“In Christ Alone” recorded by Owl City

 

Owl City

 

As I was looking through my Twitter feed this morning, I saw an interesting post about the song “In Christ Alone” being recorded by Owl City. Now before today, the only thing I knew about Owl City was that my two little girls loved to listen to the song “Fireflies”, and wanted to hear it every morning on the way to school! It’s a great song, but every day…

Well, I was intrigued by the post so I followed it, and sure enough, a beautiful rendition of that tremendous song “In Christ Alone” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend began to play on Owl City’s blog.  If you haven’t heard it yet, you really should give it a listen, and especially read his comments about why and how he recorded it.

As I read the post from Adam Young, the voice of Owl City, describing how he recorded the song last night, and how much the song moved him, I began to gain a deeper appreciation and curiosity about Adam and his music. I found it very inspiring that he would post this recording, and the personal story of his faith.  So, since I’m on vacation this week, and nothing better to do, I spent some time doing some research.

I discovered some very interesting similarities! I found out that he was from Minnesota, as am I. Owatonna – I wonder if that has anything to do with the name Owl city? Also, through a comment on my Facebook post about the recording, I made another interesting discovery. One of my cousins is related to Adam! So, is a cousin of a cousin your cousin? In this case – no. But, my girls were thrilled to hear that someone they were related to was related to the guy who sings “Fireflies”!! I also learned from Rebecca, my cousin, that Adam also recorded the song “How Deep the Father’s Love For Us”, which I found at Grooveshark.

By the end of the day today, I saw numerous posts about the song around Facebook and Twitter. I read through many of the comments on Adam’s post on his blog, and for the most part, there were so many positive comments from his fans, about how beautiful the recording was, but also applauding him for standing up for his faith. Since Owl City is not a “Christian” band, many of his followers were not professing believers. As always, there were a few negative comments from his readers, some even from Christians. I do wonder why he left out the second verse, but as one reader commented, every verse contains the heart of the gospel. Also, I had a comment on my Facebook post from Joni, the manager for Keith and Kristyn Getty, saying that she was so glad to hear this recording of Keith’s song, and was going to let them know about it!

 

Keith and Kristyn Getty

 

By posting that song today, he took a huge stand and was a tremendous witness to his many followers. I had the sense, though, that he didn’t post it for any reason other than God really used that song to minister to him, and he just had to record it! Thank you, Adam, for following your heart! I guess I won’t mind so much, now, when the girls want to hear “Fireflies” on the way to school tomorrow…

Sunday Setlist – October 24, 2010

Another busy morning at Bethel today! But, this afternoon starts my week of vacation, so I’m feeling that start of  vacation excitement as to what can all be accomplished! Just wish we had the means to carry out some of our list… Oh well… on to the setlist…

Contemporary Services

“Rising” (Paul Baloche and Matt Redman)
– I actually JUST noticed for the first time this am that Matt Redman was one of the co-writers of this one. I guess I didn’t realize that! Did he ever record it? This is a great opener, right from the Psalms!

“God Is Great” (Marty Sampson)
–  This one has a tempo of 152, in other words – fast! But, in our 9:30 service we must have been at least at 160! We were flying along! 11:00 was better. Another great song – one of our congregation’s favorites!

“Our God” (Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman)
– Again, our tempo on this one was a bit too fast in the 9:30, better in the 11:00.  This is the first time we’ve done this song since reading Aaron Niequist’s blog post about it (http://www.aaronniequist.com/blog/worship/did-we-just-sing-that/). I tried not to let that post change my opinion of the song. Have you read it? What are your thoughts? Honestly, I had not thought anything along the lines of what he was saying before reading it, and I’m really surprised it got so much attention! But, I think it’s a great song, and our congregation loves it!

“Your Love Never Fails” (Chris McClarney)
– This is one of my favorites right now! The band sounded great on it today, especially in the 11:00!

“Stronger” (Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan)
– I love when a a song takes on a different meaning each time you sing it! Today, that was the case with this one. We’ve used this great song before in relation to the cross and Easter, but today’s message was on facing temptation, and this song fit perfectly in that setting as well. “You are stronger. Sin is broken, you have saved me!” God really used this song today as we used it as a response to the message and there was a great response!

You can watch the video of this service, and also see the details of the service order.

 

Cafe Connection Service

“Rising” (Matt Redman, Paul Baloche)

“Beautiful One” (Tim Hughes)

“You Alone Can Save” (Matt Redman)

“Stronger” (Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan)

I led in the Cafe this morning, with a full team – percussion (cajon/congas), guitar, keyboard, vocals. It was the biggest team we’ve had yet for the Cafe. I was amazed, again, at what a great team we have that help to pull off this service each week with the setup, food prep, tech team, music team, take-down. What great volunteers!

 

Traditional Service

“God, Our Father, We Adore Thee”
“How Great Thou Art”
“Blessed Assurance”
“I Will Praise Him”
“What A Friend We Have In Jesus”

You can watch the video of this service, and also see the details of the service order.

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival at The Worship Community, where you can read recaps from worship services around the country.

 

All About Worship Awards 2010

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.

Worship Recap – October 17, 2010

I hope you all had a wonderful morning of worship! Here’s our worship recap from this morning’s services at Bethel. This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival at The Worship Community.

Contemporary Services

“Hosanna” (Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown)
– It’s been a while since we’ve used this song, so I thought it was time! It’s amazing what taking a little break from a song will do. People seemed very excited to sing it, and they really sang out! Zack did a awesome job on the guitar solo today.

“Today Is The Day” (Lincoln Brewster and Paul Baloche)
– We’ve done the Lincoln Brewster version of this song since it came out, but I’ve always wanted to try Paul Baloche’s version.  We did take away the ‘Oh, Oh, Oh’s today, which made it feel much tighter. Once again, Zack nailed the solo on this one!

“Cannons” (Phil Wickham)
– This was the second week we’ve used this song, and people are already catching on to this great song. We started soft with just Shanna sang the first verse, then we all joined in the  chorus. The band then came in and off we went. I love this song! “I’m so unworthy, but still You love me.”

“How He Loves” (John Mark McMillan)
– Today’s message was about God’s grace and love, so this was a perfect way to end our service! I think some of the words in the verses finally sunk in today after pastor’s message. People seemed to respond much more to the song today.

You can watch this service online and also see the Planning Center details.

Cafe Connection Service

Adam led the team today in the Cafe, and from what I’ve heard, did a great job along with the team – Georgine on vocals and Zack on percussion.

“Hosanna” (Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown)

“Everlasting God” (Brenton Brown)

“You Never Let Go” (Matt Redman)

“We Fall Down” (Chris Tomlin)

Traditional Service

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
“Redeemed”
“Without Him”
“Wonderful Grace of  Jesus”

You can watch this service online, or see the Planning Center details.

Worship Recap – October 10, 2010

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”

Worship Recap – October 3rd, 2010

October? Is that possible? Well, I guess it is, and the temperature when I left home at 5:45 a.m. this morning felt like it!  Fall is one of my favorite seasons, so I’m actually happy about flipping the calendar page! This morning was Communion Sunday. How often do you have Communion in your services? We have it on the first Sunday of each month. Thanks to all those who served this morning in our four services. You guys did a great job! This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog at The Worship Community; check it out to read other recaps from worship leaders around the country.

Contemporary Services

We had some really neat moments this morning during our service. One of them was our special for today – “Open Hands” by Matt Papa. I love this song, and one of our worship leaders, Zack, led this song from his electric guitar, and I sang harmony from the keyboard along with the rest of the band.  Zack did a great job – very proud of that guy! The other moment I remember was during “In Christ Alone”. It was right before Communion, and you know when sometimes a song that you’ve sung many times before just hits you in a new way? Well, today as the congregation was responding in worship during the third verse, I was just overwhelmed with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross all over again – what a gift! We were short one singer today who called in sick, so Bekah agreed to fill in on her solo on “At The Cross”, and she did a fabulous job! Want to see more? You can watch the video of this service or look at the Planning Center details. Here are the songs:

“Salvation Is Here” (Joel Houston)

“Open Hands” (Matt Papa and James Thiele)

“In Christ Alone” (Keith Getty and Stuart Townend)

“At The Cross” (Darlene Zschech and Reuben Morgan)

“You Are My King” (Billy Foote)
– This has always been one of my favorite songs, but after listening to the interview with Billy on the latest All About Worship Podcast, my appreciation for Billy and his music skyrocketed! Because of a condition that he has, Billy is physically unable to sing! He can speak, but when he tries to sing, his vocal cords just don’t allow him to sing. He said that he hears the melody in his head, then asks his wife Cindy to sing it for him to see if it sounds good. Amazing!

Cafe Connections

I wasn’t able to  be in this service today since I was leading in the Traditional, but they sounded great at rehearsal! Adam picked out these songs, and I was really hoping to hear how Leeland’s “Carried To The Table” went – in the original key, even! You can see the Planning Center details for this service.

“Lord Over All” (Gary Sadler)

“In the Secret” (Andy Park)

“Carried To The Table” (Leeland Mooring, Marc Byrd, Steve Hindalong)

“How Great Is Our God” (Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves, Chris Tomlin)

Traditional Service

You can watch the video of this service as well as see the Planning Center details.

“One Day”
“The Church’s One Foundation”
“Lead On O King Eternal”
“O Sacred Head Now Wounded”
“Hallelujah What A Savior”

Unworthy Sacrifices

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?

Real Life by Lincoln Brewster

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!

Sunday Recap – September 26, 2010

We had a busy, but different morning at Bethel today. I led worship in the Cafe with the keyboard, then in the Contemporary services. Our youth group was at a retreat this weekend, so we were missing several from the team. If you watch the video, you’ll see we had a pretty small team today. But, they did a great job! This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog over at The Worship Community where you can read recaps from churches around the country. Thanks for reading!

Contemporary Services

The band today was just 2 keyboards, drums, and guitar with 2 singers. We introduced “Cannons” today by Phil Wickham, which was one of the highlights for me.  You can see the Planning Center details as well as the video of this service. Here are the songs:

“Our God Saves” (Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown)

“Holy Is The Lord” (Chris Tomlin)

“From the Inside Out” (Joel Houston)

“Cannons” (Phil Wickham)

“Your Grace Is Enough” (Matt Maher)

Cafe Connections Service

Another small team with just 1 singer plus I led from the keyboard. We rely on our Youth quite a bit, and it was evident today! View the Planning Center details.

“Our God Saves” (Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown)

“Matchless” (Aaron Shust)

“Cannons” (Phil Wickham)

“Surrender” (Marc James)

Traditional Service

Since I was leading in the Cafe today, Rick led the Traditional Team. They had 3 singers, piano and organ.  Dee did a beautiful job on the Offertory! View the Planning Center details and the video for this service.

I Sing The Mighty Power of God
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us
He Leadeth Me
All The Way My Savior Leads Me