Sunday Setlist / 6.10.12

Want to know about the Sunday service at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN? Here ya go...

THE SERVICE

Great is the Lord [Chris Brown]

       Announcements

       Offering

Our Great GOD [Casey Darnell]

All My Life [Libby Huirua / Mark De Jong / Wayne Huirua]

GOD of Justice [Tim Hughes]

       Message

The Church [Chris Brown / Mack Brock]

       Dismiss

Our Great GOD (Reprise)

THE TEAM

Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocal

Nick Hostetler - drums

Marc Hyde - bass

Beth Stemble - piano

Jess Yoder - vocal

Alli Hutchens - vocal

Cyndi Leamon - vocal

Sunday Setlist / 6.3.12

Here's how the morning went down at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN...

THE SERVICE

Our Great GOD [Casey Darnell]
     Video Announcements
     Missions Update & Offering
Forever [Chris Tomlin]
You Never Let Go [Matt Redman]
It Is Well With My Soul [Horatio Spafford]
     Message
Overcome [Jon Egan]
     Dismiss
Our Great GOD (Reprise)


THE TEAM

Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Beth Stemble - piano
Nick Hostetler - drums
Marc Hyde - bass
Alli Hutchens - vocals
Cyndi Leamon - vocals


THE NOTES

Pastor Jordan was on vacation this week so we had a guest speaker fill our pulpit. Brandon Addison grew up in CGC and recently finished his seminary degree in California. Brandon shared an overview of the book of Ecclesiastes and focused on the fact that life according to the world is meaningless, as Solomon laments throughout the book, but life according to Christ is meaningful. It is only through our salvation in Christ that we can find any lasting peace in this life and move past the absurdity of this world.

With this in mind, our worship set focused on the eternity of our GOD. That because he is the GOD who reigns forever that we can always find our hope and peace in who He is and what He has done. It is through Christ and Christ alone that we may overcome the misery and aimlessness of what this life appears to offer.


THE SONGS


Our Great GOD - This is a new song, so we opened the service with it so that people would have a chance to hear it. We also closed the service with it to put it in people's ears one more time. We have actually played it as house music (from the CD) a few times over the past months so I think it felt a little familiar to a lot of people. I love the song and the message of the greatness and majesty of God. I've wanted to introduce it for a while, but haven't had the right time where it fit where we were going. Alli sang lead on this song because the lead guitar parts have an odd timing that I can't seem to make my fingers play while singing something else. It's always nice to have that flexibility within our team. Casey Darnell is a fantastic songwriter and worship leader. He's part of the team at Northpoint and his last album is a phenomenal album of corporate worship songs. I highly recommend checking out his stuff.
[album: Coming Alive - Casey Darnell]

Forever - In looking at the "big picture" of Ecclesiastes is seems to point to the fact that GOD reigns through all circumstances. A life lived apart from the will of GOD is a life lived in vanity, as Solomon says. Fortunately for the believer GOD is forever faithful, strong, and with us.
[album: The Noise We Make - Chris Tomlin]

You Never Let Go - The GOD who created the heavens and the earth, the GOD who reigns for all eternity, also covers us in his grace. As Paul prays over the thorn in his flesh in 2 Corinthians 12 he hears from the LORD, "My grace is sufficient for you." GOD's grace never let's us go. His peace and calms us through all the storms and struggle of this life and gives us meaning to our existence.
[album: Beautiful News - Matt Redman]

It Is Well With My Soul - This is maybe my all-time favorite hymn. In regards to the service it continued the thought of GOD's reign and our rest within it. As GOD's love and majesty exists throughout all of history and he remains sovereign over all we can rest in the knowledge that he maintains his mercy and justice over us. With this in mind we can find in him our comfort in every situation.
[Album: Ebenezar: A Collection of Hymns - Dave Hunt]

Overcome - Perfect ending to our service. The whole idea that Christ has already overcome Satan and our eternal standing is secure when we stand in light of that truth is phenomenal. Ecclesiastes walks through Solomon's struggle with materialism and a final resting in the justice of GOD, not in the thoughts and justice of our hearts and minds.
[album: Everyone Overcome - Desperation Band]


To see the ways that other brothers and sisters worshipped in song this week you can check out the sunday setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 5.13.12

Here's a look at how Community Gospel Church celebrated Mother's Day together...

SERVICE

Counting On GOD

     Welcome & Announcements

     Welcoming of New Members & Child Dedication
     Offering

Marvelous Light [Charlie Hall]

GOD of Wonders [Marc Byrd/Steve Hindalong]

Let Us Shine [Jonathan Eckberg]

Mighty to Save (bridge only) [Ben Fielding/Reuben Morgan]

     Message

     Dismiss / Presentation of Roses

TEAM

Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals

Beth Stemble - keys

Nick Hostetler - drums

Randy Hepler - bass

Cyndi Leamon - vocals

Alli Hutchens - vocals
Dale Graham - audio

Brent Wiseman - visual

NOTES

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but we had an awesome day at CGC. So much cool stuff is happening at our church right now. Yesterdays morning we inducted 21 new members to our church family and did 9 child dedications. This comes on the heals of conducting 16 baptisms on March 11. On top of that we've got a few other big things that are coming in the next few month. This church is seeing GOD move in some incredible ways. He is awakening hearts and calling His church to action and the people of CGC are responding. I cannot tell you how excited I am for what GOD's going to do in this community over the next year, 5-years, 20-years, and on!

As for the message this week, we continued our study of 1 John 1. This week we looked at "Getting Back to the Fundamentals" in 1 John 1:5-7. In these verses John is talking about walking in the light and remaining true to our claim that we are in the light.

As we closed the service we had roses to give to all the women of our church in honor of Mother's Day.

SONGS

Counting On GOD - Our opener this week is such a fun song about the dependence of God and the joy that accompanies knowing that no matter what comes along He give enough strength for the day. I have been playing this song for years, but it's not one that I see moving out of the rotation anytime soon.
[album - Overcome - Desperation Band]

Marvelous Light - We kicked off the mains set with this song. It seemed like an obvious choice for a message about walking and remaining in the light. "Into marvelous light I'm running/out of darkness out of shame". Enough said.
[album - Flying into Daybreak - Charlie Hall]

GOD of Wonders - As we come to know the light and walk in that light I think our response must be an acknowledgment of all that GOD is and all that GOD does. This "standard" worship tune gets to that point. With the opening lines, "early in the morning/I will celebrate the light" it fit into the theme of walking in the light and coming out of darkness well. In retrospect, I probably could have (maybe should have) switched the order of these two songs. I think in terms of walking through the message of the morning this song should have been first and it should have been followed by Marvelous Light, but musically it made much more sense to flow from GOD of Wonders into the next song. I went back and forth with this for a while, but in the end I thought the message flowed well enough to make it justifiable. That's one of those areas that can, from time to time, create some tension for me: finding the balance between music and message. The message always comes first, but this seemed to be a situation where that could go either way, so my final decision came down to one of musicality.
[album - In the Company of Angels - Caedmon's Call]

Let Us Shine - I wrote this song as part of our 1P29C (1 Peter 2:9 Christian) series in Jan/Feb. It was a great fit for this mornings message. It talks about remaining in the light and being a representation of the true light as we walk through the world. I particularly like how the song ties together our churches vision statement ("to make Christ known near and far") in the second verse to the action of the chorus, "let us shine/we will overcome the darkness/by the light of Your great love // let us shine/be Your hope among the broken/be the light of Your great love". I always think of Exodus 34:29-35 when I sing this song. I think about how Moses encounters GOD and he leaves with his face shining. He has no control over it. GOD leaves his mark and everyone knows, without a doubt, who Moses serves. I hope my face shines.

Mighty to Save - Coming out of "Let Us Shine" we went straight to the bridge of this one, "shine your light and let the world see/we're singing for the glory of the risen king", and sang it a few times as a closing chorus-style refrain.
[album - Mighty to Save - Hillsong Live]


That's how we worshipped yesterday. To see how others worship and what songs our brothers and sisters are singing in other churches check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 4.1.12

Here's how we roll at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN:

SERVICE

The Intercession [Jordan Muck/Jonathan Eckberg]

         Welcome & Announcements

         Offering

Everlasting God [Brenton Brown/Ken Riley]

Holy is the Lord [Chris Tomlin/Louie Giglio]

Overcome [John Egan]

          Message

The Intercession [Muck/Eckberg]

THE TEAM

Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals

Nick Hostetler - drums

Beth Stemble - keys

Randy Hepler - bass

Tim Heckaman - vocals

Kevin Schmidt - audio

Vance Csaszar - visual 

NOTES

This week was the second in our series "The 'I AM' in Isaiah", a study of Isaiah 53.  In this series we are looking at the prophecies of the work and crucifixion of Jesus in the suffering servant of Isaiah.  It's  a great study as we lead toward Easter Sunday and the celebration of the redemptive work of our Savior.  This week focused on the price Christ paid in taking on the weight of internal sin, external sin, and the fallen world around us.  To hear this message along with last week's introduction to the series click here. 

Our team was unique this week.  It was Nick's first week on drums for us.  It's been great to work with him and bring him into the fold of our ministry.  He's a great drummer with an awesome heart for what's happening at CGC.  It brings me great joy to have a beat back in our worship!  We also had Tim step in and sing with us and he did an awesome job as well.  All three of our vocalists were out this week (two on family vacations and one recovering from a surgery earlier in the week).  While we definitely missed them and can't wait to have them back next week, it was a great opportunity for Tim to get involved in what we are doing on Sunday mornings.

SONGS

The Intercession - The song was written for this series and all the lyrics are based off the verses of Isaiah 53.  Pastor Jordan actually put together a majority of this song as he was preparing the messages several weeks back.  Then we spent a morning working through the material he had and rounding the song into shape.  Finally I spent a couple weeks fine-tuning thing.  It has turned out to be a really interesting song.  There are a lot of intertwining parts that keep it together from start to finish.  Pastor Jordan did a great job with the foundations of this one.  We played this one twice today.  We did it once as the opener - to give people a feel for the song and let them hear it.  Then we used it as the response to the message.  In the response time I started with the chorus so the congregation would know what was coming and then we kicked off the song.

Everlasting God - We used this one as the opener to our main worship set.  I always enjoy this song.  The theme of our God being one who is with us in all things and our defender in our hours of need made sense with today's message.  The God who provides redemption for his sheep never leaves them to the dangers of the world.
[album: Everlasting GOD - Brenton Brown]

Holy is the Lord - Another "standard" worship song that fell in line with today's theme.  As I studied the verse of Isaiah 53 I was struck by the fact that only in acknowledging the holiness - the perfect nature that is all together separate from the fallen world - of God can the true weight of Christ's taking on of my iniquities (Isa. 53:4) come into perspective.
[album: Arriving - Chris Tomlin]

Overcome - This song by the Desperation Band has become one of my favorites over the past few years.  The bridge kicks my butt everytime (from Rev. 12:11), "And we will overcome // By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony // Everyone overcome".  A tremendous anthem of how, when we surrender ourselves to the Holy GOD, we will be victorious over sin and death and all of Satan's power.  Victory won by the the blood of the lamb and we are strengthened to stand against the Accuser when we acknowledge who Christ is and the meaning of His sacrifice.
[album: Everyone Overcome - Desperation Band]


To see the songs used in worship by our brothers and sisters from all over the place, check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 11.14.10

***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/.