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Worship Confessional: December 7, 2008

December 7, 2008 in Service schedules, Uncategorized, Worship Confessional with 2 Comments

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Today was a big day at Glenville Church.  We planned for a day that we called Connection Sunday, which was just a day that we pushed for visitors from our people.  We had two identical services (well, sort of identical… second service was a little longer, since we had no time constraints).  We had no idea how it would work in December, with the holidays and all, so it was a bit of a risk, but we have had such good momentum that we wanted to try something that would give our people an opportunity to invite people before we got too close to Christmas.  We wanted people to see a “normal” service too, not just a special Christmas service.  Hopefully we will get some of the visitors back that we had today for our special services this season.   Our people did a good job, and we were able to see a pretty decent increase in attendance.  I am not sure as of yet what we had, but I would guess we had about a 25% increase in our attendance.

Service order went as follows:

Today Is The Day -  Brewster/Baloche
Great opener – lots of energy in this song!

Welcome by our Discipleship Pastor

Hosanna – Baloche/Brown
You Are My Strength – Morgan
This has become a favorite of my praise teams

We then did a skit by Nicole Johnson called “Baggage.”  I cannot see how anyone that attended could not be moved by the story portrayed in this skit.  It is VERY powerful, and I think really presents what many people walk around with in this life.  The young woman that played the part did a fantastic job!  My drama director is the best, and did a great job preparing this (as did everyone else involved – My arts team is fantastic!).

We followed the skit with the choir singing “Orphans of God.”  Also a very moving song that set up where we were going with the service very well.

We then finished with:

At the Cross – Zschech/Morgan
This songs gets to me every time we sing it.  Great lyrics that remind us of what Christ did… wow!

Our pastor spoke on focus.  He certainly left no question as to whether God was interested in each and every person, and that He has a plan for them and can use them, no matter what kind of baggage they may be carrying.

After the message in the second service, we had a time of response to the message.  Many people came forward during this time.  It is so cool to see God work in the lives of people, and to see people respond to Him as He works!
I was just so proud of our people today.  Everyone that was involved did a fantastic job!  The tech team was on top of things.  The musicians were great today!  It was just an awesome day to be a part of Glenville Church!

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

Worship Confessional: November 30, 2008

November 30, 2008 in Communion, Service schedules, Uncategorized, Worship, Worship Confessional with 6 Comments

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Today was a day that I had been looking forward to for quite some time because we were able to observe the Lord’s Supper in service.  It is always a special time as a church to be able to specifically remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us.  Of course, we should remember this every day as we walk with Christ.

We started the service a little more subdued than normal… not dead, just a little quieter.  We started out by singing:

  • The Wonderful Cross – Tomlin/Reeves/Newton/Mason
  • Jesus Messiah – Tomlin/Reeves/Carson/Cash

I loved using both of these songs with this service.  The Wonderful Cross brings a little of the old in with the new, which our older and more traditional crowds probably look for when doing a Communion service.  Of course, Jesus Messiah is a newer song, but we have done it with the choir a couple times and with the congregation once, so it was very familiar to our people.  They sang it very well today!

After the opening songs, we had a quick little welcome from our Pastor, and then he took a few minutes to talk about our special Connections Sunday next week (kind of like a friend day).

The choir then sang “Sheer Beauty” from the Christmas musical Everything Glorious that we will be doing this year from our Christmas Concert.  They did a great job!

Right after the choir, we went into:

  • At The Cross – Zschech/Morgan

I love this song.  We had one of our women lead it with the solo part. This was the first time we had done this song.  Many people already knew it though.

We had the previous Worship Pastor, Nate Harmon (who is now at First Medina) with us today.  It was great to hear his testimony.  He and his wife also sang the song “Glory” for us, and did a great job!  It was good to see Nate!

Our pastor then took a few moments to talk about the Lord’s Supper and what it means.  We have a congregation with a huge diversity of backgrounds, so it was important to us to explain what we were doing and why we do it.  We then had a few moments to pray and contemplate.  The entire congregation came forward to pray and meditate at the altar, on the stage, or wherever they can fit.  Everyone then takes the elements and goes back to their seats.  After everyone was seated, we all took it together.  The pastor prayed, and then we sang our last two songs of the day:

  • Once Again – Redman
  • Majesty – Smith/Garrard

Both of these songs fit the day perfectly.  By this time the people were so focused and the Spirit of God moved in a big way as we lifted up these last two songs.  It was just an awesome worship experience!  It was also my first time to participate in the Lord’s Supper at my new church.  They are a wonderful people!  I thank God for them!

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

Worship Confessional: November 23, 2008

November 23, 2008 in Service schedules, Worship Confessional with 2 Comments

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We had an awesome day at Glenville!  Normally, we have two morning services, but today we had a guest speaker, so we combined the two services.  We do not always do that when we have a guest speaker, but it is always nice to put the whole church family together in one service.  I love seeing the auditorium packed out!

The day was really awesome!  The energy was infectious, and the people were totally engaed in what was going on.

We started with our choir singing, “Jesus Saves” by Travis Cottrell and David Moffitt.  The choir just made the place ring and set a great tone for the rest of the service.  Great job choir!!!

The, we opened up with a couple of our newer songs:

  • Sing, Sing, Sing -Tomlin/Reeves/Gilder/Carson/Nunn
  • A New Hallelujah – Smith/Baloche (This was our third week in a row to do this… kind of a theme song for our missions emphasis month)

Our pastor then welcomed everyone.  We have been hitting the idea of connecting with one another and others outside the church big time.  Pastor used the welcome today, since we had a combined service, to allow people to get to greet others that they may not know.  We are trying to build the feeling of community within the church, which is even more difficult when you have multiple services.

We went right into our second set of music after the greeting:

  • You Are Good – Houghton
  • Mighty To Save – Fielding/Morgan
  • You Are My Strength – Morgan

Pastor then got up and gave a promo for our big day that we are having in two weeks.  We are calling it Connection Sunday, and are just encouraging everyone to bring one person with them.  Then, he introduced a skit and the guest speaker.  The skit was called “A Couple of Shady Characters” and was about two people that had kicked back sitting in the shade and were just comfortable enjoying life and not too concerned with reaching out to others.   God removes their shade and prompts them to get involved in other people lives.  It is a funny little skit, but it gets the point across beautifully.

Our speaker for the day was Jerry Thorpe.  I always enjoy hearing Jerry speak.  He is a proven leader and built a great church in Odessa.  He challenged our people in the area of reaching out to others, connecting with them so we can help them take their next step towards Christ.  It was a great message, and was perfect for where our church is at, and where we are heading in the near future.  Altars were full as people made decisions for God!

It was just an awesome day!  Attendance looked up (was in my choir – we are quickly running out of space in what we have set up). The people are excited about what God is doing… and so am I!

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

Worship Confessional: November 9, 2008

November 9, 2008 in Service schedules, Worship, Worship Confessional with 3 Comments

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I am sitting here tonight just totally blown away by how good God is.  We had an incredible day at Glenville.  And I am not even talking about the music!  God showed up big!

In our first service, the people were a little more alive than normal.  They sang well, and were engaged with the pastor as he preached.  We started out the service with:

  • Open The Eyes Of My Heart – Baloche
  • Shout To The Lord – Zschech
  • Above All – LeBlanc/Baloche

Second service, we used the following sets:

First set

  • Open The Eyes Of My Heart – Baloche
  • A New Hallelujah – Smith

Second set

  • Shout To The Lord – Zschech
  • Above All – LeBlanc/Baloche
  • Mighty To Save – Fielding/Morgan

I love the song, ” A New Hallelujah.”  This was our first time doing it, and it was a little rough, but the people seemed to get it pretty good, and we are doing it three weeks in a row as a sort of “theme” song for our missions emphasis.  Great song with a lot of energy.

One of my favorites is Mighty To Save.  Just love the song.  Ok, I love a lot of Hillsong stuff, but this one is one of my favorites right now.

In both services, I was given the opportunity to talk about our upcoming special day, called Connection Sunday.  We are setting an attendance goal of 1200 (double our average attendance), and are planning on having 2 identical services.  We are doing this the first week of December.  Crazy for us to do this in December?  Maybe… we will see in a few weeks!

We are in our missions emphasis month, and were able to have a missionary with us.  He and his wife gave us a short report and showed a short video.  Sharp couple!

Our missions theme, and theme for net year, is Connections: Loving God – Loving Others – Serving both.  We have really been talking this up and trying to get people to see how important it is to connect with God first in relationship, and then to take what we have in that relationship and connect with others, helping them take their next step towards Christ.  I really believe our people are ready to see God do something big!  They are really getting excited about connecting, and I know God will bless that!

Our pastor spoke on “Disconnect” today.  Awesome message on why some people feel disconnected from God and the church.  (hint: it is because they are!)  People responded greatly during the invitation.  We also handed out wristbands that have our theme on them, and asked our people to commit to inviting people to our special day in December.  (We had cards made for this purpose)

Overall, I would have to say that I felt the people were totally engaged in all that was going on today.  There is an excitement that is totally evident in our people.  It is so exciting to be a part of that!  The energy in the singing was great today as well, even in the older songs, people were singing from their heart and so free in their worship… very refreshing to be a part of that as well.

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

Worship Confessional: November 2, 2008

November 2, 2008 in monday, Service schedules, Uncategorized, Worship Confessional with 2 Comments

I started the day off wondering if I was even going to make it to services at all.  I came down with the flu Saturday morning, and it just got worse throughout the day.  By evening, I was almost positive I was gonna be staying home on Sunday, which has only happened one other time in my 18 years of leading worship.  Anyways, I got  pretty good nights sleep (I am sure the extra hour helped), and by the time I woke up Sunday morning, I was feeling like I could probably make it through the day, which I did.  I hate missing services!  As I write this here on Sunday night, I am sure that being in services today has helped me feel better!  Ok, on to the day!

We started our missions emphasis month today with a video and a testimony from an organization called House of Hope which provides support for relationship struggles in families.  This is a wonderful ministry, and certainly there are many that could benefit from an organization like this for restoring relationships.

First service, we then went in to the only set we had for that service which included:

  • Friend Of God – Gungor/Houghton
  • Beautiful One – Hughes

The second service opened up with:

  • Sing, Sing, Sing – Tomlin/Reeves/Gilder/Carson/Nunn
  • Better Than Life – Cruse-Ratcliffe/Houghton

After the opening songs in both services, our pastor spent a short time talking about our “theme” for missions conference and the next year, which is Connections: Loving God, Loving Others, Serving Both.  He also spent some time encouraging our people to bring visitors and friends for a special day we have coming up called “Connection Sunday.”

In the second service, we then had our second set of songs, which were the two we did in the first service:

  • Friend Of God – Gungor/Houghton
  • Beautiful One – Hughes

Our Assimilation and Discipleship Pastor was our speaker for the day, and brought us a great message about having the world view that God does for people.  It was a great way kick of our missions, and fit right in with where we are heading as a church in encouraging our people to be relational in all areas of life.

The energy for the music was incredible.  Our people are really liking Tomlin’s Sing, Sing, Sing.  The passion in their singing today was just contagious!

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

Worship Confessional: October 19, 2008

October 20, 2008 in monday, Service schedules, Uncategorized, Worship, Worship Confessional with 4 Comments

Today was an unusual day for us.  Every year a small town just south of Wichita called Haysville (I happen to live in this town as well) has a Fall Festival, and on Sunday Morning they have what they call “Church In The Park.”  Though there are a number of churches in Haysville, Glenville has had the opportunity to be the church that does the services for the last few years.  So, we had our first service at the church (I did not lead, I was already at the park), and our second service was moved to the park for the day.  It really was a neat opportunity for us to get involved in the community.  So, here is our song selections for the day:

  • You Are Good – Houghton
  • Friend Of God – Gungor/Houghton
  • Everlasting God – Brown/Riley
  • Marvelous Light – Hall

After that first set, our choir sang Holy, Holy, Holy from the Community Bible Church collection.  Then, one of our ladies sang Tomlin’s How Can I Keep From Singing.  She did an awesome job!  Our Pastor then gave a 15 minute message that was centered around the focus statement for our church – Loving God, Loving Others, Serving both.

After the message, we had another set of songs:

  • Hosanna – Baloche/Brown
  • How Great Is Our God – Tomlin/Reeves/Cash
  • Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) – Newton/Tomlin/Giglio

The choir did two more songs:

  • Jesus Messiah – Tomlin/Carson/Reeves/Cash
  • Orphans Of God - LaBar/Lindsey

The soloists on both songs did a fantastic job!  The wind was really strong during the service, so we had a few gusts that took some music away, knocked a couple stands over and messed with the mics, but over all, it was a great experience and an awesome opportunity to be out in the community.

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

Worship Confessional: October 12, 2008

October 13, 2008 in monday, Service schedules, Worship, Worship Confessional with 0 Comments

I am still in the process of getting settled in here at Glenville, but figured it was time to start posting my lists!  Attendance was steady here in Wichita.  All of our schools are in today, so we were not affected by the “holiday.”

We finished our series on “FEAR” that we have been in for the last 5 weeks.  Yesterday was on Fear of the Economy, so we started the service playing Pink Floyd’s “Money.”  (We did not actually play it live, we played the recording – sorry to get you too excited!)  We have done a secular song each week as our pre-service announcements are running.

We have a choir here at Glenville, so we opened up with Holy, Holy, Holy out of the Community Bible Church collection.  The choir did an awesome job!

Our congregational sets included:

1st Service

  • Your Grace Is Enough -Maher (Tomlin arrangement)
  • Enough – Tomlin/Giglio
  • Here I Am To Worship – Hughes

2nd Service

  • Today Is The Day – Brewster/Baloche
  • Sweeter – Houghten/Cruse-Ratcliff
  • Your Grace Is Enough -Maher (Tomlin arrangement)
  • Enough – Tomlin/Giglio
  • Here I Am To Worship – Hughes

We typically do 3-4 of the songs we are doing for the second service in the first service.  The volume is the difference between services for us.

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

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