A strange sense of balance...

Sunday Setlist // 2.12.12

2012-02-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

Take a look at what happened at Community Gospel Church this weekend...

THE SERVICE:

Glory to God Forever [Steve Fee]
Welcome // Announcements
Offering
Glory to Your Name [Dave Hunt]
Once Again [Matt Redman]
Our God [Chris Tomlin/Jason Reeves/Matt Redman/Jonas Myrin]
Consuming Fire [Tim Hughes]
Message
Arms that Hold the Universe [Steve Fee]

THE TEAM:

Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Beth Stemble - piano
Cyndi Leamon - vocals
Alli Hutchens - vocals
Mike Stemble - audio
Brent Wiseman - visual

THE NOTES:

This week we kicked off a new series that Pastor Jordan Muck is preaching called, "Three". This is a four-week study of Colossians 3:1-17. It should be an exciting study on the heart of our actions as believers. Week one looked at the first three verses and discussed the setting of our hearts on things above, the fixing of our minds on the things above, and the security that is found in Christ.

THE SONGS:

Glory to God Forever - This is a great song. It's very simple and holds a wealth of theological truth to it. I love opening with this one. It has really good energy to it and our people have always grabbed a strong hold of it.
[album: Hope Rising - Fee]

Glory to Your Name - I have talked about this song many times in the past. It is by a phenomenal worship leader named Dave Hunt. He lead at the church I attended when I lived in Nashville, TN. Dave is simply one of the most genuine and humble worship leaders I have ever encountered. This is one of his songs that I love!
[album: Shattered - Dave Hunt]

Once Again - This is another older song that I love. It has a tremendous focus on the cross and and the humility, gratitude, and response that simply must flow from the observation of it. I do have to note though, that I always change one word of the song. The bridge goes like this: "Thank you for the cross // Thank you for the cross // Thank you for the cross, my friend". I've never been comfortable with the word friend there. I understand what Matt Redman is trying to communicate, but in my mind (if nowhere else) it seems to diminish the power of the act of sacrifice that took place there. So whenever I have done this song I always change the word "friend" to "king". Some might feel this is unnecessary or "nit-picking", but it's one of those things that I feel a conviction about so I change it.
[album: The Friendship and the Fear - Matt Redman]

Our God - Everybody knows this song. I probably don't need to talk much about it. I would have no problem doing a whole service where we sing just the bridge to this one.
[album: And If Our God is For Us - Chris Tomlin]

Consuming Fire - I felt like this was a great song to end the set with this week since the focus on the message was on the centering of ourselves on things above and not on this earth.
[album: When Silence Falls - Tim Hughes]

The Arms that Hold the Universe - It was a Steve Fee kind of morning. This was our closing song. Jordan talked to me early in the week about doing this one after the message, so I worked it up. We didn't really have time to learn it as a team so I played it solo.
[album: Hope Rising - Fee]

For more information on Community Gospel Church please visit us at:
www.cgccommunity.com

or on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/cgccommunity

To see what other brothers and sisters are singing visit the sunday setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 2.5.12

2012-02-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

What did Sunday morning look like at Community Gospel Church? Check it out...

THE SERVICE:

I Sing the Mighty Power of God (E) [Watts // arr. Jonathan Eckberg)
Welcome/Announcements/Prayer for Students at Kalahari
Offering
Great is the Lord (G) [Chris Brown]
Hallelujah To My King (E) [Paul Baloche//Brenton Brown]
You Never Let Go (G) [Matt Redman//Beth Redman]
The Church (C) [Chris Brown//Matt Brock]
Message - Del
Dismiss

THE TEAM:

Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Beth Stemble - piano
Cyndi Leamon - vocals
Jessica Yoder - vocals
Alli Hutchens - vocals
Kevin Schmidt - audio
Vance Czesar - visual

NOTES:

With Pastor Jordan at the Kalahari conference with the Velocity crew we were fortunate enough to have a good friend of CGC bringing us the Word this week. Del Fehsenfeld, of Life Action Ministries, taught on a Jacobs statement from Genesis 28:16 where he states, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." Just a great message of God's presence and work constantly surrounding us.

I Sing the Mighty Power of God - A few years ago I took the words to this Isaac Watts hymn and updated the melody for it and added a simple "chorus" section. I've recorded this song for a couple of albums, but it never seemed to fit the overall feel -- I'm still hoping to do a record at some point with this song on it. I love the words of this song and praise for the creator God who "formed the creatures with his word//and then pronounced them good". The third verse is a great reminder of how God makes himself known to the whole world through his creation (Rom. 1:20). This is excellent theology which is astounding when you consider that in 1715 Isaac Watts included this song in a hymnbook for children!

Great is the Lord - One of my favorite worship bands out right now is Elevation Worship. All of their stuff is very clean, theologically sound, singable, and purposive. They write for specific sermon series' and events in their church. It serves as a model, in those areas, that we are emulating with our approach at CGC. Part of our reasoning for slowly working toward a more "original music" approach is to have our people singing songs about OUR experiences with the Lord. To praise Him not only for what he does globally, but for what he is doing in our midst. I think this adds a great deal of depth to our times as a congregation. That's an aside that has nothing to do with this song! This is a song that serves as a general call to worship.
[album: Elevation Worship - God With Us]

Hallelujah To My King - Paul Baloche is one of the guys out there that writes a lot of really good theology. This is a tremendous song of the grace and forgiveness of God that is poured out on His children through the name of Jesus Christ. If you're looking for a really powerful song of gratitude for the love of our savior then you should check this song out.
[album: Paul Baloche - Our God Saves]

You Never Let Go - We added this song late in the week and it turned out to be a good choice as it flowed with the message nicely. One of the hardest things for me as a worship leader is to construct worship sets when I don't know the preacher and I don't know the topic. I like to flow from the start of the worship set to the end and have a seamless move into the message. So I feel very fortunate that today's set, and this song in particular, worked with Pastor Del's message.
[album: Matt Redman - Beautiful News]

The Church - This is another Elevation Worship tune. I've always loved it as a call to action. The bridge kicks my but every time: "Fill our hearts with Your compassion // Let our love be active here // Fill our hearts with Your compassion // Let our love be real". Love it.
[album: Elevation Worship - Kingdom Come]

That's it. See you next week!

Sunday Setlist / 1.29.12

2012-01-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a look at the 10:10 service at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN:

THE SET:
When I think about the Lord (james huey)
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Blessed Be Your Name (matt redman/beth redman)
Holy Nation (jordan muck/jonathan eckberg)
Reflection // Meditation
May The Words of My Mouth (tim hughes)
Message
Communion
Dismiss

THE TEAM:
Jonathan Eckberg - vocals/guitar
Beth Stemble - piano
Larry Ingle - vocals
Alli Hutchens - vocals
Kay Smith - vocals
Dale Gramm - audio
Perri Helpler - visual

NOTES:
This was the final week in our 1P29C (that is, 1 Peter 2:9 Christian) series. It was such a great morning of worship and fellowship. We took communion as a family which was phenomenal. Pastor Jordan left the communion table "open" after the service to allow families to bring their children up and teach them what communion is all about. We have an amazing children's ministry, but the downside to that is that we don't have many younger children in the service. So by doing what we did, it allowed parents to decide if their child had accepted Christ and was at an age where he/she could understand and legitimately engage in the sacraments. It was a cool experience to see a few of our families teaching their children about the beauty of communion. I think, in a child's mind, it transforms the act from "snack time" to the deep and meaningful experience that it is supposed to be. Awesome.

Musically, the set list was "older" than a typical week for us. The only song that was written after 2001 is the one we wrote for this series! I could't care less about when a song was written. If it's a good song with solid theology and it fits the movement of the service and the message of the day then I'm game. It doesn't matter to me if it's a 70's praise chorus, a hymn, or an original song - the main point is does it move us where God is leading.

When I Think About the Lord - this is a song I've done for years. I've never really known who wrote it (I had to look it up before I posted this). It's a song I learned from Dave Hunt in my time attending Rolling Hills Community Church in Nashville, TN. I love the simplicity of this song. "When I think about the Lord // It makes me wanna shout // Hallelujah, thank you Jesus // Lord You're worthy of all the glory // and all the honor and all the praise"

Blessed Be Your Name - While this is a song that is greatly overdone among church circles. However, on the occasions that we do break it out I'm reminded as to the reasons WHY it is overdone. It's just a great song. I don't think I even need to comment on this one.

Holy Nation - I mentioned last week that this was a song written specifically for this series. That means that, of course, we had to do it this week. People have really caught on to it and I hope it creates an avenue for people to link back to the messages of this series.

May the Words of My Mouth - This is one of my favorite "personal" worship songs. When I'm sitting at home with my guitar worshipping, chances are that this song will be played. It's a great song about the joy we have in abandoning all this world tells us we need and being fulfilled in committing to follow wherever God leads - and doing so for no other reason that he calls us to do so.

To learn more about Community Gospel Church please visit cgccommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 1.22.12

2012-01-29T18:26:00.000-08:00

Holy Cow!

Welcome back to me, I guess, huh? It's been a crazy last 12 months. In that span I: started a new job at CGC, started into seminary on a full-time basis, got engaged, got married, and a bunch of other stuff happened. All that is simply my way of saying that I've had a lot on my plate and, therefore, have not blogged at all.

But I'm back!

So, without further ado, here's what went down at CGC on January 22, 2012

WORSHIP LEADERS:
Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Beth Stemble - piano
Larry Ingle - vocals
Alli Hutchens - vocals
Kay Smith - vocals

SETLIST:
Everything Glorious (david crowder)
Welcome
Offering
Marvelous Light (charlie hall)
Heirs (jordan muck/jonathan eckberg)
Holy Nation (muck/eckberg)
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Message
Let us Shine (eckberg)

NOTES:
We are currently operating without a drummer. A year ago we had two drummers in the church and due to different circumstances we are currently drummerless. While I would prefer to have a full band behind us, it has been a nice change to dial everything back and approach the sets from a fresh perspective. However, if you are a drummer in the South Bend area looking for a church to plug into then I've got a spot for ya! :)

We are in the 3rd week of our "1P29C" series. This is a four week study of 1 Peter 2:9. The past two weeks our focus has been on the believer as the "Chosen People" and the "Royal Priesthood". This week we stepped into the believer as the "Holy Nation".

Everything Glorious - One of my favorite Crowder worship tunes. Just a good recognition of the greatness of God and the fact that he makes everything glorious and we are his... so what does that make us? (hint: transitive property states that if A = B, and B = C, then A = C). David Crowder is crazy smart. He's the only worship leader I know that incorporates mathematic equations into his songs.

Marvelous Light - Much of the message for this week focused on the imagery of light. So this standard was kind of a no-brainer. It's a great upbeat kick-off to the set.

Heirs - this is a song that Pastor Jordan and I wrote a couple years ago that was released on our Until We're Kings album, "Heirs", last October.

Holy Nation - I wrote this song for this series. Each line of the verse corresponds to a sermon topic from one of the weeks. We've been singing it for the past few weeks and are using it as a theme song, of sorts for the entire series.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross - one of my favorite hymns.

Let Us Shine - Pastor Jordan closed the service with a quote from D.L. Moody that says, "Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine." We are called to be the light of the world and to reflect the glory of Christ to those around us. As I was searching for a suitable closing song to encompass the message I couldn't come up with anything that fit as well as I wanted. So I decided it would be easier just to write a song. I used a number of points from the sermon and it turned out really well.

Sunday Setlist / 2.13.11

2011-02-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

Here's how things went down Sunday morning at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN:

THE SET:

Opening - Kid's Choir

Skit

Announcements & Offering

All My Life (G) [Parachute Band]

Your Love, Oh Lord (E) [Anerson, Carr, Powell, Avery, Lee]

Unashamed Love (G) [Hiebert]

Majesty (Here I Stand) (Bb) [Garrard/Smith]

Message

Majesty (Here I Stand) - Reprise [Garrard/Smith]

Dismiss

THE TEAM:

Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals

Kay Smith - vocals

Jackie Lacher - vocals

Larry Ingle - vocals

Jordan Muck - guitar

Annette Getha - piano

Kevin Schmidt - audio

NOTES:
We entered this week as the 3rd in our 6 week series on the parable of the Prodigal Son. As I mentioned last week, this has been a tremendous series. I think it's really pressing our people to grow and think beyond what they think they've known about the familiar parable. The whole morning was a little bit crazy this week. We had a lot of small things pop up on us today. In positions of leadership this can be tremendously frustrating, but it makes me even more thankful to be serving with the people I serve with at CGC. Our staff came together and pushed each other through some hectic abberations. My guess is that no one outside of a small group of us even knew what had happened. The service came together so well and it always amazes me to see how GOD moves in our moments of, "well, what do we do now?".

THE SONGS:

All My Life - We introduced this song to our congregation a couple of weeks ago as a call-to-worship and people really enjoyed it. I was really excited to bring it back into the mix this week as part of the set and to hear people singing along. It's a really simple song about giving all we have to GOD, who has given us everything we have. It fit really well with the theme of the day.

Your Love, Oh Lord - This is a very familiar song that I've been using to lead worship for over 12 years. I want to say that this song came out in '98-ish (?), but I haven't done my fact checking on that. Anyway, it was a song that was overused when it came out and in the years following so I haven't done it too often in recent memory, but every time I do whip this one out I am reminded what a tremendous song this is. It's such a simple declaration of the height, depth, and breadth of the love of our GOD.

Unashamed Love - Another song that would be in my "Favorite Personal Worship Song" category. This is one of those tunes that I play often when I'm just sitting around with my guitar and worshipping all by myself. I think in our current culture it's so easy to get wrapped up in so many things that don't matter, in light of eternity, that we forget to simply worship our GOD and love him because he first loved us. I find myself in that boat far more often than I'd really care to admit. But GOD is always there "calling me to lay aside the worries of my day / to quit down my busy mind and find a hiding place". Beautiful song.

Majesty (Here I Am) - Like "All My Life" we introduced this song to the congregation a couple of weeks ago and it has become the unofficial theme song of our current series. As we focus on the prodigal son, and the older brother, in particular, this song lines up perfectly.

To see what other congregations are singing check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com

Every New Beginning Comes from Some Other Beginning's End... (Part 2)

2011-02-16T03:33:00.000-08:00

During the summer my friend, Jordan, accepted a job at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN. I was extremely excited for Jordan and his family as they were moving on to a wonderful church and a position that we had discussed would be a great training ground for him as he continues to prepare for wherever GOD will take him in his ministry. At the same time, I was saddened to see my friends move 300 miles away. Jordan and I had been through a great deal during our friendship and he and his wife, Bethany, had truly become my family away from home.

I then entered this past fall with many questions in my mind. I had seen a number of doors that seemed to open in front of me only to be slammed shut. I had spent the past year struggling with this feeling that GOD was preparing for something and leading me in a particular direction that I had no clue about.

I kept thinking back to what Abraham must have felt like when GOD called him out of .... and told him to go to "the land that I have prepared for you." (Genesis 12:1) Abraham didn't know where that land was. He didn't know how long the journey was. All he knew was that GOD called him to leave a place where he had amassed significant wealth and was living prosperously to go on a journey that could bankrupt and kill him. Sounds like a fantastic idea (re-read that last sentence with a mouth full of sarcasm).

I had to constantly remind myself that although GOD was preparing me for something that I was still unsure of He still had not required as much of me as he required of Abraham. I still had my job, and a job that I enjoyed at that. I still had my house. I was still able to serve my local church family as their worship leader. I believe now that He was just waiting until I was ready (as ready as I could be) to take on the task that he was setting aside for me. As I can attest now, He was working out His plan.

So throughout the fall I continued to fulfill my duties at Greenville College and, as always, I really did enjoy my time there. I love the students and the chance to see kids grow spiritually and improve athletically. As I've said many times before, I feel that that was an excellent training ground for the ministry. However, I was at a point where I felt that it was time for me to move on.

In October I made a weekend trip to Bremen to do a concert with Jordan at Community Gospel Church for the release of the worship EP by our band, Until We're Kings. That weekend I had an opportunity to speak with the church staff and some leadership about the possibility of coming on board at some point as their worship leader.

I was, of course, very interested in the possibility. As we spoke more I felt like CGC was the place that GOD had been preparing me for and I could not escape the that this was where I was supposed to be.

We continued the discussion of how my coming aboard CGC as the Director of Worship we were looking at time lines and pay scale and all that other stuff, trying to figure out what was going to be the best for the church, the congregation, the staff, and me. The one thing we all felt certain about was that this was the direction GOD had prepared us all for.

The major hang up for me in moving was my house in Greenville. As anyone who has recently tried to sell a house can atest, the current real estate market is not great for getting rid of a home and in looking at coming to Bremen I did not have a choice, my house HAD to sell before I could move. With this in mind I was preparing to stay at Greenville for another semester and hopefully be out to CGC my June or July.

As with most of my other plans in life, GOD laughed. The first person to walk through my house bought it. Unreal. In this market, at this time, there was only one explanation for that... the hand of GOD Almighty.

With the house sold I accepted the position at CGC, quit my job at Greenville (that was very difficult as, again, I really did enjoy my time there and loved working with all the athletes I had the privilege of coaching), and set up for a move to Indiana.

Now I am the Director of Worship at Community Gospel Church as well as a full-time Seminary student at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, IN. It's been a crazy journey these past few years, but looking back it's always interesting to see how GOD used each situation I encountered to set up the next one, which set up the next one. I am constantly amazed by GOD's providence and protection. I cannot wait to see what he has in store as this new phase of life begins!

Sunday Setlist / 2.6.11

2011-02-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Sunday, February 6, 2011 at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, Indiana:

THE SERVICE
Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing) [Brenton Brown/Brian Doerkson] (G)
   Welcome & Announcements
   Offering
Your Grace is Enough [Chris Tomlin] (F)
The Ninety and Nine [E.C. Clephane/Ira D. Sankey] (F)
Come Ye Sinners [Owens/Johnson/Hamilton/Seay] (C)
Mighty to Save [Ben Fielding/Reuben Morgan] (G)
   Message
Come Ye Sinners (C)
   Dismiss

THE BAND
Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Cyndi Leamon - vocals
Sean Norris - drums
Jordan Muck - bass
Dale Graham - audio
Vance Csaszar - video

NOTES
Our team was rather slight this week. Due to some traveling and some sicknesses and various issues we seemed to have everybody bow out this week. This was compounded by the fact that the snowstorm forced us to cancel practice on Wednesday night and move it to Saturday afternoon. With the switch of practice times I knew that we would be a little short on rehearsal, so I didn't mind having a "skeleton team" this week. It's always simpler, and therefore, easier to adjust on the fly, with fewer people. That being said, we did have a great week. Pastor Mike Fanning continued to kill it from the pulpit with the second part of our "Finding Your Place at the Table" series (examining the parable of the Prodigal Son).

THE SONGS
Hallalujah (Your Love is Amazing) - This is an older song, but a good one. With the three-piece instrumentation it was a great song to rock through. It's very simple and an excellent song of praise and adoration for the love of our Father.

Your Grace is Enough - One of my favorite songs. Such a wonderful declaration of Paul's prayer in 2 Corinthians 12. I chose this as our opener in light of last weeks message of the Prodigal Son. The point was that both the older and younger brother loved the things the father had to offer more than they loved the father himself and that's where they fell into sin. I think it's important to remember as we continue to study this parable that GOD is enough for us. We become heirs to His kingdom, but that inheritance is secondary to receiving the grace of GOD. He is all we need. Our version of this song runs pretty much straight off of the Chris Tomlin version.

The Ninety and Nine - Jordan and Sean kept saying we needed a pint of Guinness in our hands as we played this song! It has distinctively Irish feel to it. And we go straight through it. I didn't figure that many people in the congregation would know this song right off the bat. However, as is the case with most hymns, the people picked up on it by the second or third verse. I chose to put this into the set despite the "known" factor because the sermon today was focusing on the people around Jesus during Luke 15 and the other two parables in the chapter (The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin). It's a hymn that walks through the Lost Sheep parable so I felt that it really set the mood and got our people thinking along those lines early in the day.

Come Ye Sinners - As this weeks sermon focused on the other parables of Luke 15, it also looked at the people around Jesus. As the chapter opens He is eating with the tax collectors and "sinners". These are the people christ came to save. This is us. The whole point of this song is that we as sinners are called to bring ourselves to Christ. We don't try to clean ourselves up first, we simply come to Christ as the sinners we all are.

Mighty to Save - We tweak the arrangement of this song a little bit just to shorten it up and make it a little more succinct. But musically it's a very standard arrangement. We closed our set with this song because as we move from our recognition of our true nature and our need for a savior (Come Ye Sinners) we must have the next step. That next step is the knowledge that our GOD is the only means of salvation and he is so much greater than our sins and our old nature.

To see what other congregations are singing please check out the Sunday Setlists at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 1.30.11

2011-01-31T02:59:00.000-08:00

Worship with Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN:

THE SERVICE:

Opening Song - How Marvelous (F) [Charles H. Gabriel]
   Welcome and Announcements
   Offering
Heirs (G) [Muck/Eckberg]
   Drama - The Prodigal Song
Majesty (Here I Stand) (Bb) [Garrard/Smith]
   Message
Majesty (Here I Stand) (Bb) [Garrard/Smith]

THE BAND:

Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Larry Ingle - vocals
Jackie Lacher - vocals
Sharon Nafrady - vocals
Larry Ingle - vocals
Sean Norris - drums
Randy Hepler - bass
Jordan Muck - guitar
Beth Stemble - piano
Mike Stemble - sound
Jeff Hutchens - video

NOTES:

We were really light on music this week. We are kicking off a new series that's based on the Tim Keller book, "Prodigal God". It is an examination of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We're calling it: Finding Your Place at the Table. If today was any indication of what will happen in the coming weeks, then I KNOW it's going to be tremendous series as Pastor Mike Fanning absolutely knocked it out of the park with his sermon today (Way to be Pastor Mike!). To start off this new series we had a dramatic telling (some would call it a skit or a play) of the parable. We threw this right in the middle of the worship set, so it replaced a couple of songs out of our usual time-frame.

THE SONGS:

How Marvelous, How Wonderful - This is an old hymn that has been reworked. We stay fairly true to the melody line and all the changes, but the feel is totally different from the original. The version we use is an upbeat song that rolls straight through. There's nothing fancy about it, but it comes across really well.

Heirs - This is the title track from the Until We're Kings album. As I was thinking about the prodigal son and music to go a long with the series, this song came to mind right away. It's a song about our adoption into GOD's family. It talks about our complete dependence upon our Father and what our response to that should and must be. It fits really well with the return of the lost son.

Majesty (Here I Stand) - I changed my mind on using this song at the last moment. I had another song picked out a couple of weeks ago, but the other day as I was going through the music before practice I just felt like the song I had picked wasn't right. I can't tell you what it was (actually, I can, it was the Holy Spirit), but I just all of the sudden didn't feel the other song was a good fit. So I frantically rifled through my music trying to figure out what we were going to do and this is where I landed. I love the last line of the chorus, "Your grace has found me just as I am / Empty handed but alive in your hands". Such a cool expression of the end of the prodigal son parable. A father who takes both sons right where they are and accepts them if they would only come back to the table. Love it.

To see what your brothers and sisters are singing in their home churches this week check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 1.23.11

2011-01-27T03:31:00.000-08:00

Here's how we spent the morning at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN:

THE SERVICE:

Opening Song - I Have Decided (C)
   Welcome & Announcements
   Offering
Marvelous Light (G)
Consuming Fire (G)
GOD of this City (C)
Be Thou My Vision (C)
   Message
Consuming Fire - Reprise (C)

THE BAND:

Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Cyndi Leamon - vocals
Larry Ingle - vocals
Jackie Lacher - vocals
Sean Norris - drums
Randy Hepler - bass
Beth Stemble - piano
Kevin Schmidt - sound

THE NOTES:

There are some amazing things happening at CGC right now and Satan knows it. We were under attack today. I felt it early in the worship set, but it didn't really hit me how strong it was until I sat down for the rest of the service. It was nothing big, but a lot of things were thrown at us. Minor sound issues, a few missed slides, people being called out of the service for various reasons. Again, nothing big, and often times things that are complete non-issues, but it just seemed that Satan rolled a lot of those issues at us together that, collectively, could have destroyed the day. The Associate Pastor passed me a not during the service (don't tell my mom I was passing notes in church) that read "We are under serious attack today!". I had just spent the past several minutes thinking the same thing - so it was amazing to see the spirit opening our eyes to it. The cool thing is that it didn't crush the service. I feel very fortunate to be in a place and serving in ministry with a group of people who are killing it for the Kingdom and doing it in such a way that Satan has taken note and is working hard to stop us. I feel even more fortunate to serve with brothers and sisters who are wise enough to recognize it and to respond in prayer and action to see the Spirit intervene in victory over the enemy.

THE SONGS:

I Have Decided - We do the Until We're Kings version of this old hymn. Its a very rocked out arrangement. Granted, we tone it down a touch for Sunday mornings, but we really do try to keep the feel of a good kick-in-the-pants to start the morning. Also, as a side note, it's a whole lot of fun to play!

Marvelous Light - Really did a standard version of this song. Nothing special. The sermon for the morning was moving from faith to action. Last week Pastor Mike Fanning focused on faith and this week was a focus on the actions required by faith. So Marvelous Light was a great way to kick the set off as a song about running toward the power of the cross of Christ.

Consuming Fire - This is a slightly older song (mid-90's, I believe) but it was a new one for our congregation. The focus of this song, to me anyway, is the bridge section that says, "Stir it up in our hearts, LORD / Stir it up in our hearts, LORD / Stir it up in out hearts / A passion for Your name". Really cool to hear the congregation latch on to that and pour over it.

GOD of this City - The recorded versions of this song seem to have a lot of extra space in the song - long interludes and lots of "dead air" for the congregation. The version we do cuts a lot of that out and removes some of the extra measures that seem to be in there. I think this helps keep the congregation engaged in what we are doing and helps remove some of the obstacles of distraction. We changed the arrangement to focus on the Pre-choruse (There is no one like our GOD / There is no one like our GOD) with the chorus almost being secondary. The point we were rolling on was that our GOD is the one and only GOD who can open our hearts to faith move us to action for His sake.

Be Thou My Vision - Another old hymn, but for this one we used a much more traditional arrangement. It capped the set off nicely as it tied our movement to GOD, our passion for what He is accomplishing through the greatness of who He is and finishing with a prayer for a heart like His heart in the direction of our actions according to His good and perfect will.

We then responded to the message with a V1-PC-CH-B arrangement of Consuming Fire - again the focus being that bridge section of the song.

To see how our brothers and sisters from all over the place were worshipping in song today check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com

Sunday Setlist / 1.16.11

2011-01-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

Here's what went down on Sunday morning at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN:

THE SET:
Opening Song - All My Life (G)
   Welcome & Announcements
   Offering
All Creatures of Our GOD and King (C) [Francis of Assisi]
Our Great GOD (C) [Fernando Ortega]
Surrender (G) [Mark James]
I Surrender All (C) [Winfield S. Weeden]
   Message
Response Video / Reflection - Mold and Shape Me (B) [Jonathan David Eckberg]

THE BAND:
Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Kay Smith - vocals
Staci Smith - vocals
Jessica Yoder - vocals
John Schini - vocals
Sean Norris - drums
Marc Hyde- bass
Beth Stemble - piano
Mike Stemble - audio
Vance Csaszar - visual

NOTES:
This was my first week at CGC where I was working with the regular worship teams. The other weeks that I have been here we've had limited prep time and so we just grabbed a few folks to fill in some gaps and ran with it. So, I really had no idea what to expect. I think we are all having to make adjustments to styles and routines. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little anxious about working out this first week. However, I don't think it could have gone much better. I am extremely blessed to be working with the worship teams at CGC. We have a whole stable of musicians who love worshipping and love love the privilage of leading the congregation.

This week kicked off a two-week mini-series by Senior Pastor Mike Fanning called "Fully Alive". The focus of the series is John 10:10 and the fact that Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly. For us to take hold of this life requires an attitude and an action. This week we discussed the attitude of all out surrender to Christ, so the worship set centered on "Surrender".

THE SONGS:
All My Life - I've sung this song for quite a while now I have to admit, I have no idea who wrote it. No clue. If you know please reply to this post and let me in. It's a great, simple song that we roll through and rock out a little bit. It's a lot of fun. The message of the song is the giving of our entire lives to the GOD who is like no other.

All Creatures of Our GOD and King - We follow the David Crowder version of this song. It follows the traditional melody line and then adds a tag of "Alleluia" over and over at the end. It ended up with a bit more of a country feel to it than I had originally intended, but that was just the way it seemed to roll out.

Our Great GOD - We did this song in "C" so that we could make a seamless transition from All Creatures into Our Great GOD. It's such an incredibly powerful song. I don't use this song as much as I would like to because it's not the most singable tune. There's a fairly wide range on it and the phrasing is sometimes a little tricky. I really debated whether or not to use it in the service this week, but it's just such a wonderful expression of the sovereignty and majesty of our GOD who rules over everything that it transitioned us well from All Creatures to get us to the next two songs that I had to throw it in. I also decided that with the ease and singability of the other songs in the set we would be ok with one song that was not as easily digestable.

Surrender - A slightly older worship song but another great message. The chorus of "I surrender all to you, all to you" is so cool (and so difficult to apply to my life).

I Surrender All - We moved from the chorus of Surrender, which ends on the C chord and used that as our jump into the Chorus of I surrender all which starts on the C, giving us our key change from G to C. We did a standard version of the song but we only did a chorus-verse1-chorus-chorus arrangement. It made it much shorter but REALLY emphasized the chorus. These last two songs were no brainers in picking them out. As soon as Pastor Mike mentioned the topic I had those two put in place.

Mold and Shape Me - This was not a congregational worship song, but was used more as a background for a video on transition. The original video had another song to it, but we opted to mute the audio and I played this song which really fit the visuals better, in my opinion. It's an older song from my first album. I was thinking about it and I think I wrote this thing 12 years ago. Crazy how GOD puts stuff in the head and fingers of an 18 year old kid that means more to him when he's 30 than it did when he wrote it. In any case, its a simple worship song that's a plea for GOD to move in us however, whenever, and wherever he sees fit.

To see what other churches around the country sang on Sunday visit the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Every New Beginning Comes from Some Other Beginning's End... (Part 1)

2011-01-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

NOTE: Some of you may have noticed that my blog has been ignored for the last 5-6 weeks. With all the changes that have happened around me, I've had a need to focus on getting through this time of transition and getting settled into the new rhythm of life. I'm still a ways from being "settled", but it's coming together. My hope is to back to my usual posting schedule of trying to get something up each week along with a "Sunday Setlist". Thanks to all who have been so supportive in this time.

**********************

Typically I don't do a lot of personal writing in this blog. If you look over my postings you'll see that I like to tie snippets of my life into what I'm seeing in the Word and what GOD is showing to me through circumstances, but I don't like to focus on my personal life. So this post will be a little out of character for the blog, but with all that has happened/is happening I feel that it is appropriate, at this time, to share with you all where I am at at this point in my life.

This whole story dates back a couple years. I was approached by my buddy Jordan about an idea to plant a church. I felt like GOD was leading me to walk with Jordan through this process and enter into this venture with him. Up until this point in my life I had never really considered a full-time church ministry. I LOVE the Church and I LOVE the local body of believers. I have always had a great passion to serve my brothers and sisters who are traveling in the journey of faith along side me. However, this usually manifested itself in a little volunteer work or leading worship for weekend or week-long retreats, camps, etc. So the thought of planting a church and doing church ministry full-time was a bit daunting, but as we got into the process it became very clear to me that GOD had lead me to a place of preparation for this very purpose. Over the course of the next year or so Jordan and I began to put together thoughts and ideas of how we could lead a body of believers in a direction of biblical balance in regards to evangelism, discipleship, worship, and social concern. GOD continued to fan this flame in my heart and open me more and more to the idea of entering the ministry on a more permanent basis.

Now, at this point, the church plant was halted. This was devastating to those of us involved and left us with some unanswered questions. For me, it was a question of my own recognition of GOD's calling. I wondered why GOD had made it so clear that this was the direction I was to begin traveling if it was, ultimately, destined to fall through. Why had GOD prepared me for something I wasn't going to be a part of? Had I mistaken my desire for GOD's calling? If this was the case, where did I stand in regards to the rest of the things I felt GOD set aside for me to accomplish? These were not easy questions.

I struggled with these questions for a time. As I progressed through last spring I was presented with several jog opportunities in the coaching world. I applied and interviewed for several coaching jobs and was a finalist for a couple of positions. One job, in particular seemed like it was a great fit for me if I was to continue coaching and I thought I was a shoe-in for the job, but the institution decided to move in a different direction. Again, I was wondering what the purpose of the past few years of preparation had been if I was not able to use the skills I had learned.

This was topped off by another job opportunity as a worship leader in a church in Indianapolis. This seemed like a perfect fit as the church wanted a part-time worship leader which would allow me to then go to Seminary (which GOD had sparked an interest in me over the past year or so). I was one of the final two for this position but, again, the church decided to go another direction. Same question rolled through my mind.

It would seem that the calendar year was quite frustrating and, on some levels, it was. The funny thing about the whole process is that I never question GOD's plan. I had a great deal of questions about how He was working His purpose out and about my part in His plan but I never questioned the fact that GOD was working.

Many people love to quote Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' delcares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" This is a beautiful verse of hope and comfort, but most people like to forget the fact that it comes in the midst of a verse to the Jews who are exiled in Babylon. This letter is an instruction to how these people are to live in their time of captivity. It's not a verse declaring the ease and happiness of the promises of GOD. It's a verse declaring the sovereignty of GOD in our hours of captivity, struggle, doubt and frustration. Our prosperity is not earthly riches, the jobs we think we want, or the rise above the world. Our prosperity lies in the eternal rewards of serving our Father through ALL circumstances.

This is the idea that I fell back on constantly. The knowledge that, even in the times where I really was hurting and in the times when I wanted to physically see GOD move, when I wanted to understand why everything was happing the way it was, GOD was taking care of me. He was working out His plan for a specific purpose. My job was to follow Him in spite of my questions. Proverbs 16:9 says, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." I understood that as I was making decisions and following the call of the LORD that he was using those situations that I found myself in to bring about His glory in some way - I just didn't know how that was happening...yet.

Big News!

2010-12-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

Some may notice that my blog has been a little neglected lately. I apologize for that and for the fact that it will continue to be neglected for the next several weeks. It's getting to be a bit crazy around here.

Three-and-a-half years ago I left Nashville, TN and came to Greenville College to be the Assistant Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track and Field Coach (possibly the longest job title ever). It was really cool to see how GOD opened doors through that process and to look back at how my previous experiences had prepared me for a job and a place that I never had any intentions of taking on.

It seems, now, that GOD is moving in much the same way. Just as my arrival at Greenville College was set of circumstances that could only have been orchestrated by GOD, so is my departure.

I announced this past week that I am resigning from my post at Greenville College.

I have been on a spiritual journey over the past year or two where GOD has really been molding me and placing a burden for the local body of Christ on my heart. It had been very unclear to me what that ultimately meant and how I was to proceed. I had struggled for a while with why GOD had allowed a number of things in my life to turn in particular directions. However, GOD is faithful and I never doubted that.

Through another round of GOD-ordained circumstances I have been offered a part-time position as the Director of Worship (worship leader) at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN (just outside of South Bend). The part-time status will allow me to begin taking seminary classes where I will pursue my MDiv. with an emphasis in Biblical Counseling.

I have loved my time Greenville and am extremely excited to begin this new chapter in my life. I am sure you will be hearing a great deal more about this change in the coming months.

11/25/11

2010-11-25T06:07:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

(Now let's eat some pumpkin pie)

Sunday Setlist / 11.21.10

2010-11-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

Here's what the 9:00am service at Highland Community Church looked like on November 21, 2010:

Alive and Running (G)
   Welcome and Announcements
Glory to Your Name (D)
Holy, Holy, Holy (D-E)
We Fall Down (E)
   Scripture Reading
   Message
   Offering
Doxology (A)
   Dismiss

THE BAND:
Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals

NOTES:
I was traveling this week for the NCAA DIII Cross country National Championship Meet out in Iowa. Since one of the girls on my team qualified it meant that I was on the road from early Thursday morning until late on Saturday evening. With trying to fit a weeks worth of work into the first three days of the week there was no way to squeeze a practice in, so I gave our guys the week off. Pastor Wise was on vacation this week so Jeff Graw, one of our Elders, spoke. I wasn't sure exactly what he was preaching on so I decided to keep the theme of the morning on GOD's holiness.

THE SONGS:
Alive and Running - We've been teaching this Kristian Stanfill song for several weeks in a row now. I think this was the last week we'll do it for a while. It has a very different feel on the acoustic than it does with the full band (duh!). However it works very well. Some of the more uptempo songs are hard to put together without sounding like you're leaving too much space, but this one works.

Glory to Your Name - This is another Dave Hunt tune. Everytime I write about him on here I recommend you check him out. This week is no different. This is a phenomenal worship song. Seriously, look up Dave Hunt. You'll be sure to find several new worship tunes that work great for all kinds of church services.

Holy, Holy, Holy - VERY traditional arrangement. We did all four verses. (all? - I really don't know how many verses are in the original writing). We came out of "Glory to Your Name" straight into "Holy, Holy, Holy" and made a key change between v.3 and v.4, which set us up to roll seamlessly into "We Fall Down" in the key of E.

We Fall Down - I love the chorus to this song. There is nothing more powerful and beautiful than to hear GOD's people sing "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lamb". It an incredible, and yet miniscule, taste of what we will be a part of in Heaven (all throughout the book of Revelation).

Doxology - We closed with the Doxology. We typically follow the David Crowder version of the song and today was no different. It's a very simple arrangement, but I like it. It's easy to follow and stays interesting.

To see what other congregations around the country are singing check out the Sunday Setlist at http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/

Make a Choice

2010-11-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

In I Kings 18 the prophet Elijah stands before all the people of Israel and asks them "How long will you waver between two options? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." (v.21)

The people respond with silence.

They do not reject the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They don't turn their backs on the faith of their fathers. They don't disregard GOD's hand in bringing His people out of Egypt. They don't deny how He parted the sea so that Israel could cross on dry land. They don't ignore the victory He secured through Joshua at Jericho. They don't belittle the leadership of David or the wisdom of Solomon. At least not directly.

The problem is not that the people stand opposed to GOD. The problem comes in the fact that the people simply don't care enough to stand with GOD. The people still believe all they were taught about the GOD of Israel. They follow most of the law and they worship GOD. However, they've allowed their faith to be corrupted by the followers of Baal. There has been a time of justification that has pulled the people from the worship of GOD and opened them to compromises that allow for these other religious practices to slip in and take control. They do not knock GOD from his place as Lord, they simply force him to share it.

We see this earlier in scripture with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. Moses has gone up the mountain to speak with GOD. The people become concerned that Moses could be dead and GOD may have forgotten them so they ask Aaron to melt their gold into a calf for them to worship. The people are not denying GOD's place, but they simply do not worship him properly. They feel that by worshipping a single aspect of GOD they may please him. They elevate something other than the entirety of who He is to the place of worship. This never pleases GOD.

So again, we come back to Elijah on Mt. Carmel, the people have begun to worship something other the entirety of GOD and who He is. I think they really don't see anything wrong with this. I see nothing here to show that the people are embarrassed that Elijah has called them out. We don't see an immediate repentance. We simply see a people stand, dumbfounded, in silence.

The problem here is, as is the root with all our sin, idolatry. On the surface it is very easy to see. The people worship Baal as a god. I think the root of this idolatry though is much deeper. It is not that the people say "Baal is our only god". The root of the issue is that the people say, "GOD is not god enough for us. We need Baal too."

Now we start to feel a little of what these people are going through. It's easy to say, I would never worship something in place of GOD. It becomes much more difficult to look at ourselves in the mirror when we start examining what we feel we need IN ADDITION to GOD in order to be happy, satisfied, fulfilled, content, etc.

If the LORD spoke to me and said, "Jonathan if you love me you will give up music. Get rid of your equipment, delete your iTunes account, and never sing another song ever again." I think I might greet Him with stunned silence. I love the LORD and my desire is to be the man He has called me to be and to glorify Him through all I do, but to be perfectly honest, I would struggle with giving up music. That is one of the idols I struggle with in my life. I don't think of my love of music taking the place of GOD, but if I cannot be satisfied in Christ alone, if it takes the addition of music, than I am in the same place as the Israelites at Mt. Sinai or Mt. Carmel.

I think one of the most profound things I've ever heard came from J.D. Greear, so if you follow my blog you'll hear me come back to it often. Greear said to overcome idolatry, "We must be captured by a vision of the beauty of the ONE TRUE GOD." The point is that until we realize who GOD is and what He has done in our lives we will never give him the full glory that is due His Name. We will never be satisfied in a GOD who we do not truly worship.

So the choice now sets before each of us today: Is GOD all He tells us He is? Is GOD enough for me today? Will I give Him the full glory that is due His Name? Will I follow GOD or will I follow Baal?

I choose GOD. How about you?

Sunday Setlist / 11.14.10

2010-11-16T09:38:00.000-08:00

***So I wrote this out on Sunday afternoon, but then I forgot to post it and just saw it this morning. Oops.

Here's how we ran the 9:00 am service at Highland Community Church in Highland, IL:

THE SERVICE:

Alive and Running (G)

Welcome & Announcements

Offering

Happy Day (A)

Overcome (A)

Scripture Reading – Isaiah 42:5-12

Before the Throne of God Above (D)

Message
Overcome (A) - chorus only
Dismiss

Alive and Running (G)

THE BAND:

Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals

Tim McDaniel - drums

Joe Szoke - bass

Aaron McDaniel - guitar

NOTES:
We had a guest speaker in today - Vince Dachioli. He was fantastic. We loved having him be a part of our Sunday morning. The difficult part of having a guest speaker is that sometimes you have no idea what the message is about. This was one of those Sundays. Normally, I try to get in touch with our guests early in the week to discuss what they will teach on and see if there is anything I can do to help support the message (any particular songs or anything in the order of service that can move us to be prepared to hear from the LORD that morning). However, I didn't have a chance to speak with Vince this week. I chose, then, to have a very generic theme to what we were singing. It turned out that everything flowed perfectly. Vince spoke our response to personal suffering and how it comes back to our faith in a sovereign GOD who provides for us in times of trouble and how that gives us new opportunities to minister to people. Total GOD's doing that everything flowed together today. At the end of the service I made the decision to sing just the chorus of "Overcome" as the response. We didn't really have anything planned for a response because we had no idea where the message would lead us or how long it would be. As Vince approached the conclusion of the sermon I felt like "Overcome" was perfect, so we rolled into it.

THE SONGS:

Alive and Running - We debuted this song last week and got a great response from it. I think the congregation took to it really well. We played this week as part of the actual set to kick us off and end up with. Because this is new we will probably play it again next week just to make sure people know it and then it will move into a slot on the normal rotation.

Happy Day - We hadn't played this song in a while, but it's such a good tune. We keyed it down a little this week. We have always played it in "C" and I just feel like I strain a little to sing it there. So if I'm straining to sing it I know that a whole lot of the congregation are straining too. So we dropped it to "A" and I think it really helped get people involved. I think one of the easiest mistakes to make as a worship leader is to key things to our own voices and not the congregation. You want everything to sound great, so you put things in your own range, but we have to constantly keep the congregation in focus when choosing the keys in addition to choosing the songs.

Overcome - I absolutely love this song by the Desperation Band. The bridge is so stinking powerful. It is take straight from Revelation and it say, "And we will overcome/By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony/everyone, overcome" - I could sing that bridge over and over and over again. Just a sweet sound. We play pretty close to the Desperation Band's arrangement of the song.

Before the Throne of GOD Above - our scripture for the day was Isaiah 42:5-12. This hymn was a great fit and an excellent bridge from the scripture to the message. We always do a very traditional sound to this hymn. I love the part of the song that says, "Because a sinless Savior died/My sinful soul is counted free/For God the just is satisfied/To look on sin and pardon me/To look on sin and pardon me". Such a great song.

To see what others around the country were singing today, visit the Sunday Setlist at http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/.

Sunday Setlist / 11.7.10

2010-11-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Here's what went down at the 9:00am service at Highland Community Church:

Call to Worship: Alive and Running (G) [Stanfill/Giglio/Younker]

Welcome & Announcements

Offering

GOD of Wonders (G) [Byrd/Hindalong]

Scripture Reading – Psalm 23

You Never Let Go (A) [Redman]
Reflection
How Deep the Fathers Love for Us (E) [Townend]

Communion

Message – the Good Shepherd – John 10:11-18

All the Way My Savior Leads Me (F) [Crosby - adapted by: Tomlin/Redman]

Dismiss

Alive and Running (G)

The Band:

Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals

Tim McDaniel - drums

Aaron McDaniel - electric guitar

Joe Szoke - bass

Notes:

Such a great morning at HCC. Some of it may be attributed to everybody getting that extra hour of sleep, but sometimes you just have to stop and look around and realize that GOD is pretty cool. Today was just one of those days where everyone was engaged in worship and you could feel the synergy of the voices of GOD's people rising up in adoration and thanks. Love it!

We ran our worship set a little different this week. Normally I try to put as much of the music together as possible and that is our way of "tuning in" to what GOD has to speak through the message that day. This week, however, we were more of the glue to the service. Each song tied us from one thing to the next. We opened with a new song, then came from the offering into the next, the third song tied the scripture in to the message, then we had the next song take us into communion and followed the message with the response. Again, a little different than what we are used to, but it flowed really well this morning.

The Songs:

Alive and Running - I love this song. Such a great message of hope in Christ Jesus and a call to take that hope out into our world. This is a new one for the congregation (and most of the band). So to "break it in" we used this as a call to worship for the morning and the played it again as a dismissal. We play the arrangement straight off of Kristian Stanfill's "Attention" album. The only thing we change is that we play it in the key of G instead of B (where Stanfill plays it). I end up keying down most everything we play. It just seems that most of the "popular worship", or whatever you'd like to call it, is always WAY too high for the average person to sing. So, again, I end up keying most things down a bit (some of Tomlin's stuff I key down two or two-and-a-half steps!!!).

GOD of Wonders - We had a good bit of discussion as a band about this song at rehearsal. The way the other guys have always played this song was much bigger than the standard arrangement, it had a heavier rock feel to it. They like it that way, unfortunately I felt it needed the softer, smoother sound of standard version for service this week. It was a case of me having to step and say, "this is what we're doing". The guys have a great deal of say in what we do on any given song. For the most part I don't dictate what parts are played, or what sounds the guys should bring to the table, unless I feel strongly that a song needs something in particular. There is a fine line to walk as a worship leader. To get the best our of the other musicians you have to give them as much creative freedom as possible. At the same time, there are instances in which you have to step up as a leader and take charge. This will not always be a favorable decision to the other musicians, but you have to lead, so lead.

You Never Let Go - The scripture reading for the morning was Psalm 23. So we didn't really have a choice of any song other than this one (at least not in my head). This is a song we do on a regular basis. We always build it pretty big by the time it hits the bridge. Very theatrical and borderline over-the-top, but it works.

How Deep the Father's Love for Us - After "You Never Let Go", we gave people a few quite moments of reflection and preparation for our time of communion, no talking, no music, just silence. You can tell that this always makes some people really uncomfortable, but it's a such a wonderful tool that we don't know how to use anymore. We are constantly filling our days with noise - some good, some bad, but noise none the less. There is something beautiful about sitting silently before GOD and letting Him speak. After the reflection time I played "How Deep...". This is one of my all-time favorite worship songs. When I am sitting alone at home and having a time of personal worship this is one of the songs that gets played EVERY time. I don't know how you can sing the second verse and not be brought to the brink of tears - "Behold the man upon the cross/My guilt upon his shoulders/Ashamed I hear my mocking voice/Call out among the scoffers // It was my sin that held him there/Until it was accomplished/His dying breath has brought me life/I know that it is finished" Because I love this one so much, I always prefer to play this song with just the acoustic guitar and vocals. It brings a sharper focus to the words that are being sung. And when the words are as poignant as the ones here I don't see how you could desire anything more.

All the Way My Savior Leads Me - We sang this as a response to the message, which was about Jesus as the good shepherd. Pastor Wise was discussing our need to follow the shepherd and how he cares for us, protects us, and leads us. Our arrangement was pretty simple. But it was very spacious. I played the primary guitar part on the electric with a ton of delay and a touch of overdrive from an Ibanez Tube Screamer. It just beefed up the sound a ton. I ran a slow arpeggio, but with the delay it filled up the sound. The rest of the band added some really sweet touches, especially Aaron on the lead guitar. He was playing these great harmonic-swells that had almost a pedal-steel quality to them. It was beautiful.

So that how we rolled at HCC. To see what our brothers and sisters around the country are singing you can check out the Sunday Setlist at theworshipcommunity.com.

Fill 'er Up

2010-11-04T05:42:00.000-07:00

I am not a Biblical scholar. I can't read Greek or Hebrew. I don't understand every detail of what the Bible teaches. At times in my study of the Word I am left with questions. But I have seen the truth of the Word of GOD shine through time and time again. Even though I don't completely understand every aspect of the scriptures, I understand enough to convince me that it is wholly consistent and that there is no other grouping of writings that makes sense, in terms of the spiritual life, when placed next to the Bible. This is part of what keeps me coming back to my Bible day after day.

Now it does not surprise me that many people reject the Bible and its teachings. The Bible is tough on us sometimes. What we learn in scripture is that we are evil, wretched, fallen beings in need of a savior, and that that savior was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified for our mistakes (called "sins"), then conquered death as he rose from the grave after three days. It also then teaches us that we gain eternal life when we believe in Jesus Christ, this proves that we are not the center of our worlds and that we must be willing to let go of our selfish desires and grab ahold of the will of GOD. Now this runs contrary to our sinful, selfish nature. So why, if given no other information than this, would I agree to that?

It all sounds a little ridiculous.

However, it is through a study of the scripture and of ourselves (that is, ourselves in relation to said scripture) that we cannot avoid the truth of the Bible. It speaks very clearly to who we are and how we exist. Still you will see a great number of people who are fooled by teachings other than the Bible. There is a constant barrage of half-truths and misdirections that are thrown at us from all sides, be they television advertising, false religion, or just appeals to our most basic, selfish, and foolish instincts. The answer to such attacks is simple. KNOW THE WORD OF GOD.

Proverbs 27:7 says, "He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet."

You see we are all hungry. We were created to have a relationship with GOD our Father and since the fall we are born and raised outside of that relationship. Because of this separation we find ourselves always searching to fill that gap, that need, that is now in place. Everyone tries to fill that gap with something. For many it is a spiritual quest, of sorts. They try other religions, sects, and cults, but they're never satisfied. Others try to fill the void with stuff, money, success, relationships, sex, food or drugs, but they never satisfy either. It is only in Jesus Christ that we find the gratification of that deep seeded need.

It is this need that creates the deep-seeded hunger to be filled. This is why it is important to know the Word of GOD. When we understand the Bible we are filled, we receive the bread of life. In John 6:35, Jesus says, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry..." On the other hand, when we lack Biblical knowledge, we will use something else, anything else, to fill our lives up. This is where so many people are lead astray. They are taken in by lies and half-truths that are enticing on the surface, though, in the end, they lead to destruction.

When I lived in Nashville, TN I had no money. There were a few months that I paid my bills and rent and was left with less than $100 to my name (I can vividly remember one month where I had $47 in my checking account and a $10 bill in my wallet). I became great at bargin shopping. The discount grocery store, Aldi's, was my best friend. One of the things I made sure to do was to only go shopping after I had eaten a meal. Why? Because when you're hungry everything looks good, but if you're full you are able to discern what you NEED and what simply looks good. Do you need to spend a couple dollars on cookies and ice cream, or is that money better used on meat and foods that can actually sustain you? It's astounding how much junk food you will buy when you're hungry.

Our spiritual hunger works the same. When we are overcome with desire we will reach for whatever is in front of us and offers to fill us up whether that idea will sustain us or not. When we take on the junk that the world offers us we find that what looks appealing will eventually cause us even greater pain. In our hunger we fail to recognize the bitterness. When we are are full with the Word of GOD, on the other hand, we are given the wisdom of the Spirit and we can see the truth for what it is. We are given strength to put off the things that Satan tempts us with, the sin that is sweet upon our lips but sours when it hits our stomachs.

So, today, fill up on the Word of GOD. Take time to let GOD's truth cover over you. Satiate the hunger of the will of the LORD.

Sunday Setlist / 10.31.10

2010-10-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here's what went down this morning at Highland Community Church in Highland, IL:

I'll Fly Away (F) [Brumley]
   Welcome & Announcements
   Offering
   Choir - Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
Better is One Day (E) [Redman]
   Scripture Reading - Psalm 121:1-8
Holy is the Lord (G) [Tomlin]
Everything Glorious (C) [Crowder]
Nothing But the Blood (C) [Lowry]
   Special Music - Tom Barker
   Message
   Dismiss
I'll Fly Away (F)

BAND: (the usual)
Jonathan David Eckberg - acoustic guitar/vocals
Tim McDaniel - drums
Aaron McDaniel - electric guitar
Joe Szoke - bass/vocals - special "Congrats" are in order for Joe and his wife, Steph, as Steph gave birth to their first child last Sunday! We are all excited for the Szokes and the addition of their son, Eli, to the HCC family. We're looking forward to putting him into the worship rotation soon!

NOTES:
In any month that has 5 Sundays we take the fifth Sunday and combine our first and second services for the morning. While this is a TREMENDOUS (and I cannot emphasize that enough) time of worship with the body of Christ, it can cause a few issues with the team that is leading worship. In the past we have usually tried to combine worship teams for this and it has worked out ok. The problem is that we generally practice on two different nights, so to try to coordinate 8-10 people to get together on a separate night than is generally set aside can be frustrating. We've tried at times just to practice early on Sunday morning, but that always feels cramped on time. So, for this particular 5th Sunday we just had the first service band lead worship. The other issue that generally arises with the two services combining is that, since we use different "song books" we are a bit limited on songs that everyone knows or mostly knows. I've never been opposed to stretching people with a song that they are a little unfamiliar with, but you can only do so much. This week I tried to use some "standard" modern worship songs along with a few hymns. I think it bridged the gap well. Also for this week, I didn't know where Pastor Wise was taking the message. I didn't have any guidelines to go off of, so we set up the songs as a general time of praise. This is much more difficult for me. I always feel that the more information I have and the more focused that I need to be on a topic or theme the easier it is for me to select music. Whew! That's a lot of notes, so let's get back to the music.

SONGS:
I'll Fly Away - Nothing fancy with this song. It's a good old fashioned "hillbilly hymn" and I think we did our bluegrass/country roots proud. During rehearsal Aaron looked and me and said, "Now all we need is a jug player!" It honestly was a lot of fun to play. It's a great song to kick the morning off with by bringing some high-energy to the congregation.

Better is One Day - After the offering and the choir we kicked into "Better is One Day". Pretty standard arrangement, but we did it just a bit faster than when I've done this in the past, but it gave it a nice, subtle rock flavor to the tune.

Holy is the LORD - Again another standard arrangement. The scripture reading for the morning was Psalm 121 which begins, "I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." It goes on to speak of the providence and protection that come from our GOD. "Holy is the LORD" then seemed appropriate to follow. The speaks to the goodness and holiness of GOD filling the earth and being evident to all. When we understand that the war that waging in our souls right now is already won, despite what our individual battles may tell us, and that GOD's provision and protection is always upon us there should be no way that we can contain the joy of His Name.

Everything Glorious - We hadn't done this song in a while. At one point it was in fairly heavy rotation as one of our drummers, Cory Done, was a wiz with looping and we had a really cool loop that added a ton of depth to the song. However, when Cory took a job in Missouri we lost his services and so "Everything Glorious" was somewhat swept aside. We revived it, slowed it down a touch and gave it slight bluesy feel. It worked, maybe not the way I like it best, but it was good and it meshed well with "Holy is the LORD". Sometimes you try things musically and you hit a homerun, sometimes you strike out. This (small) experiment was a solid base hit.

Nothing But the Blood - We flowed straight from "Everything Glorious" into "Nothing But the Blood". This is another of my favorite hymns. So every time we play this one we keep it really simple and try to let the message of the lyrics fly well over the top of everything. It's a whole lot of eight note acoustic guitar strumming and vocals with the rest of the band just adding touches of flavor here and there.

That's about it. We reprised "I'll Fly Away" as the dismissal song.

To see what other congregations are singing throughout the weekend please visit the Sunday Setlist at theworshipcommunity.com.

Misusing the Name

2010-10-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

I was recently listening through a sermon series by J.D. Greear (Senior Pastor at Summit Church Raleigh-Durham, NC). The series was called "This is what the heart looks like," and it walked through the 10 Commandments.

The thing that I've been wrestling with the past several weeks, the one things that's been bouncing around in my head, concerns his teaching on Exodus 20:7, "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your GOD, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name."

It seems like a pretty straight-forward command but, as with all of the Ten Commandments, this commandment itself merely scratches the surface of what is required of us. The core issue always comes back to the state of our hearts.

To misuse the name of the lord is often referred to as, "Taking the LORD's name in vain". So what does that mean? Most would say it is using the name of GOD or Jesus as a swear word, or an expression that is out of proper context. This is part of what the commandment is talking about, but it goes well beyond this. To misuse the name of the LORD encompasses our entire lives. It is a reference to the very way we live. In short, to misuse the name of the LORD is to misrepresent who GOD is and what He is all about.

Names in the Bible are a fascinating study. They carry much more weight to the Jewish people and the early Christians than they carry for us today. Our names are often determined by simple preference, but Biblical names were meaningful. Sometimes they were prophetic (as in Jacob's case - Genesis 25:24-26), other times the were marks of the past (Samuel means "heard of GOD", as his mother, Hannah, cried out to the LORD to allow her to have a child - I Samuel 1:1-20), Abraham's name was changed by GOD as a mark of the covenant between the two (Genesis 17:1-8), and in the Colossians we meet Paul's companion Jesus who goes by the name Justus out of reverence for the name of Jesus Christ. For the Jews, the Name of GOD was so revered that they wouldn't even speak it.

This is because a name is not simply what someone is called, but it represents who they are. All of a persons identity is tied to their name. In Proverbs 22:1 we are told, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." A good name is to be esteemed, to be known for righteousness. In Song of Songs 1:3 the beloved praises the Lover saying "your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you!" It is his NAME that she adores, not what he is called, but who he is. This is the significance of a name.

Now, I don't think that our view of names today is troublesome in anyway, however I do think that it sometimes leads us into confusion of the significance of verses like Exodus 20:7 which pertain to the Name of GOD.

When we come to understand the importance placed on the very Name of GOD we then understand how this relates to the very essence of the creator of the universe throughout scripture (Psalm 113:2, Isaiah 24:15, Ezekiel 39:7, Acts 2:21, Matthew 6:9, among others). We are called time and time again to lift up His Name, to make known His Name, to revere His Name.

As we have now seen, a name is a representation of character, so the "Name" of the LORD is entirely wrapped up in who he is. It speaks to His characteristics, His nature, His power, His presence, and His glory. It is impossible to separate who GOD is from his very name. That can create problems for those of us who take on the moniker of "Christian". For as Jesus Christ was, himself, GOD and Christian, meaning "little Christ", describes an imitation of the person of Christ, we are then proclaiming our allegiance to and our representation of who GOD is when we call ourselves "Christians".

This is where we all fall guilty of "misusing the name of the LORD". We call ourselves by the name of Christ and then fall short of upholding His character. In doing so, no matter how great or how small our misstep is, we present the world with a false advertisement of the nature of GOD. When we seek our own fame and glory we deny the greatness of His name. When we swear an oath on GOD that we do not keep, we take His name in vain. When we attach GOD's name to anything it should be involved in we profain His majesty. We we present to people a picture of GOD that is anything less than perfect, holy, powerful, loving and full of grace, we defame His character and misuse His name.

So am I capable of accomplishing this? Can I live the rest of my life without misusing the name of the LORD? NO!

The beauty here is that Jesus traded names with me. He took on my detestable and utterly incurable name and gave me His guiltless name of redemption. He accomplished through his blood the punishment that was promised to you and me in Exodus 20:7 - "...the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name." Because I could never live up to the law Jesus Christ paid for my offense.

It's such an elementary truth and teaching, but one that we can never be reminded of too often. And in light of this truth why would we present our GOD as anything less than who he truly is? Why would we withhold the grace, mercy, truth, and love that is GOD our Father?

Speak the name of the LORD in truth today.

Patient Man vs. the Warrior

2010-10-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

I have several different aspects to my personal devotion time each day. Not all days are the same, as I like to mix it up a little bit. Every day includes reading scripture, most days include listening to a sermon, somedays include journaling.

I think the journaling is one of the most helpful to me. I probably only do this once, at most twice, during the week because it is difficult for me. It's usually pretty rough as I haven't taken time to REALLY think through what I've just read. For those who know me, they will tell you that I am a very slow processor. I will think on something for a week before I feel like I'm ready to share my thoughts on the topic. So that makes journaling difficult for me. However, there is something to be said for spilling your initial thoughts onto paper. It is interesting then to go back after some time and read these thoughts. It often gives me a much clearer picture on what what GOD was doing in my life at that moment and how what he taught me during that phase led me to the place where I am right now.

So, I thought I would give you a look inside my personal journal. I will preface this by telling you that I'm not entirely comfortable with letting you into my less-than-polished thoughts like this, but that is part of why I'm doing it. This entry came from a this past weekend (October 16th). Given that it is a recent entry, I have no idea where GOD is leading me through this thought process, other than the fact that I have always struggle severely with the issue of patience. In any case, here is the entry.

________________________

PROVERBS 16:32 - "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city."

There is great strength and power in the warrior, the man who proves himself in battle, the man of superior physical skill and control. The warrior is capable of imposing his will on men and determines the outcome of a great number of human lives (win the battle, win the war, rule over nations, change the course of history). This is a BIG deal. This is a position of honor and personal glory.

And yet, it is better to be patient and self-controlled. GOD honors those who are humble (Matt. 5:5) and submissive (I Samuel 15:22). Man honors power and physical strength, but the LORD looks beyond this (I Samuel 16:7) and tells us that such power is of little value to him (Psalm 146:3-4, Psalm 147:10-11).

This is always difficult for us to grasp. It is much easier to develop our physical strength than our spiritual lives. It hurts more to be patient than it does to train our bodies. Why? Because spiritual change requires that we die to ourselves. It requires us to recognize that WE are not the central focus of life. Patience is the epitomy of selflessness. It is placing the importance of others' time, value, and priorities above our own. Until we can do this, to see others as Jesus sees them, we have not taken full grasp of the gospel. Until we take such an understanding of the gospel we will never fully engage in the mission of GOD for toward others. Until we engage in the mission of GOD we will never completely praise, worship, or delight the LORD.

Start today with patience. Train yourself in loving others. Worship GOD. Live the Truth. Let your spirit, by His word, take the city.

____________________________

I think this type of record of our own thoughts, struggles, fears, and victories is important. Personally, I feel like it gives me some benchmarks in how GOD is growing me and developing my faith through perseverance and faithfulness to His call. When we seek to do our Father's will, we will grow. Sometimes that growth is slight and is hard for us to see in the moment, but if you have such markers to look back on you are able to constantly and consistently see the ways in which GOD has led you to where you are.

Sunday Setlist / 10.17.10

2010-10-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

So, here's the rundown of the 9:00 am service at Highland Community Church in Highland, IL.

THE SETLIST:

Let Your Glory Shine (D) [Lincoln Brewster]

Welcome and Announcements

Offering

Baptism: Jeniba Johnson
I Stand Amazed in the Presence (F) [Charles H. Gabriel]

Breathe (F) [Marie Barnett]

Hungry (D) [Kathryn Scott]
Scripture Reading

Message

You Are All That I Need (A)

Dismiss

Let Your Glory Shine (D)

THE BAND:
Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Tim McDaniel - drums
Aaron McDaniel - electric guitar
Joe Szoke - bass

NOTES:
We had a bit of a rocky start this morning. I showed up to the church and we had no power. No PA, no lights, no nothing. I scrambled for a few minutes and threw together a back up set of music that I could cover with just the acoustic if necessary. With no projection I wanted to make sure we had songs that people would know without seeing the words (and that I would know without a chord chart and lyric sheet - I don't carry my songbook with me). I planned on replacing our first couple songs with "Holy is the LORD" and "GOD of Wonders". Fortunately, at about 8:40 we got power back. We went over the set list VERY briefly as a band and proceeded to kick off the service. Our sound engineer made a great observation. He said something to the effect of "this kind of stuff makes you give up control, even though control is an illusion, we never have it". I think the morning went great after that because we were all forced to realize that we are not the ones in control. We are not the ones who are making the morning go. GOD simply offered us an opportunity to lead our brothers and sisters into the worship of his name throughout the course of the morning and none of what happens matters apart from his Spirit.

THE SONGS:

Let Your Glory Shine - We're trying to add this song into a more regular rotation as an intro song. It's a really good "call to worship" tune. Lots of energy, fantastic message, and our congregation has seemed to latch onto it. The bonus is that it is a BLAST to play. It's actually a pretty simple song, so it's easy to rock out to it and find a good groove to roll with.

I Stand Amazed in the Presence - We went with a very traditional version of this old hymn. We did pick up the tempo on it a little, but we didn't get carried away. It was a nice mid-tempo song. I've been walking around singing this song all week. I think there's is something phenomenal about that constant reminder of the marvelous and wonderful nature of GOD's love for us. I was talking with a friend of mine this week and I confessed to him that I often don't focus on the weight of GOD's love. I understand it in my head, but there are a lot of time when I fight to keep that head knowledge from penetrating my heart. I think one of the best defenses against this is to sing a song like "I Stand Amazed" (one of my other favorites for this pupose is "How Deep the Father's Love for Us").

Breath - be made a smooth transition from "I Stand Amazed" into "Breathe". The message for the week focuses on Jesus statement of "I am the bread of life" and Pastor Wise was discussing the importance of Jesus to our daily lives, the power, strength, and comfort we recieve, and how we must desire to submit 100% to His calling to receive His gifts. So coming out of a song that marvels at His love, we roll into Breathe" which speaks of our desire to have Christ and have Him fully. A song that touches on our inability to survive and function properly without His love and His guidance not on a daily basis, but on a moment-to-moment basis.

Hungry - We then worked our way into "Hungry". This is a similar song to Breathe, they carry a common message, but it's a shift from GOD as the one thing that is necessary for us to truly live, to a more focused expression of our desire to come before Him and to submit our lives in service to him. So it's really taking us from our need (Breathe) to our holy desire (Hungry).

Message - Pastor is beginning a series right now that looks at Jesus' "I am..." statements in the book of John. This week kicked it off with "I am the bread of life."

You Are All That I Need - This was our response song for the morning. I have no idea who wrote it (if you know and can help me out, please leave a comment and tell me). It's an amazing song I picked up from Dave Hunt in my time at Rolling Hill Community Church in Nashville, TN. The chorus is simply "You are all that I need / You are all that I need / When I am weak I will trust in thee / You are all that I need." It's beautifully written piece of music that has always been one of my favorites to play in my personal times of worship.

To see what other congregations are singing check out the Sunday Setlist at theworshipcommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 10.10.10

2010-10-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

Here's what went down at Highland Community Church at the 9 o'clock hour:

Counting on GOD (A) [Jared Anderson]
   Welcome and Announcements
   Offering
Our Love is Loud (E) [David Crowder]
I Could Sing of Your Love Forever (E) [Martin Smith]
   Scripture Reading
   Handbell Choir
   Dismiss

Band:
Jonathan David Eckberg - Guitar/Vocals
Tim McDaniel - Drums
Joe Szoke - Bass/Vocals

Notes:
The Handbell Choir from Shepherds Ministries in Wisconsin was in the service yesterday, so music was short and to the point. We focused on the providence and love of GOD our Father. We were also a little short-handed as our other guitar player was in Chicago for the weekend. So, to fill the space I ran my 60's reissue Strat through a signal splitter with one channel running to a Boss Acoustic Simulator into my Behringer DI to the board. The other channel ran through my effects board into my brand new Randall RM-22 Head. One of the coolest features of the RM-22 is that is has a built in direct box (they call it a "mic simulator") so you can run an XLR cable direct to the board - great tone with no stage volume, absolutely perfect for a small church worship setting. The purpose of the signal split was to offer an electric and acoustic tone at certain points in the songs to help beef up the three-piece sound. Anyway, enough of the guitar-geek stuff.

Songs:
Counting on GOD - This is a fun song to play. We hit this one pretty hard to open up the morning and rocked it out properly!

Our Love is Loud - I always enjoy playing this song, whether it's solo-acoustic or full-band, I think it's a great congregational song. We gave it a little more of a bluesy feel today. Tim and Joe, had a nice little groove going which moved the song along well.

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever - I highly recommend the "additional chorus" to this song. I have no idea where you would find the melody on line, because I've never heard it recorded (I'm sure it's out there, but I've never heard it). I picked it up from Dave Hunt several years ago. It adds a little flavor to the redundancy of singing the chorus over and over at the end. The lyrics are "Everywhere I go I'm singing, Everybreath of air I'm breathing, Everywhere I go I'll sing of when Your love came down."

I know I'm short and late this week, but I've been running non-stop since the beginning of service yesterday. My apologies. I'll try to do better next week.

To see what songs others are praising GOD with, you can check out the sunday setlist at theworshipcommunity.com.

The Purpose of Worship Through Song

2010-10-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

I've been posed this question a few times before, but I was just thinking about it again on my drive home from leading worship for a retreat this past weekend. The question pertains to the role of singing songs in the corporate setting of the Church.

First off, we are called to encourage each other through "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs"(Eph. 5:19) and James 5 tells us "Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise". There are also countless verses throughout the Bible that talk of singing songs of praise to GOD and significant moments that are accompanied by song (Exodus 15, Judges 5, 2 Samuel 22, Luke 1:46-55, 67-79, Psalm 96:1, Psalm 100:2, Isaiah 55:12, Rev 5:9, among many others). However, none of these speak specifically to the use/purpose of songs within the context of the corporate gathering of the saints.

So, where does that leave us?

I think the role that music plays in the corporate setting (for our purposes we will consider this the "Sunday morning service") varies with different groups people.

For the regenerated believers, those who have confessed with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord, our entire lives should be an act of worship. This, then, carries over into our time spent with our brothers and sisters in Christ. In the corporate gathering, singing songs and worshipping through music is a time to lift the name of GOD in unity, praising him for the victories of the week, thanking him for the blessings in our lives, and drawing near to feel His comfort through the unified voices of His people. This worship in unity is found when our voices rise together. We don't really feel that connection during the sermon, as we worship with our financial offerings, or even in the act of communion - these are very individual acts. They are done together, but are personal acts between us and Christ. In the singing of songs we offer ONE voice to our Father in Heaven. It is the collective praise of GOD's people.

I think there is also an element to preparation in the songs of the redeemed. Now, I don't believe that singing, in and of itself, can prepare us to enter the presence of GOD and to open our hearts to what He has brought us there to hear from Him - this is an ongoing process. I believe this preparation starts on Monday morning and must be cultivated throughout the week. However, there is something to be said for having a specific time where your focus is on the worship of GOD. This can be an excellent time to breathe and leave all the distractions of the morning behind while you remember who GOD is, what He has done, and what He is preparing you for in a life lived for His glory.

I think for those in an intermediate stage of faith, those who understanding or are starting to understand who GOD is, but have not yet become regenerated through belief and confession of who He is, it may be the only time in the week when they truly present themselves before GOD. When they let down all their defenses and praise Him for being the almighty GOD of Heaven and Earth. This is now a preparatory stage for GOD to truly speak into their lives through the preaching and teaching of the Word (be that from the Pastor or from the people that GOD has placed in that person’s life).

For the person who is still far from GOD, music creates an emotional tie that brings them near the family of GOD. It is an opportunity to speak GOD’s truth into their lives in a theologically sound and biblically relevant manner that they may not even be aware of. For these people it is often through the way that the congregation, the family, responds in song that shows the depth of love that GOD has been poured out on His people. In any scenario, regardless of style of music, I believe this is an important aspect of the corporate gathering.

Part two of this discussion generally comes around to how I, as a worship leader, make this happen.

I don’t make it happen. Only the Holy Spirit makes any of this happen. I find when I put all my effort into making this work it never occurs. However, I do try to come prepared to serve when the Spirit opens people’s hearts. The first step is for me to come prepared to worship. No matter how tough a morning, week, month, or year it’s been for me I have to be in a place, spiritually, where I can say, “GOD you are awesome and I love you and I NEED to praise you today”. That’s sometimes very difficult, but if the worship leader is not leading in worship, he is never effective. I also believe that I have to be willing to get out of the way. It is important to discern where the Spirit is leading you have to be able to bend to His will. Sometimes the Spirit may move you to say something, sometimes he may just tell you to sit down and let the people reflect on what GOD’s telling them. You have to be able to adjust either way. I think another means of being effective is to be excellent in a musical sense. This includes performance, ambiance, set list, order of service. The key is to present a service that guides people into GOD’s presence without distraction. This rarely goes off as planned (let's be honest, I don't think it ever goes off as planned), but if everything is well prepared, the flow is right, and you are open to the leading of the Spirit then the minor distractions that Satan will undoubtedly throw at you can be overcome.

For me this is a constantly evolving idea. As I progress in my Christian walk and as I continue to gain more and more experience as a worship leader I remain open to the knowledge and insight that GOD allows me to receive.

What do you think?

"HEIRS" RELEASED TODAY!

2010-10-05T04:58:00.000-07:00

New album from UNTIL WE'RE KINGS released today!

"HEIRS" is out now!

Digital version available at digstation.com

iTunes version will be on sale in the coming weeks.

Become a fan on facebook.

Sunday Setlist / 10.3.10

2010-10-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to the Rainbow Christian Camp in Converse, Indiana where I led worship for a high school retreat with youth groups from Wabash and Bremen, IN. It's always a blast to be involved with high school groups. These kids cracked me up. We got in on Friday night and worked our way through to Sunday morning. It was incredibly exhausting, but worth every minute. The bonus for me was that I got to work with my buddy, Jordan Muck, who is now the Associate & Youth Pastor at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN. Jordan is a great friend who I have been through a whole lot with and he's been there for me to strengthen me in my faith, to encourage me when I'm struggling, and to constantly push me forward in following GOD's will. I miss having him (and his family) around so I jumped at the chance to drive 4.5 hours to lead worship for the weekend.

Here's what Sunday morning looked like:

I Have Decided [C]
Heirs [G]
Let Your Kingdom Reign [G]
Message - Jordan Muck - Acts 2:42 - PRAYER

Jonathan David Eckberg - Guitar/Vocals

NOTES: I led all weekend with just the acoustic. It's always interesting to walk into groups like this where you don't really know anyone. I knew the leaders of both groups, but I had no idea what songs the kids would or wouldn't know. This creates some anxiety on my part. On one hand, you want to do mostly songs that they know or at least have heard. On the other hand, you don't want to do a strict diet of songs from 1980. It's also often surprising what songs kids do and don't know. I've had a lot of times where I've put a song into a retreat thinking it's one that EVERYBODY knows, only to have kids look blankly at the screen or fumble through it. Other times I'll have a song in that compliments the message really well and I figure it's on that maybe one or two people will sing along with and then the kids are all over it. You just never can tell. So, after putting a lot of time in to trying to create a balance and get some songs that the kids could grab ahold of this weekend I (with quite a bit of help from Jordan) finalized the list.

I Have Decided - We sang the version off of the "Heirs" album (shameless self-promotion: the 6-song worship album from Until We're Kings is released this Tuesday and should be available on iTunes in the coming weeks - you KNOW I'll keep you updated). It's such a simple arrangement that the kids picked up on it really quickly and I think they had some fun with it.

Heirs - Another song from the, Until We're Kings album. This was the "theme song" for the week. I taught it to the kids on Friday night and we included it in every session on the weekend. It was cool to see the group catch on and really sing it out on Sunday morning.

Let Your Kingdom Reign - This is a chorus I use from Elevation Worship off of their last album, "GOD with Us." I LOVE this chorus. It's so perfectly beautiful. I knew that none of the kids would know it, but I put it in because it is so simple and singable. We repeated it several times and I heard a few kids singing it as we all sat down for the message and even after the session, so I think it went over pretty well.

To see what's happening in worship around the country check out out the Sunday Setlist at theworshipcommunity.com.

Listening Room

2010-09-28T04:34:00.000-07:00

I have a few friends who are always asking me what I'm listening to. I like to think it's because I have impeccable taste when it comes to music (don't we all?). Honestly, most of it comes down to the fact that they know I like music that requires a little bit from the listener and they share that sentiment. As a musician I have an innate distain for music that simply caters to the lowest-common-denominator, which is why I rarely listen to the radio. In any case, here's a list of some of the albums (yes, I still call them albums even though 90% of the stuff I have now isn't even on cd anymore - all digital like everyone else). Some are new, some are old, some are just new to me.

City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love - Dallas Green's 2008 sophomore release is amazing. A friend turned me on to it about a year ago, but it was just a few months back that I really dug into it and since then I can't get enough. Green takes a lo-fi, old-school approach to recording. He uses fat-sounding, mellow acoustic guitars while layering bright, heavily reverb-laden, vocals that are flawless. Not to mention his songwriting. He combines the vividness of Lyle Lovett and the story-telling of Leonard Cohen even, at times, echoing with hints of Townes Van Zant. A beautifully simple album. For fans of/also check out: Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, Ray Lamontagne

Avett Brothers - I and Love and You - I listened to this album for about 4 months straight when it came out last September and it just went back into heavy rotation after I saw them on "Live at Austin City Limits" this past weekend. I first heard of these guys when I lived down in Nashville. And with this disc they've finally garnered some popularity to go along with the critical acclaim they been storing up for a few years. For fans of/also check out: Ryan Adams, Nickel Creek, Jeffrey Foucault

Elevation Worship - Kingdom Come - The worship team at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC is easily my favorite group of worship leaders/writers out there. They are superb. Excellent musicianship, great, singable songs, a healthy dose of straight up rock with a balance on the quite reflective tunes. They pump out great songs on every album they do. While I have to admit that I actually enjoyed their last album ("GOD With Us") a little better, "Kingdom Come" is still growing on me. For fans of/also check out: Steve Fee, Kristian Stanfill, Switchfoot

Maroon 5 - Hands All Over - The new album is exactly what you would expect from Maroon 5. These guys are all phenomenal musicians and who are good enough to keep you interested, but they don't over-do it, so their songs are easily digestible and crazily infectious. I've always thought they make the records that Michael Jackson would have made if he hadn't completely lost his mind. For fans of/also check out: Micheal Jackson (seriously, "Thriller" is still phenomenal), Fundamental Elements, Ben Rector

Antje Duvekot - The Near Demise of the Highwire Dancer - Pronounced Aunt-yu Doo-va-kot, this singer/songwriter is insanely smart and poignant. She reminds me, at times, of Patty Griffin or Shawn Colvin. A very subtle and understated musical style with lyrics that are pure genius. If you like music that is soothing and is perfect to put on while you read, check this album out. For fans of/also check out: David Wilcox, Patti Griffin, Emiliana Torrini

Jed Whedon and the Willing - History of Forgotten Things - Jed (who is a fairly prominent hollywood screenwriter, as well as being a fantastic musician) somehow has figured out how to bounce seamlessly between 80's synth-pop to contemporary folk to digital-rock. The first time I heard the album I wasn't entirely sure what to think, but I love it more and more every time it fills the house. For fans of/also check out: Paper Route, David Mead, Death Cab for Cutie

Storyhill - Shade of the Trees - This folk duo has been putting out albums for 15 years and this new record is, in my opinion, their best. Produced by another phenomenal singer-songwriter, Dan Wilson (of Trip Shakespear and Semi-sonic fame), is absolutely beautiful. Two voices, one or two acoustic guitars, and a few spots of harmonica - and nothing else. You can tell these guys have been making music together for a long time because they are so stinking tight on their harmonies. For fans of/also check out: Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, the Weepies

ANTICIPATED RELEASES:

Bebo Norman - Oceans - Bebo's second album, 1999's "Ten Thousand Days", is still one of my top 5 favorite albums of all time (and in reality it is probably #1 on the list). So the fact that some of the subsequent albums were disappointing to me actually says little of the quality of those discs, and more about just how good that second album was. I was very encouraged by his last effort and that has me excited to see what he has in store for his 8th full length studio recording.

Avett Brothers - Live, Vol. 3 - CD/DVD combo due out in a couple weeks. Can't wait.

Rush - Clockwork Angels - I think this is Rush's 738th studio album. Ok, slight exaggeration, but these guys have been making the BEST rock music around for almost 40 years! And they just keep getting better. Unreal.

Jimmy Eat World - Invented - Another band that I have always loved. Nothing flashy about their music, just solid guitar work and catchy melodies.

Until We're Kings - Heirs - Released next week. Everyone should buy at LEAST one copy.

What are you listening to?

Sunday Setlist / 9.26.10

2010-09-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the setlist from the 9:00am service at Highland Community Church:

Heirs [G] (Muck/Eckberg)
   Welcome & Announcements
   Special Presentation - the Shoe Man
   Offering
Hallelujah to My King [E] (Baloche)
   Scripture Reading - Job 1:6-22
It Is Well With My Soul [A] (Spafford)
Song of the Redeemed [A] (Hall)
   Message - Habakkuk 3:16-18
You Never Let Go [A] (Redman)
   Dismiss

THE BAND:
Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals

NOTES:
After being out of town for work last week and spending Sunday morning at my dad's church in Erie, Illinois, it was great to be back with my church family! Due to schedules of the band I led solo this week. Things were a little rough getting going this morning, it was cold and wet outside and it seemed like we all were dragging. But once we got the morning rolling the congregation came around and it turned out to be a great day of worship and hearing GOD's word. It never ceases to amaze me how on the days when I don't see how GOD's going to get anything done, He works in incredible ways. Cool stuff.

THE SONGS:
Heirs - This is a song from the forthcoming Until We're Kings EP, "Heirs". It's a fun tune that is taken from Romans. I love using it as an opening song as a reminder that we don't come into the presence of GOD as a people defeated by the world and run ragged from the busyness of life, but we come before Him as co-heirs with Christ. We stand before GOD as his children who will one day share in the riches of His kingdom and see His glory in full.

Hallelujah to My King - After a presentation from the Shoe Man - he sells old shoes overseas by the pound and uses the money to dig wells in Kenya - I was glad that we were doing this song after hearing one of the ways that GOD is at work in the world both in our own neighborhood and around the world. This Paul Baloche song is one of my favorite worship tunes at the moment. It's so good theologically. To sing of the greatness, sweetness, goodness and peace of Jesus Christ through our trials with the promise of seeing His face as the saints sing "Hallelujah, what a Savior / I owe everything to Him - Hallelujah, what a Savior / Hallelujah to my King!" If you don't do this song I would encourage you to work it into your list, it's fantastic.

It is Well with My Soul - We did four verses of a straight forward version of this song. Coming from hearing the Word in Job and knowing that we were moving into a message of "unprosperity" (the idea that GOD never promises us worldly comfort and riches - but only peace and blessing in Him), it worked well.

Song of the Redeemed - We used the ending tag from this song as a reminder that although live can be difficult we are taken care of by the GOD of the universe (from "It is Well with My Soul"). We are His and His alone. All else in the world is worthless, so we have no concern if we lose all our worldly possessions. The tag in the song simply says "We are Yours" over and over again. It gave me chills to pull back from the mic and hear our people singing together - "We are Yours, We are Yours, We are Yours" - absolutely beautiful.

You Never Let Go - This seems to be one of our "go-to" songs. It's another tune that is just so theologically sound and speaks volumes of the peace and blessings of Christ apart from health, wealth, and prosperity on this earth.

To see what other congregations are singing visit theworshipcommunity.org and this weeks Sunday Setlists.

Embracing Difficulty

2010-09-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

I was speaking with a veteran pastor recently. This guy has led churches for 20+ years during his ministry (that is impressive in and of itself). This is in addition to having a traveling ministry for a number of years and a stint working with a national youth organization for a couple years. He is a pastor, youth pastor, worship leader, Sunday school teacher, small group leader, strategic planning organizer, traveling speaker, etc. He has taught and led in virtually imaginable facet of Christian ministry.

The interesting part of our conversation was in discussing the people who fight against ministry. He said that in his illustrious career he has dealt with plenty of difficult people, those who opposed a change in church policy, wanted to see the congregation move in a different direction than he was leading, or simply disagreed with a decision he had made, however he said there were only had five people who he felt were "against him" in ministry. Of these people, none were able to displace his leadership or accomplish the take-over they desired. Although this did not come without plenty of effort to do so.

None of this came as a shock to me. What did surprise me was his approach to those people. He said he would not confront them on their "issue". WHAT!?!

I was initially taken aback. When someone is trying to undermine your leadership, to defame your character, to drag you through the mud because you are following GOD's will and direction for the benefit of others, I feel like you have to stand up to that person. My reaction to such conflict is defensive.

He went on to tell me that you cannot accomplish anything by pressing someone on their inability to be led. The problem that they are having is rarely related to the circumstance they are presenting to you. Whatever the issue, it's merely the tip of the iceberg. The real rub is an issue of their heart. They, at some point, have become hardened to what GOD has to teach them and, therefore, have become unable to hear the voice of GOD through any means. That includes you, your teaching, and your leadership. Their response, then, is understandable - they want to lead. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, right? Only, here the blind man cannot recognize his blindness and so he projects it onto others.

This pastor went on to tell me that his passive approach was driven into him many years ago. As a young Christian he had come to a place where he was unsatisfied with his churches leadership. He had said things about the pastor he shouldn't have and, finally, he said the wrong thing to the wrong person. Word got back to the pastor of his comments and he got a call from the pastor asking him to come by and see him. So the young man, with his head hung low, walked into the back door of the house. All these years later he says that he still remembers walking in the house only to see the pastor and his wife greet him not with anger, hostility, and righteous, defensive frustration, but with tears and heart-felt embraces as they told him how much they loved him.

People with hard hearts need to be molded and shaped like the rest of us, but first they need to be melted. This runs contrary to our natural inclinations. Our reaction to friction is usually one of two things: we butt heads or we butt-out. We fight or we turn away. Rarely is our first thought (I can't say it's EVER been my first) to embrace that heart of tension.

This idea of embracing tension turns our forms of leadership on its head. It is difficult to be irreconcilably upset with someone, to become embittered by them, to want to turn away from them when we embrace who that person is. If you are able to see past the actions of a person (and their direct effect on you) and see the pain, the disappointment, the longing for fulfillment in their lives you can't help but feel an overwhelming desire to see them healed.

One of the things I've been working to overcome is my inability to disassociate actions from people. It is easy to hate actions, it's even biblical - GOD hates actions (i.e. sin). But it's hard to hate a person. Think about the people you have conflict with, how many of them do you know REALLY well, how many of them do you love? Most of the people I struggle in dealing with are people who I only know casually. I know some better than others, but I don't know how those people tick. I don't know about their past, I don't know the details of their family history, I don't know what their hopes are, I don't know them well. On the other hand, I KNOW my friends. I know what their fears are, I know the pain they are dealing with and why it hurts them so much. That is not to say that my friends don't do things I don't like like or they don't hurt me at times, but I know the person, the heart, behind the actions. Since I know that heart and what drives that action and since I love that friend, so I can see past the action. The act is not the person, it's simply what the person has done.

In Luke 19 we see Jesus interact with Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a wretched person. He stole from his brothers and countrymen and was responsible, in part, for keeping the Jewish people under the thumb of the Roman empire. He was despised by EVERYONE. And yet, Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from a tree and shares the intimacy of a meal with him and brings salvation to the house of a "sinner" (Luke 19:9). Zacchaeus then undergoes a radical transformation. It is important to note that Jesus brings his unconditional love and salvation to Zacchaeus BEFORE Zacchaeus' actions are changed. It's not about the actions of people that matter, it's the person. GOD's love flows to our hearts beyond what we do. He first loves us and then our lives our changed.

If we are to follow GOD's pattern we must start with loving people. We are to love them and let the Gospel do the work of changing their lives. Only by the love of GOD will hard hearts be melted bringing about the radical change that He desires. We will still be hurt and disappointed at times, but we will see lives changed, not because we love them, but because Christ first loved us and that love will shine through us in a way the the rest of the world cannot show and will not understand.

Love people. Embrace difficulty.

Faith, Hope and Yoga

2010-09-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

Last year I got into doing yoga. I picked it up as a supplement to my marathon training, I thought it would add some flexibility and help me avoid injury (I had the first serious injury of my 18 year running career last fall). So now I do yoga twice a week. It's a great workout and, for me, yoga is purely physical. Then a couple of weeks ago I saw a documentary from a few years back on the business of yoga. To be honest, it wasn't very good and was pretty much a waste of an hour of my life. But the one thing that struck me as I watched was the emphasis that the yoga purists put on the spiritual aspect of the practice.

Classic yoga comes from the Buddhist traditions with a heavy emphasis on meditation as a means to "ecstasy" or totally self-awareness. The idea is that through yoga you are able to focus simply on your breathing through a structured series of physical poses. That singular focus then helps you separate yourself from the world around you. Once you have separated from the world you are able to shift your focus to your spirit/soul/god and when you can focus on that one thing you will achieve human perfection in a state of enlightenment (that's a little simplified, but the explanation will do for the novice - that's me).

Many will carry this idea of the search for spiritual enlightenment to great extremes. At the end of the documentary one of the "experts" was heading to India for a three-year "internship" where she would be completely silent and, by the end of the three-years, she would be able to meditate for 24-hours straight. She claims that this is the ultimate goal in life.

I found myself feeling very sad for all these people as I watched the film. There is an intense spiritual need that is going unmet in their lives. They have failed to meet this need so they took up a religious practice that seems to offer them some hope. Unfortunately, their hope is the fact that if they continue to work out this journey that they can eventually reach whatever it is they were created for. That is, if they do more and more and more then the universe will somehow reward them based on their efforts. So these people pour their hearts and their souls into this ancient practice without knowing if it will actually work, but they are confident in their efforts to reach their god. When I think of the intense disappointment (I really don't think the word "disappointment" begins to cover it) they will face when they die, I'm dumbfounded.

Hope that rests in ourselves is hopeless self-deception.

The truth is, there is only one person in the history of the earth who is worth hoping in - Jesus Christ. I often admit to others that I have a tendency to slip into a false, works-based salvation theology when it comes to my own life. I guess this is part of why I feel so bad for these people seeking "ecstasy" and hope in some arbitrary means of breathing and focus. I get it. I understand why they try so hard, I understand why they try to clean themselves up. I do the same thing. The problem, is that this never works. We cannot do enough or clean ourselves up enough to enter the presence of the living GOD.

Again, I come back to my hope. Not a hope that I can somehow be good enough, smart enough, progressive enough, to make my way to the GOD of the universe. Just the opposite. My hope is in the GOD of the universe who has made His way to me, whose love draws me to Himself. My hope is in the GOD who accepts a man who is wicked, foolish, and often backsliding. All I can do is repent and rest in the love and forgiveness that He offers in exchange for a simple act of belief.

While I will attempt to continually grow and progress in my Christian walk, I will always return to a hope in nothing of what I deserve (that would be the worst reward I could think of), but a hope (a certainty) that, as a co-heir with Christ, my reward will one day be an eternity in His presence.

So, where's your hope?

Sunday Setlist / 9.12.10

2010-09-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Check out the 9:00 am service at Highland Community Church in Highland, IL:

The Continuation [B] (Hunt/Cates)

Welcome & Announcements

Offering

Scripture Reading – Psalm 92:1-8

How Great Thou Art [C] (Boberg)

Ron Eckberg – Special Presentation

Message

Let My Words Be Few [G] (Redman)

Dismiss

The Continuation [B] (Hunt/Cates)

THE BAND:
Jonathan David Eckberg - Electric Guitar/Vocals
Ron Eckberg - Acoustic Guitar/Vocals
Tim McDaniel - Drums
Aaron McDaniel - Lead Guitar
Joe Szoke - Bass

NOTES:

What a phenomenal Sunday! Today was "Homecoming" Sunday at HCC. The idea was to invite anyone we know who has ever been a part of the congregation to come back for one Sunday. We were not trying to "win" people back to HCC, we just wanted to have a time of fellowship with anyone who had a part in the history of the church and the people that have been associated with it. I thought it was an interesting concept. As part of this "homecoming celebration" the church leadership asked Ron Eckberg (my dad) to come and share during both services. As I was growing up my family had close ties with HCC (I learned today that my dad first visited HCC 30 years ago and came without my mom because she was approximately 8 months pregnant with me!), we used to come around several times each year and my dad would do concerts, teach, lead vacation bible schools, and do all kinds of stuff. We were even close to moving to Highland at one point. So it was a lot of fun for my dad to come back and share with HCC once again. The added bonus, for me anyway, was that he also sat in with the band for morning worship. It was a blast to have him playing guitar and sharing vocal duties with me.

SONGS:

The Continuation - This is a song by Dave Hunt (written with Chad Cates) If you don't know of Dave, do yourself a favor and check out some of his work (his latest album was called "Love Abounds" and The Continuation is on "Shattered"). When I lived in Nashville, TN I attended Rolling Hills Community Church where Dave was the worship leader for several years. He is a phenomenal worship leader and a great congregational-friendly song-writer. The guy is rock solid and very subtle in his approach to leading, he has a knack for getting out of the way and allowing you to follow him into worship. Spending those years watching him had a great influence on my own style of leading worship. The song itself is a cool, uptempo tune. I love it as an intro song, because it's all about coming into the corporate gathering not as something you do each week as another line of your to-do list, but as a celebration of what GOD has done for us and what he continues to do in our lives. This celebration is an ever-progressing process. Seriously, check his music out, it will be some of the most productive listening you do all week.

How Great Thou Art - After the scripture reading (Psalm 92:1-8) we HAD to do this song. There was simply no other choice. We do the Paul Baloche version that is an upbeat, rolling type song. It uses the traditional melody with an added tag at the end of the chorus. This keeps it contemporary, but you still feel grounded in some traditional Baptist roots (not sure I could really explain it, but most of you know what I mean)!

Special guest - Ron Eckberg - My dad then shared with the congregation for about 25 minutes with some songs and stories, and teaching. Good stuff. He even let me sit in on a couple songs.

Message - Pastor Larry Wise continued our series on Habakkuk. Today was Habakkuk 3:1, 2 He focused on the power of prayer and the general awe that we should hold of GOD and of the power He possesses allows us to share in. Very challenging message today.

Let My Words Be Few - I realized we did this song just a couple weeks ago, but for what Pastor asked we focus on today I felt like it was worth the repetition to focus on the songs we sing to our GOD and the awe and reverence that are accompanied with them. When we did this song a couple weeks ago it was when I lead solo, so it was nice to put this song together with the full band (plus my dad). I do love this song and the message that it carries.

That's what we did. To see what other congregations are doing in their services check out the Sunday Setlist at theworshipcommunity.com.

More than a Good Story

2010-09-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

In Donald Miller’s latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, he focuses on what he calls, “living a better story”. The book looks at our lives as stories that are being told and we are the main characters. He walks you through all the elements of a gripping story and shows how we walk through those same elements in our lives. Throughout his explanation he keeps coming back to how GOD is the ultimate author of this story and how He wants us to live out that story in the most significant and fulfilling way possible.

I love reading Donald Miller’s writing. He’s tremendously thoughtful and thoroughly engaging. However, the premise of this latest book felt odd to me. As I was reading I couldn’t help but feel that he had totally missed something. I kept waiting for it to come around in the end and make total sense, but it never seemed to get there.

After some reflection I realized how totally self-centered this concept was. The whole idea that my life is a movie where I am the main character is, in my understanding, incongruous with Biblical Truth. It leads one to believe that he/she is the most important thing and everything else in the world is secondary to his/her own satisfaction and fulfillment. Miller would never state it that way and, to be fair, I don’t think he believes that, but that’s how it comes across to me in the book. [please note that I have a great respect for Donald Miller and this is not an attack on him, his theology, or the book as a whole - it is simply about the response the book elicited from my thoughts]

The problem with us being the main character, even if we acknowledge GOD as the ultimate author, is that our needs are first and foremost while the needs, hurts, desires, and lives of those around us are only important as far as they affect our own lives.

I have sometimes wondered if my lot in life is to be a “supporting character”. Maybe my purpose in life is to never be in a place where I am satisfied, but to be constantly following GOD and pushing others forward in their calling, to an unending struggle with finding a place of my own and never getting there. This would be a totally selfless life. Is this what I am, you are, we all are, called to do? To be totally selfless?

Sunday school answer: YES!

Real life answer: I have no idea.

I wrestle with reconciling this tension between personal desire and submission of will. On one hand, I don’t think we have any right to expect to get the things we want or the things we think will fulfill us. After all, when we understand that we are freed from the power of death through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ what more could we want? At the same time, if we are trying to follow GOD’s will and we are doing the things we are called to do, the things we were created to do, shouldn’t we feel fulfilled in those tasks? When we are the people that GOD created us to be there is a great satisfaction there.

I am drawn in these thoughts to Paul’s remarks in 2 Corinthians 11 as he tells of the hardships he’s faced for the sake of the Gospel (including beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, days on the open sea, etc). Then in Philippians 4:11 he says, “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

Paul was living out his GOD-driven purpose. Paul was fulfilling the mission set out for him. Paul was not concerned with his personal outcome so long as he completed the task of speaking and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet, he still had a "thorn in his flesh" (2 Cor. 12) that he could not escape and he prayed earnestly that it be taken from him. Of course, in the end, Paul accepts his lot with this thorn (although I see nowhere where he is happy about the thorn itself, only the Glory of GOD that is allowed to shine through the weakness).

What I get from what Paul tells is a reminder that we live in a world between the “already” and the “not yet”*. Christ has already won the war. Our fates are sealed. The believer is destined to enjoy eternal glory in the presence of GOD while those who refuse Jesus as LORD and Savior are destined to a miserable eternity of separation from our Father as they suffer in Hell. Although this victory is won we still live in a world where GOD has not unleashed the fullness of his judgment. Until His justice is dispensed sin will still fight tooth-and-nail on the earth and the battle between good and evil will persist. It is in the midst of this battle that we will be torn between our personal desires and submission to the will of GOD.

This means that we, as believers, are NOT home. We live in temporary bodies on a temporary earth. Because this is all temporary we will never feel satisfied, we will never feel completely fulfilled. This doesn't mean that we are to focus solely on ourselves or solely on others. GOD puts us in places in this life to effect the lives of others. He puts us in places to be a "supporting character" in the lives of others. But he also puts others in our lives to be "supporting characters" for us.

I don't believe that we are the main characters in a movie about our lives. However, we all have roles in a million different stories in a movie about GOD. All of life, in every corner of the earth, is living out the story of GOD's love, hope, glory, redemption, and sanctification of the earth He created.

Live that story.

* For a great, in-depth read on this subject in particular check out “Dual Citizens” by Jason J. Stellman

Sunday Setlist / 9.5.10

2010-09-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a look at the setlist for the 9:00am service at Highland Community Church:

Let Your Glory Shine [D] (Brewster)

Welcome & Announcements

Offering

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee [G] (lyrics: van Dyke/ music: Beethoven)

You Are So Good to Me [G] (Pasely/Chaffer/Pasely)

Scripture Reading - Isaiah 53:1-11

Mighty is the Power of the Cross [C] (Tomlin)

Communion

Message - Habakkuk 2:2-20

Give Us Clean Hands [G] (Hall)

Dismiss

Let Your Glory Shine [D] (Brewster)

Worship Team:
Jonathan David Eckberg - Guitar/Vocals
Tim McDaniel - Drums
Joe Szoke - Bass
Aaron McDaniel - Lead Guitar

Notes:
We've had a couple weeks at church without the band. I lead with just me and my acoustic two weeks ago and last week we did a combined service with our more traditional and more contemporary services meshing, so it stays pretty low-key. It was a nice break for all of us, but we were itching to get back into the swing of things and that's what we did. I think this marks the first time since I've been at HCC that we haven't had an acoustic guitar in the mix. Kinda strange but lots of fun. I did play an acoustic-ish part on "Give Us Clean Hands", as I ran my Fender Tele through a Boss AC-2 (an acoustic simulator). If you listen to it even remotely critically you KNOW it's not an acoustic guitar, but the feel is close enough to pass in a pinch.

The Songs:
Let Your Glory Shine - This Lincoln Brewster tune is a full-force rocker. The band LOVES playing this song. We use it as an opener because it's one of those tunes that gets people up and singing and brings a ton of energy into the service right off the bat. The end of the second verse of the song says "Your love won't be shaken / You're taking who I am and making / something out of nothing for Your cause" into the chorus of "Let Your glory shine through me!" What an astounding truth. It reminds me of 2 Cor. 4:7, of how when left to ourselves we are nothing more than fragile, weak, worthless pieces of earth, but we are allowed to carry the all-surpassing power of GOD within our hearts. With this power we are able to shine with His light in a dark age. Seriously, how cool is that?

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee - We followed the traditional melody of this song, but we REALLY pushed the tempo and gave it a hopped-up-pop-rock feel to keep the energy up as came out of the time of worshiping GOD by giving back, financially, what He has blessed us with. Pastor Wise asked to have the worship set move more toward the communion service than the message this week. "Let Your Glory Shine" was a great way to focus on that. It's a song that highlights the power of GOD and the ministry He allows us to participate in. We then move to "Joyful, Joyful...", which again highlights GOD's great power, but moves from it's effect on us to simply marveling at who He is and what He has done in the world around us. It's really a song that celebrates common grace.

You Are So Good to Me - We floated seamlessly into this song from "Joyful, Joyful...". We did a version of this song last month that was much more driven and a little funkier than any version I've ever heard recorded and got a great response from the congregation on it. This Sunday was the perfect time to trot that version back out. As we came out of a song on common grace, we rolled straight into a more focused song that speaks of saving grace. This song tells of what GOD has done in the life of the believer and the love that overflows in our hearts because of the love He first showed us.

Mighty is the Power of the Cross - Musically we did a different take on this one. We kept it very open with lots of space. I ran my electric through a heavy chorus, lots of delay, and added some tremolo for good measure. I just played a slow arpeggiated pattern and the rest of the guys played sparse parts and gave it an ethereal quality. It turned out to be a cool sounding tune. The scripture reading (Isaiah 53:1-11) focused on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the blood shed for my sins. After spending the previous several minutes of the service focused on GOD's power, His boundless grace and love, how that grace and love is poured out in our lives, and the goodness of GOD, it was fitting to bring it all back to the Cross of Jesus Christ. Everything in our lives, good, bad, happy, sad, funny, and tragic, must always come back to the work accomplished on the Cross. It is the focal point of who we are and what we believe. It is where the price for our rebellion was paid once-for-all. Without it, nothing in our lives matters. Without the Cross it doesn't matter whether we are great people who help everyone and pour out the greatest acts of kindess on others or we are, quite literally, the worst person on the face of the earth - without the Cross we end in the same place, Hell. Our communion service is a time to stop and consider the gravity of Christ's sacrifice and to consider if we really believe what his blood accomplished.

Message - Habakkuk 2:2-20

Give Us Clean Hands - I wasn't sure if I had picked the right song as the response this week. Pastor told me he would be speaking on the wickedness of Babylon and how similar their culture was to the culture we live in today. This left me a little unsure what direction to take, but this was definitely a Holy Spirit driven choice. It worked perfectly with the message. The song asks for clean hands, pure hearts, and a love for GOD alone. It's a cry for the strength to be a generation that seeks the face of GOD and lays down the idols that we have raised around us.

That was our Sunday. To see how others congregations around the world worshipped GOD today, you can check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

We Sing Our Theology

2010-09-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

I was talking with a friend of mine a a few weeks back and we got into the topic of congregational worship through song. I was telling him about my thought process in selecting the worship set for that particular week. He asked me if I thought anybody picked up on the thread running through all the songs that week.

It’s an interesting question. Does the congregation grasp the entirety of the service?

We agreed that most people wouldn’t pick up on all the idiosyncrasies of the worship set and the service. Most will catch the obvious connections, but there are always a few more subtle relationships that will be glossed over. I think it’s something that may be difficult to fully comprehend even if you’re looking for it.

At first this was a little disheartening to think about. I mean, I spend a lot of time and effort to make sure that the service flows and the songs follow a logical progression that speaks to the heart of the day’s message and convey Biblical truth. However, as I thought deeper I came to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter if everybody "gets it" or not. The truth is that, whether we intend to or not, we as a congregation sing our theology (I heard a quote to that effect once, maybe it was Martin Luther - I can’t remember). The songs we use to praise GOD, to surrender to Him, and to repent before Him on a given morning are the things that will shape our thought processes.

I’ve read that people are likely to retain, at best, 10% of what they are taught. That means that if people are leaving the service and then talking about what was taught that day then they will be lucky to remember about two-and-a-half minutes worth of information (based on a 25 minute sermon). Even if this much is retained, how many people do you know who walk around quoting their favorite 150 seconds of last week’s sermon? On the other hand, how many times have you found yourself walking around still singing the songs from Sunday morning on Wednesday afternoon?

The point is that people are more likely to walk out of the service humming a chorus of one of the worship songs than repeating lines of the sermon.

(NOTE - There’s a whole other related topic about not inflating the importance of the music in the Sunday service. I think that’s important to note, but I won’t get into it here.)

Music is an interesting study in that it’s one of two things that everybody likes (food being the other). We all have our own taste in music, but you will never find anybody who flat out doesn’t like music of any kind. So the songs that we sing on a Sunday morning are more likely to run through peoples’ heads during the week. This being the case I, as a worship leader, have a great responsibility to take time and reflect on what theology I am leading people into. Our worship sets can’t be about the songs I like to sing, the newest music on the radio, or even a catchy melody. None of those things are bad and I think it’s important for those things to play into our musical selection, but they have to come AFTER sound theology.

A musically well-crafted worship set that does not speak pure Biblical truth is a waste of time and energy. Not to mention the fact that it can even draw the ire of GOD. In Amos 5:21-27, we see a people who worship GOD with their lips, but are devoid of knowledge of and surrender to who He is. It is because of this empty lip-service that they are left without GOD's presence. What GOD desires is not a perfect song transition, or beautiful four-part harmony, or wailing guitar solos, what GOD desires is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). Once again, the focus of our worship of GOD through song must begin and end with theologically sound, exaltation of who GOD is, what He's done in our lives, and our proper response to Him.

So where do we go from here:

For me (and for worship leaders everywhere) – I must dig deep. I can’t settle for a worship set that simply sounds good and that I think is fun and energetic. I must constantly seek to lead the congregation, challenge them, push them to worship with rich theology. This may, at times, go against my personal preferences, but the highest importance must be in the function of our songs and the purpose of our praise. Our worship is not displayed for our own pleasure, but for the pleasure of our GOD and King.

For you – Take some time this Sunday to think about what you’re singing. Not just the song you’re in the middle of, but the songs that came before. How does the GOD who created the heavens and the earth and you, the GOD who sacrificed His Son for you, the GOD who works all things for His good pleasure accomplish all you’ve sung about? How do His characteristics manifest themselves in all the songs? This might mean you close your mouth and instead of singing a verse and chorus of one song you meditate on the words your brothers and sisters are singing.

Your personal worship will radically changed when you grasp the fullness of who GOD is and way tat plays out in the worship of the corporate gathering.

Reading List

2010-08-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I just wanted to take a few minutes and walk you through my reading list (look on the lower right-hand part of your screen... go ahead, I'll wait... you may have to scroll down a little but you'll get there). Now that you've taken the time to read the list you'll find that that was completely pointless because I'm going to list them all again. Thanks for doing what I ask anyway. I appreciate it. Anyway, on to what I've been reading.

RECENT READS:

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller - First off, I think Don Miller is a fantastic writer. There is something very subtle in his style that makes it conversational while still being able to make a point. It's a much harder balance to strike than most people realize.  Don is also thought provoking. I never read any of his stuff without walking away and taking a hard look at where I am in my journey of faith. I think if Don and I were to sit down and have a deep theological discussion we would have very different views on more than a few issues, but I know I would leave that discussion with a great respect for his opinion and the seriousness with which he approaches his own examination of the scriptures and their application to his life.

Stuff Christians Like - Jonathan Acuff - This is one of those books that I can't say I learned anything from, but I enjoyed it anyway. The basic premiss of the book is to make fun of some of the stuff Christians make into borderline-doctrine. It jabs at the little stuff we do without having any real knowledge of why we do them. You have to be able to read it without taking it personally. It's like when your best friend calls you "donkey".  Come on, it's funny.

Seven Storey Mountain - Thomas Merton - I love Merton.  Everything he writes is brilliant.  His book "New Seeds of Contemplation" is one of my all-time favorite reads.  Having read many of his other works made this one that much more interesting. It's his autobiography of his journey to faith. He is VERY detailed. It's a long book. To be perfectly honest, I loved reading it, but there was about 1/5 of the book (the 4th 5th to be exact) that I struggled with simply because I was ready to move on to something else. Like I said he's very detailed, it's all really good, but if I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read half of it then put it away for a few months and come back to finish it.

Practice and Presence of GOD - Brother Lawrence - The book is actually a series of letters written my Brother Lawrence on how he lives his daily life in the presence of GOD. It's an intriguing look at how to see our service to Christ through the most mundane of daily tasks.

CURRENTLY READING

Sermons on the Cross - Charles H. Spurgeon - Spurgeon is one of my favorite church-history-personalities ever. If you want to study what the Church SHOULD be then read up on the London Metropolitan Tabernacle during the 1850's. Phenomenal story of a local church looking after "the least of these" when everyone else who could had turned their backs. As far as Spurgeon himself goes, he LOVED his cigars. A woman once asked him when he would give up his "filthy habit", he responded, "I'll quit smoking when I have done it to excess". The woman asked when that would be and Spurgeon said, "When I am smoking two at a time." Anyway, this book is a collection of 13 sermons that focus on crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Powerful stuff. Even reading the sermons brings an understanding of why Spurgeon was called the "Prince of Preachers", I can only imagine what it would have been like to hear him!

Theology You Can Count On - Tony Evans - I've actually been working my way through this book for about a year. It is essentially a systematic theology textbook, but is much more "readable" than a textbook. There are 116 chapters that are each about 10 pages long and feature some excellent review and reflection questions at the end of each,  so it is a lot of reading. I try to pick it up in sections and read a chapter a day for a week or two in order to finish one topic, then I put the book away for a while and come back to the next section later. It's drawn the book out but has kept my interest fresh. I think this should be required reading of every Christian. It walks through the entirety of biblical line of thinking. Everything from the characteristics of GOD to what angels and demons are to what salvation means. Honestly, if you don't know what you believe you will never be able to defend your faith. If you read only one other book besides the Bible I would recommend you land here.

What are you reading?

Sunday Setlist / 8.29.10

2010-08-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Every fifth Sunday at Highland Community Church we have a "combined" service. This is a chance for both first and second service to come together and worship together. It gets a little cramped in the sanctuary and we're always happy to be bringing in more chairs, it's a really cool service.

On my end of things there's little to do. Chris Woods, our Worship Team Director on staff at HCC who leads worship for the second service, plans the worship service and we mix members of the first and second service worship teams.

Here's what the service looked like:

Welcome
   Lord, I lift Your Name on High
   Let Everything that Has Breath
   In Christ Alone
   As the Deer
Offering
Special Music - Shelli Robison)
Scripture Reading
Message (Habakkuk 1:12-2:1)
Response (Special Music from Shelli Robison)
Dismiss

Worship Team
Chris Woods - Piano/Vocals
Jonathan David Eckberg - Guitar/Vocals
Tim McDaniel - Drum
Dave Neighbors - Guitar/Vocals
Joe Szoke - Bass
Shelli Robison - Vocals

To see what's going on in churches around the country visit the Sunday Setlist at theworshipcommunity.com.

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know...

2010-08-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

The great, and sometimes controversial, Swiss theologian Karl Barth was once confronted by a reporter who asked him for a brief synopsis of his twelve-volume commentary on church doctrines (his unfinished work covered over 6-million words at the time of his death in 1968) . In all profoundity, the great philosopher replied, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

If you were raised in church or have ever been to church or have ever been near a church, you proabably learned that song. You can probably sing the rest of it without even thinking. And yet, it is one of the most difficult truths for many of us to accept.

As I think about it now I realize that as I have attempted to grow and mature in my faith I have sometimes drifted away from this simple truth. I've come to understand a lot of what the Bible teaches, I have a great deal of information in my head, I understand general and specific revelation, I've studied the positions of millenialism, I know all about the Calvinist-Arminian debate, I can tell you about double impartation. From this knowledge I understand my failings as a human being. I know that I was a slave to sin, that I was headed for certain death, but that the blood of Jesus Christ paid the ransom that I could never achieve. I know that He was the sacrifice that met the need that the blood of rams and bulls could never accomplish. But all this head knowledge means absolutely nothing without the understanding of "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

My problem is not that I don't belive those three short phrases, my problem is that I often refuse to allow them to stand on their own. I am a pharisee.

Let me explain. I believe that Jesus loves me, but I also know that because of His love for me my only proper response is to love and obey Him. This leads me to add a lot of "if", "as long as", and "when" statements to "Jesus loves me..." Although it is the acceptance of His love that yeilds the fruits of obedience, I get this backwards and I find myself working to gain his love. "If I read my Bible today, GOD will be pleased", "As long as I sing praise songs GOD will love me", or "When I pray then GOD will take care of me". This is a logical line of thought. It's so logical that it is how every other religion in the world basis their theology. If you are good and do right then you will have a better place in heaven, or you will be reincarnated to a better position, or you'll be closer to GOD. The problem in this line of thought is that it requires me to take care of myself, to clean myself up, to make myself righteous in order to gain the love and acceptance of the perfect creator, GOD. This never works. When we attempt to clean up our own mess all we end up doing in smearing it into the cracks - it's like trying to clean your kitchen floor with a dirty paper towel.

The point is not that I shouldn't read my Bible, or sing worship songs, pray, or try to be a better person, the point is that these things aren't the basis for GOD's love for me.

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." This is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world. The work is done. Christ's blood is shed. My salvation is secure. None of this is by my being good enough to warrent GOD's love, but because GOD's love is enough to conquer death and sin.

When I find myself knee-deep in my self-imposed, works-based theology I have to pull myself back to the simplest of GOD's Truth. I come back to the twelve words that remind me the work is done and that I am made righteous through Christ. I sing what Karl Barth says encapsulates the entire Word of GOD:

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so..."

Sunday Setlist / 8.22.10

2010-08-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

Here’s what was going on today at Highland Community Church during the nine o’clock hour:

Praise to the LORD the Almighty (D-E) [Neander]

Scripture Reading - Isaiah 41:1-10

Message – Habakkuk 1:5-11

Let My Words be Few (Gb) [Redman]

I Stand in Awe of You (Gb) [Altrogge]

Our Great GOD (Eb) [Ortega/Powell]

Let Your Kingdom Reign (Eb) [Brown/Brock]

Offering

Amazing Things (G) [Eckberg]

Announcements

Dismiss

Worship Team:

Jonathan David Eckberg – Guitar/Vocals

NOTES:

This was a busy week for me. My full-time job is as a cross-country and track coach at Greenville College (right down the road from Highland) and this week was the start of our season. All the athletes were moving in and then we all headed out of town for a few days of team bonding, training, preparation, etc. All of that to say, we were not able to practice as a band this week. So I thought that instead of us trying to throw things together, having to pick songs that we know but don’t go with the message as well, or just HOPING things work out well that I would take this week solo and do something a little different with the service. The timing really worked out well as the guys on the worship team had played the last several weeks straight so it was nice for them to have a week to relax, not have to worry about practice, and just enjoy being in the service as a part of the congregation. I think it’s important for that to happen once in a while, it gives people a chance to breathe and sit back and really take in what GOD is doing during the mornings while they are usually on stage. It also offers a different perspective on the role GOD allows you to play in the service when you see how the people of GOD are responding from in the middle of it – and this is constantly changing as people join the church, move away, struggle through hard times, and rejoice in victories TOGETHER.

Praise to the LORD the Almighty - We turned the lights most of the way down about 10 minutes before the service started and put the passage from today’s scripture reading (Isaiah 41:1-10) up on the screen as people walked in. It gave a meditative mood to the moments leading up to the service. Then I played the song in the standard arrangement. I built up from a light finger-picked pattern in the first verse to a heavy strum pattern with a key change (move from D to E) in the fourth verse. It gave a consistent build from start to finish. The only thing I did differently was to give a longer than normal intro to allow people a little extra time to read the scripture.

Message – Pastor Wise’s message focused on GOD’s response to Habakkuk in chapter 1. The point of the message was how great and awesome our GOD is and how we should never cease to be in awe of Him and all His works even when (especially when) we don't see or feel or understand them.

Let My Words be Few – I did a standard arrangement of the song as well. As soon as Pastor told me the gist of his message I knew this was the song that would follow the sermon. I love that this song essentially says, “Shut up and realize how awesome GOD is!” I’m a guy who does a lot of talking with GOD, I try to work out deals with him all the time, so for me, this is a perfect reminder that sometimes (let’s be honest, probably all the time) I need to forget what I want to see accomplished, think about the GOD I serve, do what he calls me to and let Him take care of the outcome through His power. GREAT SONG.

I Stand in Awe of You – This is the old standard from the late 80’s but the chorus was a wonderful fit for today. It’s so simply but so powerful – “I stand, I stand in awe of You – I stand, I stand in awe of You – Holy GOD to whom all praise is due – I stand in awe of You”. I came out of Let My Words be Few by repeating the chorus and then ran straight into the chorus of this song. We sang the chorus twice and repeated a third time a capella (the third time gave me time to throw my capo on for Our Great GOD without the awkward silence and string noise of stopping one song-changing capo-starting the next).

Our Great GOD – Another straightforward arrangement (I don’t feel like you can do anything too funky with a guitar/vocal arrangement without losing the congregation or just looking like you’re trying to show off – which also loses the congregation). I made a seamless transition from "I Stand in Awe of You" to this one. It was great to keep with the theme of the day but move off of our awe of GOD to the reason for that awe. I classify Our Great GOD as a modern hymn. It is so rich in theology and yet the chorus brings you back to “Hallelujah! Glory be to our great GOD!”. I LOVE singing this song.

Let Your Kingdom Reign – This is a “tag” type of song by Elevation Worship (Elevation Church - Charlotte, NC). It’s really just a chorus that is sung over and over again. The words are “GOD let Your kingdom reign – GOD let Your kingdom reign – Let all the earth proclaim – GOD, on the earth, let Your kingdom reign”. So for us we move from our awe of GOD to the greatness and power of his Name into a prayer for His good and perfect will to take over and to see His kingdom reign in our world.

Amazing Things – We introduced this song last week, it fit with this weeks overall theme as well. It was an extremely low key morning, which was a fun change from normal, but it was nice to pep things up a little bit with this last song before sending people out into their fields of ministry. I did tame the song down a little bit from last week, but that was for the fact that it was just me playing today, plus I didn’t want to overdo the transition from a relaxed set to a higher energy song.

To see what’s going on in churches across the country check out the Sunday Setlist at the worshipcommunity.com.

Tony Robbins and My Idols

2010-08-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have to admit it. I recently got hooked on Tony Robbins' tv show "Breakthrough".

Robbins has always been a really interesting guy to me. One could argue that no one in the past 30 years has been more influential on American culture than Tony Robbins. The guy was a multi-millionaire by the age of 24. Has been a personal advisor to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Hugh Jackman, Quincy Jones, Jeff Arch (screenwriter, Sleepless in Seattle), Brett Ratner (movie director), Pat Riley (Hall of Fame NBA Coach), Andre Aggasi, Stephen Covey (author, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), among many, many others. He sells out arenas for his seminars on business, leadership, and life-change. He has written numerous best-selling books and produced countless audio seminars and dvd's. He has been appointed to international committees for peace and negotiations. His "Basket Brigade" charity feeds over 3 million people in 56 countries every year (this in addition to his other programs that have helped in excess of 2,000 schools, 700 prisons, and 100,000 charities and service organization worldwide). Plus, the guy is absolutely brilliant in the areas of psychology and philosophy, which is what makes him such a dynamic speaker, advisor, and life-coach. I think when you look at the breadth of his impact you see how those he has worked with have gone on to influence/entertain/coach so many thousands of other people. It's quite astonishing.

I'm struck as I watch his tv show at the Biblical truth that is conveyed through his interventions with the individuals on the program. Now, the core of Robbins message is not one of Christian docrine, as the man claims to draw religious knowledge and guidence from all walks of faith. However, as a Christian, I can't help but acknowledge the Biblical truth that is revealed through the show.

What Tony comes back to, without fail, in every episode is idolatry. You see, in his shows the people he helps are always hindered by one thing, it's something they can't let go of, something that relentlessly dwells in their thoughts, something that has happened that they have placed ahead of everything else in life. It's one thing that interferes with their ability to live a full, abundant life.

I don't think any of these people, even Tony, would recognize it as such, but the problem is always idolatry. This is the same in our lives. We wouldn't necessarily call ourselves idolators, I mean, we're not running home to worship a molded golden cow, made from our old jewelry, that's enshrined in our living room, but at some point we are all idolatrous. I've heard it taught that the things we think of the most, the things we depend on for our happiness, the things we seek for security, the things we don't think we can live without are the things we most treasure. That which we treasure is that which we worship. That which we worship is our god.

I've had to do a lot of thinking on that recently as I've come to realize what I tend to allow to become my gods. Often it is music or music related, other times it's relationships, still at other times it's money. I promise the one true GOD that I'll do whatever he wants... as long as I still get to play music. I'll go wherever He calls me... as long as it leads me to my wife. I'll give up everything... as long as I can still make enough money to be comfortable. Those conditions I place on my obedience show where my heart's affections truly lie. I DO love GOD, but sometimes I love other things a little more. It's a difficult thing to face your idols. It's even more difficult to let them go. Our nature is to seek and preserve our own comfort and well-being. I think sometimes we miss out on GOD's comfort and some amazing life changes because we refuse to totally let go of what WE think is best. I'm stuggling with that now. How does one pursue the gifts GOD has given (whether that's talents, a job we enjoy, a solid income, relationships, etc.) and do so with great fervor, while still totally surrendering them to Him? How do we overcome our idols?

I have heard Pastor J.D. Greear (Summit Church - Raleigh-Durham, NC) teach on idols and I keep coming back to what he said the key to overcoming idolatry is this: Be captured by a vision of the beauty of the ONE TRUE GOD. The fact that we have desires that override our desire to please GOD is not because these desires are more beautiful than GOD or lead us to a more fulfilling end, its because we lose our focus on the power and the beauty of the ministry and gospel of Jesus Christ. We allow ourselves to be captivated by momentary gratifications that we know are followed by great emptiness. But if, in those moments of drifting, we flood our thoughts with the vision of who GOD is and of the amazing gift of mercy and grace the life, blood, death, resurrection, and victory of His Son really is then we would have no other desire than to draw close to Him in His glory, in His beauty, and in His majesty. Nothing else compares. All else is rubbish compared to truly knowing GOD (Philippians 3:8).

A vision of the beauty of the one true GOD trumps anything Tony Robbins can ever teach you. Guaranteed.

What do you think?

Sunday Setlist / 8.15.10

2010-08-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

The weekend's Sunday Setlist for the 9am service at Highland Community Church looked a little like this:

Amazing Things (Eckberg)
   Welcome & Announcements
   Offering
   Scripture Reading
O Praise Him (Crowder)
You Never Let Go (Redman)
How Great is Our GOD (Tomlin)
   Message - Habakkuk 1:1-4
Amazing Things (Eckberg)

Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Tim McDaniel - drums
Aaron McDaniel - electric guitar
Joe Szoke - bass

I have to admit, when I saw that Pastor Wise was going to teach from Habakkuk I was slightly concerned. Although I've read the book a number of times I could not tell you anything specific about it off the top of my head. I remembered he was a minor prophet, so bad things happen to Israel, they complain, GOD punishes then restores the nation of Israel (that's pretty much my blanket explanation for any/all the books of the prophets). So, I thought it would be a good idea to study up on the book of Habakkuk before I started worrying about the worship sets. As I read through the book the song "Amazing Things" just fell out. It took all of about 15 minutes to write and it seemed like a good flow for the first week of our series. So the band spent considerable time this past week learning parts and transitions and it came together well.

Amazing Things - the lyrics are taken straight out of Habakkuk and follows the book's progressions of "Habakkuk complains, GOD answers, Habakkuk complains, GOD answers, Habakkuk rejoices and worships". We played it as the opener/call to worship, because people didn't know it (obviously). This gave them a chance to listen and pick up on it, which they did as it's a very simple chorus.

O Praise Him - we keep this one pretty straight from the Crowder version. I cut out all the "oh la la la la la la" parts and condense the song a little. I always feel like that whole part of the song loses the congregation so I avoid it every chance I get.

You Never Let Go - kept with the theme of the day - GOD answering in our time of question/frustration. This is another song we do pretty straight forward.

How Great is Our GOD - the GOD that continues to answer us and lift us up when we need it most is indeed a great GOD. I could sing the chorus to this song ALL DAY LONG. We sing the last chorus of You Never Let Go almost a cappella (there's a little light acoustic guitar to keep us on track) and we roll straight from "LORD, You never let go of me" to "The splendor of our King/Clothed in majesty". It's an absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring thought that the the King of Splendor is the GOD who never lets go of me. I love it. This is a very theatrical song for us (the lyrics lend it to that), we start low and we build to a rock-anthem high before we drop out the we come back in heavy for a couple choruses at the end before doing the a cappella chorus to end. A little over the top? Maybe, but it works.

Amazing Things - again this fit perfectly with the sermon because that's the reason it was written, so we reprised it as the response song. Normally our response song is a slow, reflective song, but we went a different route because of the fit of the lyrics and the sermon.

-jde

AMAZING THINGS

V1:

How long? How long?

Will You let injustice rise and triumph over me?

How long? How long?

Will we see the wicked rise and reign abundantly?

Then You say, You say...

CH:

I will do amazing things
I will be your source of strength

And nothing of the schemes of man

Can ever stand

When I do amazing things

V2:

How long? How long?

Will you rest Your eyes upon the deeds of evil ones?

How long? How long?

Must we wait to hear your voice proclaim salvation’s come?

Then You say, You say...

Bridge:

LORD, we know Your fame

We stand in awe of Your works and Your name.

LORD, we shout Your fame

We stand in awe of Your works and Your name.

May Your glory cover over all our shame.

CH2:

You have done amazing things.

You have been our source of strength

Nothing of the schemes of man

Can ever stand

For you have done amazing things.

Until We're Kings - "Heirs"

2010-08-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

I was extremely excited to get my hands on the final mixes of the new Until We're Kings worship EP, "Heirs" yesterday. It's been a four month process from the start of recording to where we are now.

For those who are not familiar with Until We're Kings (which is 99.9% of you), here's a little background: It's a worship project I was fortunate to be a part of with my buddy Jordan Muck, who is the Associate/Youth Pastor at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN. Jordan and I had a few songs laying around and we worked up a couple new ones together and decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and throw them down for posterity-sake. Jordan called in his college roommate Justin Long, who now works out of Washington, D.C., to come to southern Illinois for a week in late March to produce the songs for us. We then enlisted the help of Cory Done to play percussion. Cory played with us on the worship team at Highland Community Church, so he was an easy pick (the dude is a fantastic musician, he's like a machine on the drums). On top of that we convinced Jordan's wife, Bethany, to help us out by laying down some vocals, which was crazy impressive as she was like 6+ months pregnant at the time. Once the songs got back to DC we got even more vocal help from Anna Long and Jessica Long.

We spent a solid week doing basic tracking and vocals. Then Justin took the tracks back to the Powder Mill (his studio in DC) and cleaned them up by adding some more piano/synth/bass/vocal/etc. parts to the songs. That was followed by Justin and I passing tracks back and forth over the internet for me to put some finishing touches on some guitars, piano, and vocal tracks at Papa's Place Studio (Erie, IL). Now he has finished with the mixing process.

Next step for us is to have the mastering done by Mike Kalajian (30/30 Club Studio) and the actual production of the disc and we should be ready to roll this puppy out. Our goal is to have the physical copies of this 6-song EP ready for sale by October 1, with digital copies available on iTunes soon after.

In honor of the impending release here is a video of me leading worship through the title track of the "Heirs" EP. Enjoy.

Until We're Kings.

-jde

Sunday Setlist / 8.8.10

2010-08-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

This is my first post on the Sunday Setlist. I have found this grouping of worship leaders and service orders to be an invaluable tool in my own construction of worship sets. It's always a tremendous encouragement to see what my brothers and sisters are doing around the country and how the Spirit moves in so many different ways, but moves powerfully in all of them. So, I thought it was only fair that I add my two cents. Here goes:

I Have Decided (S.Sundar Singh) [C]
   Welcome & Announcements
   Offering
Let Everything That Has Breath (Matt Redman) [E]
Come Thou Fount (Robert Robinson) [E]
Take My Life and Let it Be (Frances R. Havergal) [G]
   Scripture Reading - II Cor. 5:17-21
   Message
GOD of Justice (Tim Hughes) [E]

Worship Band:
Jonathan David Eckberg - Acoustic Guitar/Vocals
Tim McDaniel - Drums
Aaron McDaniel - Electric Guitar
Joe Szoke - Bass

Guest Teacher:
Jason Reichert

Notes: This Sunday Pastor Larry Wise was on vacation so we had Jason in to teach. He taught on our reconciliation to Christ and how that effects our ministry to those around us. It was a wonderful call for each of us to fulfill our duties of evangelism and discipleship. As a result of pastor being gone our band led worship for both services. This was a great experience as we did both services exactly the same. In planning I tried to put as much cross-over as possible which made the first service a little more traditional than normal and rocked out the second service more than they are accustomed to. The band has been the same set up for the past month or so, which is the first time we've ever had that amount of consistency in the lineup. This is not by choice, as we've lost several members of our worship team over the summer due to job changes and relocations. It has been difficult to deal with losing some really talented folks, but the guys in the band have stepped up and have really come through. I can't say enough good things about the talents and hearts of Tim, Aaron, and Joe.

I Have Decided - This is the traditional song, but it's a very rocked out version. You will soon be able to hear a recording of it on the worship EP called, "Heirs" by Until We're Kings. I think it will be released late in the fall, but no official word on that yet.

Let Everything That Has Breath - This is a song that both services are comfortable with so it was easy to throw in there. We push the Tempo on this one a little and give it a solid rock feel in our arragnement.

Come Thou Found - We made a seamless transition from LETHB in to Come Thou Fount. Coming into it from a more uptempo tune lent this one to more of a soulful-bluesy vibe. I love singing of the praise of GOD in LETHB into the blessings of GOD in Come Thou Fount. It's a really natural flow.

Take My Life - The message in this song ran in line with what Jason was teaching. It's a tune about submission and offering all that we have for all that we are called to.

GOD of Justice - I led this one with just the acoustic. It was a fitting response song to the message. This is one of my favorite worship tunes. The chorus us "Move us into action / Keep us from just singing / We must go" is absolutely perfect. for myself it's crazy easy to sit and sing songs and live my life the way I think I need to. It gets real tough when I start to think about the time, even in this past week, when I failed to go.

That was long. I apologize. I'll try to be more succinct in the future.

-jde