more confident because of the click. Our focus was entirely on staying together with the click. The song lacked emotion and joy because we were all so worried about getting ahead of the click. It was a good challenge, though, and I’m sure that the more we use them the easier it will get – I hope!
“Your Love Never Fails” (Chris McClarney and Anthony Skinner)
– One of my favorites right now! The promise from Romans 8 in this song comes in verse 28 – “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God.”
“Victory” (Cody Carnes)
– This is another new song from Gateway Worship that ties in just perfectly with our study of Romans. We’ve used it before in this series, and people are starting to know it now and really singing out. It’s such a great song! We used Romans 8:1-2 here where it says the Spirit has freed us from the power of sin.
“You Never Let Go” (Matt Redman and Beth Redman)
– A great way to close our service with this reminder of the promise that if our God is for us, who could stand against us!
Cafe Connection Service
I led the team this morning in here from the keyboard, with Zack on percussion/tenor, Brenda and Rob (1st time!) on vocals, and Jake on bass guitar. They did a great job, and it’s always fun to be part of this service! You can see the Planning Center details for this service.
“Matchless” (Aaron Shust)
“Our God” (Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin and others)
– Since we were in the Cafe, I found the acoustic version of this song on Tomlin’s CD, which actually worked great in this setting. A nice change of pace for the song.
“Your Love Never Fails” (Chris McClarney and Anthony Skinner)
“You Never Let Go” (Matt Redman and Beth Redman)
Traditional Service
Rick led the team today in here, and from what I heard they did super! You can see the Planning Center details for this service.
“Holy God, We Praise Thy Name”
“Glorious Is Thy Name”
“I Will Sing the Wondrous Story”
“All That Thrills My Soul”
“O Love That Will Not Let Me Go”
“And Can It Be?”
Barry Westman 