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If you have a second today to vote, you should swing over to the All About Worship Award nominations and vote. I’ve had the privilege of working with the guys at All About Worship for a while now, and helped to nominate some of these amazing artists!

They’re giving away awards for:

Album of the Year
Song of the Year
Artist of the Year
Band of the Year
Twitterer of the Year (that’s a fun one!)
Interview of the Year
Most Embarrassing Moment of the Year (You have to at least listen to all the nominations – this category is hilarious!)

Just click here to vote.

All About Worship is a great resource for worship leaders and worshipers! Their podcasts are filled with interviews with some amazing worship leaders and songwriters. Their website is packed with tons of helpful information and resources for the worship leader.

Along with the date being 10/10/10 (kind of a cool date), and our 18th wedding anniversary, we had a wonderful morning of worship at Bethel this morning!  It was also an important day in the life of our church as we licensed and installed our new youth pastor, Andrew Moffitt.  This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival at The Worship Community. Check that out to read other posts from worship leaders around the country.

Contemporary Worship Services

We had the worship choir join our team this morning, and the extra voices really added to the energy and sound. We also introduced a new song today, “Overcome” by New Life Worship. What a great song! You can watch the video of this service, and see the Planning Center details.

“Glorified” (Jared Anderson)
– We introduced this song last month with the choir, and we added the congregation with us today. This song really works well as a service opener, setting our hearts on worship.

“Better Than Life” (Israel Houghton)
– This is one of my favorite songs to do with the worship choir! It’s such a fun song to sing about God’s loving-kindness.

“Overcome” (Jon Egan)
– Again, such a powerful song about how Jesus is the Overcomer, and through His power, we will overcome. I used Revelation 17:14 and  1 John 4:4-5 during the song for scriptural reference. The congregation really responded amazingly, even for the first week.

“Break Through” (Tommy Walker)
– This was in response to the message, and a great song of hope as we left.

Cafe Connection Service

Zack was the worship leader this morning in our Cafe service, and I played keys and sang along with one other singer. We missed the percussion, though, this morning. He chose some great songs for this morning, and it was a full house! We almost ran out of bagels…

“Open the Eyes of My Heart” (Paul Baloche)

“Majesty (Here I Am)” (Stuart Garrard and Martin Smith)

“Rescue” (Jared Anderson)

“How Great Is The Love” (Meredith Andrews and Paul Baloche)
– We didn’t actually get to this song today, as we ran out of time.  But, it’s a great song; I was bummed we didn’t get to do it today.

Traditional Service

Rob led the team in the Traditional service this morning. Thanks everyone! You can watch the video of this service, and see the Planning Center details.

“Christ is Made the Sure Foundation”
“I Love To Tell the Story”
“O God Our Help In Ages Past”
“It Is Well With My Soul”
“Since Jesus Came Into My Heart”

I’ve been reading through the Bible this year using YouVersion’s Chronological Reading Plan.  I’ve really enjoyed this plan, as you get to see how things happened in order and in context.

A recent reading really struck me, as it had immense implications for our worship ministry. As I’ve been reading through the Old Testament, I’ve never quite known which book will be next each morning, since the readings are not in the same order as the Bible. The reading also stood out to me, even though I’ve read it before, because I’m reading it with a different version – the New Living Translation, which I’m really enjoying! Today’s reading was from Malachi, and this passage stuck out to me in relation to the offerings we bring as worship leaders to the altar.

6 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!
“But you ask, `How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’
7 “You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.
“Then you ask, `How have we defiled the sacrifices?
“You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect.“8 When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
9 “Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Malachi 1:6-9

Wow. This passage may not have been written with the worship leader in mind, but being one, that’s how I read it.  Notice first that this admonition is written to the priests – the ones bringing the sacrifices to the altar. Quality control, if you will. I wonder how many times we’ve settled, and brought crippled offerings of praise and worship to Him. How many half-prepared, barely holding it together songs have we brought to the altar? How many blind solos or diseased dramas have we given Him? Is He pleased with that kind of sacrifice? Does that show Him the honor and respect that He deserves? Can we expect to receive His favor if we’re not careful with the offerings we’re bringing Him?

I know excellence shouldn’t be our #1 goal, and I’ve even heard someone say that excellence can be an idol. But, I don’t think we can ignore it or disregard it completely. We need to strive to bring our best to Him in everything we do. This passage may not be directly referring to music; it may be referring more to bringing your tithes and offerings. This passage says a lot about that, too! But, as a worship leader, our gifts and offerings in the area of music is our sacrifice of praise.

Oh Lord, I don’t want to show contempt for Your name, or offer defiled sacrifices at your altar. I want to show You the honor and respect You deserve in the sacrifices I prepare with my team each week that I lay on your altar. I do beg for your mercy, O Lord. Thank you for your forgiveness and grace for all the times I’ve failed in that area.

Let’s make that our challenge this week as we prepare our sacrifices of praise with our teams!

Thoughts? Comments?

I’ve been listening to Lincoln Brewster’s new CD the last couple of days – great stuff! It’s not his usual style – much more personal and reflective, but still good.  I’ve got a few songs in mind already for use in church. Watch out worship choir and team!!

You can read the full review I wrote featured at the All About Worship website by clicking here. And, if you leave a comment on the review, you may even win a copy of the CD for yourself! Hurry, though, you’ll need to comment by Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 5:00 p.m.

Check it out!

I just realized that I don’t need to come up with some big dissertation each time I feel like posting something. It can be as simple as just saying that I’ve realized I don’t need to come up with some big dissertation each time I feel like posting something.  I feel much freer now!

I just had to let you guys know about an amazing event coming up on May 19-21, 2011 at Grace Church in Overland Park, KS. The All About Worship Retreat is being put on by the guys at All About Worship. Wisdom Moon and Ben AbuSaada host the All About Worship Podcast, a great resource for worship leaders! They also have an excellent website with tons of resources for worship leaders including the podcast, CD Reviews, worship leading articles and videos.

Last year, they put on the first All About Worship Retreat, and I was so glad that I went! We were able to spend some quality time with Tommy Walker, Darrell Evans, Jared Anderson, Michael Farren from Pocket Full of Rocks, as well as some other amazing worship leaders from around the country. It was a small group of around 60 of us there, so we really were able to get some one on one interaction with these guys, as well as form bonds and friendships with other attendees. I still keep up with many of them via Facebook, Twitter.

I was so glad to see that they were going to have another retreat next year! I’ve already registered for it, and it looks great! But, since they do have to limit the registrations to about 60, I would register early if you’re considering attending this year. You can go to the retreat website, which is worshipretreat.org for all the details.

This year, they are bringing back Michael Farren from Pocket Full of Rocks, but this year the entire band will be there! Also, Brenton Brown, writer of such great songs as “Everlasting God”, “Lord Reign in Me” and “Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) will be one of the worship leaders, along with worship leader Sarah Reeves.

As I said, I would register early, since the size is limited. You won’t be disappointed!!

My pastor friend, Mark Kraakevik, shared this picture recently and it got me thinking. Take a look at this map and see where you fall in this debate. You can see a full-size image of the map here. Also, click on the image below to see it full-size.

I grew up in Minnesota, so my whole childhood I called it pop. I thought “soda” sounded so funny! Now I live in WI, and according to the map, right on the edge of pop/soda. I do hear quite a bit of both around here, so I guess that makes sense now. I have no idea why the eastern part of WI would call it soda, though. Seems kind of random…

But, what’s even stranger is why the whole southern part of the US would call it Coke!? So Pepsi is Coke? Mountain Dew is Coke? Someone from the south please explain this to me… And does anyone know why the north/south split? What’s the history there? Now I’m curious…

Please enlighten me!

Today we had our annual Bethel At The Rock service at one of the parks here in Janesville.  Our day started early with hauling the equipment down to the park and setting up. With our new portable sound system from our Cafe Service, it made setup much easier today. After a lengthy sound check (we are now so used to using Avioms that using floor monitors and live sound now prove to be quite troublesome…), we were ready to go.

Prelude (15 minutes before as people were walking in)

Everday (Joel Houston)

Amazing Grace (Instrumental)
– This was kind of an impromptu last-minute addition today! As we were getting things setup, the band just started to noodle around playing Amazing Grace, and I thought they sounded so good, I asked them to play it during the prelude! With electric guitar lead, bass, guitar, drums and keys it sounded great!

Your Love Never Fails (Chris McClarney)
– A great song!!

Songs during the service:

Awesome Is The Lord Most High (Chris Tomlin)

Glory To God Forever (Steve Fee and Vicky Beeching)

You Alone Can Rescue (Matt Redman, Matt Maher)

Hold Us Together (Matt Maher)
– This was our special this morning we did during the offering. I had wanted to do this song for a long time, but was just waiting for the right combination of who would be singing it, and the right location. With Eric nailing the vocal part, the great band,  and the baptism service, it seemed liked the perfect day to do it!!

Mighty To Save (Reuben Morgan)
We ended the service with hearing the testimonies of the 11 people who were going to be baptized, which was way cool! The people’s ages ranged from 9 to 70’s, with a husband, wife, and son. The park was right next to the Rock River, so it was perfect for the baptism service.

After that celebration, we had our Hog Roast meal right there at the park. Great food and fun fellowship!

Days like this are always so much more work than the normal day, but it was so worth it! Being outside in God’s beautiful creation, the excitement of having the whole church together for 1 service, and just the whole atmosphere of today made it a wonderful day!

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog on The Worship Community, where you can read what happened at other churches around the country today!

Just a little video from this past summer – Olivia riding her bike, and Emily asking a question about Noah. It didn’t seem so humorous as I was taping it, but watching it back, it’s actually a pretty good picture of what life can be like staying on top of 3 kids (2 in this video). Hope you enjoy!