Archive - April, 2009

Worship Confessional: April 26th, 2009

April 26, 2009 in Service schedules, the church, Worship, Worship Confessional with 4 Comments

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Today was the second Sunday in our “Xfactor” series.  This week, the theme was “Xplore,” and the big idea was finding direction in life.  I was given the honor of speaking today, and was blessed to see one person make a decision for Christ and have the altars full during our response time.  Attendance was up, and our second service was really energetic!  Here is the set-list for the day:

  • I Am Free – Christensen

Baptism – This never gets old!

  • Thank You For Loving Me – Walker
  • You Are My Strength – Morgan

Welcome and remarks from our Pastor

Video intro to my talk

Message – “Xplore: Finding Direction In Life”

Response Time

  • Here I Am To Worship – Hughes

Choir – God of This City (Boyd/Bleakly/Jordan/McCann/Kernaghan/Comfort) Great job choir!

  • Forever – Tomlin

Overall, it was a great day today, even with me being awake from 1-4 AM!  (I just could not sleep!)  I am always amazed at how God takes our feeble attempts and makes them so much more!  Hope everyone had a great day today!

This post is also part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon [dot] com

Kids Say The Darndest Things! (Christian version) – part 2

April 22, 2009 in contentment, immaturity, people, the church with 1 Comment

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As we continue on from yesterday’s post, we will look at a couple more saying of immature Christians…

3. “There is no where for me to get involved” – This is usually a statement that is made by those people who are looking for a high profile “position”     rather than a ministry in a church.  This is many times also said by those who do not get their way.  It is an excuse to leave.  We want people to serve where they are gifted, but many times people want to serve where there is high praise or instant recognition.  It takes all kids of people to do ministry.  Some people are out-in-front type people, some are behind the scenes.  What is the bottom line?  The bottom line is that both are just as important.  I have never in 20 years of ministry been in a position where I had a waiting line to get involved in ministry.  There has always been something to do.  I have had people either quit a team (or the church) because I would not put them out in front as much as what they wanted
4. “We can’t find any friends” or “This church is full of clicks” – Now, I cannot that there are no clicks in a church.  Certainly there can be.  no matter how hard a church tries at not having them, they are bound to show up in some way.  But most of the time I have had people say this, it is because they have not gotten involved in anything. (See #3 above).  I mean, how in the heck do you expect to get to know people when you come to church late, leave during the invitation and never get involved in a ministry.  Most clicks are made up of people that are faithful members that are serving together.  If you are not part of the “click,” what does that tell you?  My advice?  Get off your butt and do something for God and for someone else. (This goes for #3 as well!)  Once you do that, it will be hard for you to say that you are not fitting in or meeting people.

5. “_________________ is why we are leaving the church.” (You fill in the blank).  My mentor in the ministry told me very early on that “the reason people say they are leaving the church is NEVER the real reason why they are leaving the church. Most of the time it is something they are struggling with, but it is easier to blame it on the church or the pastors of the church.”  Quite honestly, I have never really been affected too much by people leaving the church.  It is not that I like it when people leave.  I leave that in God’s hands. I think he purges and moves people for reasons that we many times may not know.  Sometimes it is for their benefit, sometimes it is for the benefit of the church.  Either way, if I am more focused on keeping people than reaching people, I am in trouble already.

I know this is not an exhaustive list… what are some other statements you have heard immature Christians make?

Kids Say The Darndest Things! (Christian version) – part 1

April 21, 2009 in contentment, immaturity, people, the church, Uncategorized with 3 Comments

kids1Most people that read this blog (all three of you) know that I have 5 kids.  It is exciting and rewarding, as well as tiring and challenging at times.  One of the great things about kids, is that they say some pretty crazy things at times.  They will use words that do not make sense in the way they are using them, or they will make up a word to describe something.  “Out of the mouths of babes” refers to a truth that a kid will say, and they usually have no idea what they are saying!

This same thing happens in our spiritual lives as well.  I have run across many spiritually immature people that will say things that make me want to smack them in the name of Jesus!  I know, that is not a very “spiritual” response either.  I do not smack them, I just want to!  (That is great progress for me!)  The statements that are made are an indicator o just how mature they are as Christ followers.  Now, before you think I am picking on new Christians that just do not know any better, I just want to let you know that I am not talking about new Christians.  They usually are not the ones that make these statements.  It is usually people that have been “Christians” for a long time.  You see, many years as a Christ follower do not mean maturity. Ok, let me get to a couple of the statements:

  1. “I am not being fed.” – News flash: It is your job to feed yourself!  Come on, you have been a Christ follower for 20 years and you do not know how to pick up the fork (Bible) and eat?  All five of my kids needed help to learn how to eat.  They had the desire to eat, but they did not have the ability to feed themselves at first.  by the time they reached their first birthday, my kids knew how to pick up the food placed in front of them and do something with it!  And now they get up and pretty much find their own food and fill themselves up.  Many times immature Christians say this, but what they really mean is that the message is not entertaining enough, it does not “tickle” their ears. Other times, there is a spiritual sickness that zaps your appetite.  If you are not being fed, is it because of lack of desire?  Is it because of sickness?  I have never met a mature Christian that has a problem with being fed.  They know how to pick up the Word and be fed.  That is our responsibility.
  2. “What does this church have for me.” – As I read the Scriptures, I never once see where the church is to worry about having things for people.  I do see that the church is all about putting people together that have gifts to use for the good of the body.  In other words, we ought to turn the question around and ask people, “What do you have for our church.”  After all, the gifts that are given to each believer are there to edify the church.  Having great ministries  is not a bad thing, but it is to be a by-product of people serving and using their gifts for the good of the church.

We will continue this tomorrow!

Worship Confessional: April 19, 2009

April 19, 2009 in the church, Worship, Worship Confessional with 2 Comments

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I was really interested to see what type of a return crowd we would have after our Easter service last week.  If you missed, it, we had a week full of distractions: a baby choir, someone dropped a TON of change, and then we had a guy pass out with heart issues.  Several of our medical people responded and actually had to do CPR which brought him back.  He is home today and doing ok.  I wondered what type of an impact that service would have as far as a return would be. Well, I will certainly give it another couple weeks, but we were a little above our average for the year so far.  Right direction at least, but we might have scared some folks off thinking we would accidently kill them in service!  (Ok, not really!)

We started a new series today called “A-Factor” that deals with where everyone is at in their journey.  Everyone has an “X” (As in, a “you are here” place on a map), and it is our job to know where we are so we can get to where God wants us to be.  Today was “Xamine,” and so the talk was directed at examining where we are at in our journey.

Ok, now for the setlist

  • All Because Of Jesus – Fee
  • Awesome Is The Lord – Tomlin/Reeves/Pierce/Abel
  • Holy Is The Lord – Tomlin/Giglio

Intro video – “Lost”

Message – X Factor – “Xamine”

Response time

Offering

Video Promo for Financial Peace University

  • From The Inside Out – Houston
  • You Are Good – Houghton

And that is all!  I hope everyone had a great day today!  Let the Church arise!

This post is also part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon [dot] com

Worship Confessional: April 12, 2009 – Easter Edition

April 12, 2009 in Service schedules, the church, Worship, Worship Confessional with 13 Comments

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Easter is likely my favorite day to be in church!  I love seeing the place packed out, and Easter is just one of those days that packs the church out without a lot of advertising or hoopla.  There we so many people walked through our doors today that needed to know that they matter to God.  What a responsibility we had to show them that today (and every Sunday).

We had our normal two service times today at 9AM and 10:30AM.  Both were very well attended (909 total for today).  Due to the time constraints that we have with the first service, we always have a little less singing in it.  So the second set that we did today was only done in the second service.

We had an unusual occurrence in the middle of our second service (during the sermon) when one of our senior saints fell over with a heart attack. Several of our people are in the medical field, and they sprang right into action.  According to one of them, they actually lost him at one point, but brought him back with CPR.  Can’t say I ever have had that happen before!  He was taken to the hospital in ambulance, and it looks as if he is gong to be fine. Praise God!  Not sure there is a better illustration in the middle of a sermon on the resurrection!

Anyways, everything else really went just as planned.  The band, vocals and choir all sounded fantastic!  Here is the set list:

Video – 3 days later (Sermon Spice)

Choir – “My Savior Lives” (Still Amazed Live Choral Book)

  • My Redeemer Lives – Morgan
  • At The Cross – Morgan/Zschech

Video – That’s My King (A classic!)

Message – Our Pastor Spoke on the Emmaus Road appearance of Jesus.  Great message, even though it got interrupted in the second service!

Response Time – After the medical emergency, we just did an in your seat time of response.  Certainly a little awkward to get back into the service.

  • Mighty To Save – Morgan/Fielding
  • into You Are Here (The Same Power) – Pankratz/George
  • back into Mighty To Save
  • A New Hallelujah – Smith/Smith/Baloche (This is a favorite closing song for our church)

Choir – Holy Is Your Name (Still Amazed Live Choral Book)

I am already hearing great things from churches all over America about the results from Easter!  God is moving in His Church!

One question: Why shouldn’t it be this exciting every week!

This post is also part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon [dot] com

Remembering and Overwhelmed

April 10, 2009 in Communion, crucifixion, Good Friday, love, suffering with 0 Comments

jesus-crossIt is Good Friday, and my thoughts are directed towards my Savior and the suffering He went through during this next 24 hour period nearly 2000 years ago.  As I sit here in my comfortable chair, drinking my coffee and listening to the sounds of a couple of my children as they go about their day, I am overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed by the fact that Jesus did what He did… and that He did it for me.  Overwhelmed that God the Father would allow His Son, His PERFECT Son to bear the pain and suffer as He did. I am overwhelmed that by no merit of my own, the God of heaven showed favor on me by allowing Jesus to become sin for me… actually, it was more then that, He took upon Himself the sin of all humanity, so that we could come to God in a right relationship.

I am also overwhelmed, because even though God did all of this for me, I still sin. I am overwhelmed with the fact that Jesus shed His blood, yet I am still a selfish individual who chooses my way instead of His many times. I am overwhelmed to know that God’s plan is still to use me to love others and help them take their next step towards Him, even when all of my steps are not always in the right direction.  I am overwhelmed knowing, that with all of the good that I think I do, it is still not enough to merit the love that He pours on me every day.

I am overwhelmed…

Recovering "Legalist"

April 8, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I loved this post by Perry Noble today!  I can identify with the things he says as he describes his journey!

My first conversion took place on May 27, 1990 when Jesus saved me from Hell but my second conversion “took place” when Jesus saved me from legalism.

The more and more I began to read the bible I saw and understood that my salvation is based on the grace of God and not the works of Perry. My salvation is a gift. He gave it to me. He gave it to me because of how good he is and not because of how good I was going to be.

Click the link and read the whole post!  Great stuff!

Worship Confessional: April 5, 2009

April 5, 2009 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

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We had a great day here at G’ville as we focused on Palm Sunday.  No donkeys and Palm branches, but we still had a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the place.  We woke up to cold and a little bit of snow falling, but we still had over 600 in attendance.  Now for the set list:

  • You, You Are God – Beach
  • Hosanna – Baloche/Brown
  • God You Reign – Brewster/Fieldes (The people are really enjoying this one, it was the second week we have done it)

Welcome/Easter video promo

Message – Our Pastor talked about the events and people surrounding Jesus during the week before His crucifixion.  As Pilate made a judgement about Jesus, so we must make a judgement about Him as well.

Building Commitment talk – After the response time, Pastor shared the need that we have for the next three years (we just came through the first three years of a building commitment).  It is always hard to talk about these things on a Sunday morning, but Pastor did a great job with the presentation of the need.

Announcements (Not a normal thing for us, but we wanted to hit a couple key things)

  • Let Everything That – Redman

That was it!  Now, time to get geared up for Easter!

Hope you all had a blessed day!  This post is also part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon [dot] com