Worship Confessional: December 13, 2009

December 13, 2009 in Service schedules, Worship, Worship Confessional with 1 Comment

purp_confessional

Today was the second in our series called “The Gift.”  The big idea for the day was “giving ourselves to God,” because He gave His Son for us.  Our drama, vocals and tech teams all did a wonderful job in their areas.  Everything went off without a hitch!  I am so proud of our team!  The version of “The Little Drummer Boy” is probably one of my favorite arrangements this year.  My son played a hand drum along with it.  I will try and post a video of it tomorrow sometime.  Anyways, on to the setlist!

Video – A Christmas Mystery (Download from SermonSpice)

Welcome

  • Angels From The Realms Of Glory
  • Angels We Have Heard On High
  • Silent Night

Drama presentation part 2: “The Gift”

  • Choral songs used in drama:

Video intro to message

Message: “Giving Ourselves To God” (Our pastor spoke, and as always, did great)

Time of response

Offering

Christmas Eve Video promo/Dismiss

What an awesome time of year!  I know I have said it the last couple of weeks, but I do it!  I hope everyone is having a great holiday season!  Next week, we present the last part of our series!  Cannot wait to see what God does!  This post is also part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon [dot] com.

One Of My Favorite Quotes

December 8, 2009 in change, church philosophy and methods, leadership, the church with 1 Comment

I was going through my Evernote notebook clips last night and came across a quote that I found on a blog a couple of years ago:

“The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday.”
- R.T. Kendall, pastor of Westminster Chapel

This had two implications for me:

  1. A lot of the people that I was taught to revere and respect as I was growing up were actually fairly progressive in their approach to ministry (for their time). What they did may not be considered progressive today, but it was then!  In fact, today most churches have been there and done the things that were considered progressive back then.
  2. I am still just under 40, but I never want to be the opposition to God’s moving in this (or any) generation.  Who has the right to say that God was done working in the 50′s. 60′s or 70′s?  Who has the right to say that the 90′s Praise and Worship music was the ultimate sound that God wanted.  None of us do.  We need to allow God to work today just as He did in those decades.  Creativity did not reach its pinnacle. Evangelism and preaching did not reach its final end.  Things continue to progress. Things continue to change.  They will until Christ returns.  In fact, we will even sing a “New Song” in heaven.  Some of you will not like that song either!

Happy Birthday Jenna!

December 7, 2009 in family, kids with 0 Comments

She turns 10 years old today!

jenna_bday

She brings joy and excitement into our lives.  You just never know what is next with her.  I love you Jenna!  Have a great birthday!

Worship Confessional: December 6th, 2009

December 6, 2009 in Service schedules, Worship, Worship Confessional with 1 Comment

purp_confessional

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  I know, not very original!  But I do love this Holiday Season.  I love the focus of Thanksgiving, the celebration of Christmas and the fresh start of the New Year!

We started our new three week series today called “The Gift.”  Yes, it is a very simple title, but it is a very simple message that we are trying to present about God being the ultimate giver and Jesus being the ultimate gift!  We have a three week drama we are presenting that one of our ladies wrote for us (Thanks Patti!), and the choir is adding a few songs to it to make for a wonderful time of celebration! We scaled back our congregational singing for the next three weeks to have the time we need for everything.  We will sing some carols throughout the set though is a variety of ways.  Today we used just a piano and had congregational singing intertwined within the drama.  Here is the flow for the day:

Video – 12 Crazy Days of Christmas

Special – “A Baby Changes Everything“  (Fantastic job Misty!)

Welcome to guests

DRAMA

Choir songs used within the drama (all songs for the three weeks are from Prestonwood’s “Gloria” published by Prism Music.

Carols used today within the drama:

  • Joy To The World
  • Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
  • O Come All Ye Faithful

Video intro to Message

Message – “God’s Gift To Us” by our pastor

Offering and announcements

I was so proud of the job our crew did today.  The technical crews were right on today, and the drama and vocals all did an amazing job!  Thanks everyone!  This post is also part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon [dot] com.

Does This "Church Math "Add Up For You?

December 2, 2009 in church philosophy and methods, leadership, the church with 0 Comments

Read this post at Tony Morgan’s blog.  I am still processing through some of it, but I found it to be very, very accurate.  What are your thoughts on it?

more staff = fewer volunteers

lack of planning = financial challenges

more meetings = less ministry

unclear vision = packed ministry calendar

packed ministry calendar = volunteer burnout

same methods = same results

Read more of them on Tony’s blog. Good thoughts or not?  What do you think?

Worship Confessional: November 29th, 2009

November 29, 2009 in Service schedules, Worship, Worship Confessional with 0 Comments

purp_confessional

Today just capped off a wonderful week of celebrating Thanksgiving! I love getting to spend the extra time with my family… and then being with and hearing from church family in services today was just the icing on the cake!  Our services today were unique and very personal as we heard from several families today.  Our Pastor had 8 different families share thoughts on giving thanks from different aspects and different life situations.  It was very touching, and put everything on a very personal level.  Here is the set list:

  • Sing, Sing, Sing- Carson, Gilder, Nunn, Reeves, Tomlin
  • Today Is The Day – Baloche/Brewster

Thanksgiving Video – “ThanksLiving”

Special music: (Great job Justin and Cassie)

First half of message: “ThanksLiving”

  • Blessed Be Your Name – Redman/Redman

Offering

  • Majesty – Garrard/Smith

Second half of message

Time of response

Video advertisement for our Christmas post office

Dismiss!

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

ThanksLiving

November 26, 2009 in family, gratitude, holiday, thanksgiving with 1 Comment

thanksliving

I enjoy this time of year more than any other time.  I love the holidays, and really enjoy the extra time I get to spend with my family. Thanksgiving is a day that really should be a reminder of how we are to live each and every day of our life. With thanks! We take so many things for granted on a daily basis. Sometimes there are reminders that we do this: We lose our job, a family member dies, a close friend moves away, the money runs out and we buy food according to necessity and not by preference of taste and desire.  When these things happen to us or someone we are close to, we all of a sudden are reminded that we are one of the lucky ones… better yet, we are one of the blessed ones.

Here is a quick 5 things that I am blessed with and thankful for this day:

  1. A God that desires a relationship on a day by day, moment by moment basis. His love and forgiveness drives me to love others even when it is hard to do.
  2. A family that loves me (or at least they say they do!) even though I make mistakes (a lot). The older I get, the more I love and appreciate them.
  3. A wife that I adore! I know, she is family and belongs in #2, but she deserves a special mention all to herself.  She is the most important thing in my life (outside of God Himself).  Marrying her was certainly a good move on my part!
  4. A church to serve in. I cannot imagine doing anything else but serving in a local church. Seeing people takes steps towards Christ is rewarding in and of itself!
  5. Food and football!  How can I not say that on Thanksgiving day!

Make Thanksgiving a way of living!  Make it ThanksLiving!  We are so blessed!

The Right Structure

November 25, 2009 in funny, leadership with 0 Comments

Saw this at Carlos Whittaker’s site… funniest thing I have seen in a long time, so I had to post it!

poop

This is not the right structure for a business OR a church…  Leaders are to take the poop… not those under them!  Thanks for the laughs Carlos!

Worship Confessional: November 22, 2009

November 22, 2009 in Service schedules, the church, Worship, Worship Confessional with 2 Comments

purp_confessional

Today we celebrated Communion together. I love to partake of the Lord’s Supper with my church family.  It is always  special time, and today was no different.  We purposefully set a more reflective atmosphere.  We started out with a slower, yet powerful choir song and we also only used an acoustic in our music today.  It was a nice change to make, and went with the atmosphere we were trying to create.  It was a very nice service and there was quite a buzz about the service afterwords. Now, on to the setlist!

Choir Special – Reveal (way to go choir!)

Baptism (It never get sold seeing people take steps towards Christ)

Drama -  A short skit on prayer (Everyone did a great job!)

  • The Wonderful Cross – Mason/Reeves/Tomlin/Walt/Watts
  • At The Cross – Hudson/Watts

Special Music – The Old Rugged Cross (Lesley did a fantastic job!)

Message – Part 1 (Our pastor spoke about the meaning of Communion today so that our new people knew what we were doing)

  • Nothing But The Blood – Lowry
  • Once Again – Redman

Special – Lead Me To The Cross (one of my favorites! Wonderful job Randi!)

Message – Part 2

Time of response and receiving the elements

Offering

  • How Great is Our God – Tomlin

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving this week!  We have more than we deserve not only in possessions, but as recipients of God’s love and mercy also!  This post is also part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon [dot] com.

Better With Age! Happy Birthday Jennifer!

November 16, 2009 in family, love, Uncategorized, wife with 0 Comments

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Today is my wife’s birthday… she is 35… again… (not really, but I am NOT going to say how old she is today… but it rhymes with 40!)  She is more beautiful than the day I married her.  She just gets better as the years go by!  I love you Jennifer! Cannot wait to post the same thing when we are 80!

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