6/12/11 @ Bethel Bible Church

Felt good to be back leading worship! I enjoyed my break last week, but I was looking forward to singing for the Father!

We had a great rehearsal Thursday night and I worked on some worship "elements" that I was looking forward to using.

Here's what we did.

CALL TO WORSHIP
Read Colossians 3:16 (Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God) over the intro of our first song. Didn't editorialize...just read it and asked folks to join us in singing.

NEVER STOP SINGING (F)
I don't like doing songs back-to-back, but I wanted to hit this one again as soon as possible. The groove was pretty good...we had a new piano player so there wasn't quite as much "honky tonk" piano as we usually have, but the song still came off great. Smitty's solo was especially great.

GREATLY TO BE PRAISED (C)
After the first song, I talked a bit about us singing to each other each Sunday. Dale and Tim started the intro of this one as I talked. Second service was a bit more smooth on the intro, but both times this song came off great. Maggie sang the lead vocal and did a good job. This version wasn't quite as "four-on-the-floor" as previous versions, but I think it worked.

Ross Welcome
I love the way Ross welcomes our people each week. While this is certainly introduction and an announcement or two, it's more than that. Ross opens the Word every week during this time to prepare people for worship. Today, he read from Ephesians 2. It fit perfectly with what we had sung in the first song: "we were strangers and enemies separated / but now we're reconciled!"

RUIN ME (D)
After a great welcome regarding our status as redeemed people, I worried for a second about singing a song that so prominently declares us as "sinners", but I still think it went okay. This is fantastic prayer for people to sing out and to be quite honest, the band KILLED it.

RESPONSIVE READING
Responsive readings are pretty new to Bethel, but I think they're good for us to do. I've been getting quite a few readings from the people at Sojourn church. Their weekly blog features the songs and service elements they use every Sunday. When I found this one based off Romans 8:34 and 2 Cor. 5:17, it seemed to fit perfectly with what we were singing about:

WL: The reality of our sin speaks loudly to us. But the forgiveness of sin through the cross of Christ speaks even louder. This is the good news of the Gospel: Who is in a position to condemn?
CONGREGATION: Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us.
WL: Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old life has gone; a new life has begun. Know that you are forgiven and be at peace.
CONGREGATION: Thanks be to God.

REDEEMED, RESTORED, FORGIVEN (A)
I talked for just a second about this song. Basically letting folks know that it was an old hymn that perfectly said what scripture teaches. I've been loving Matthew Smith's new record and this is the song that absolutely hooked me. Some folks don't like comparisons, but to me, it's got the melodic power of Fee's "Glory To God Forever" with all the depth of old hymn lyrics. It was new, but folks seemed to latch on to the chorus pretty well. We'll hit it again next week.

FOREVER FAITHFUL (A)
This is still one of my absolute favorite songs to hear people sing. The segue after "Redeemed..." was a good one. I always want more power in Verse 2 and it's never really there. The chorus explodes but wish I could us to build more consistently.

I can't say it enough...I love being a part of Bethel Bible Church.