Here's how we got down at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN this week...
SERVICE
Great is the Lord (Chris Brown)
Welcome & Victory
Offering
All Creatures of Our God and King (St Francis of Assisi / Henry Draper)
Forever Reign (Jason Ingram / Reuben Morgan)
Backbone (Jonathan David Eckberg)
Message: Checkmate
Week 2 - Romans 2:
Give us Clean Hands (Charlie Hall)
Holy Nation (Jordan Muck / Jonathan David Eckberg)
Dismiss
TEAM
Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals/percussion
Randy Hepler - bass
Cyndi Leamon - vocals
Jess Yoder - vocals
Jeff Hutchens - media
Kevin Schmidt - audio
Showing posts with label Elevation Worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elevation Worship. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Sunday, June 17, 2012
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
Monday, May 7, 2012
Sunday Setlist / 5.6.12
Check out the 10:10 am service at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN:
THE SERVICE
Children of Your Promise [Jonathan Eckberg]
Welcome & Announcements / Offering
Holy Nation [Jordan Muck/Jonathan Eckberg]
Heirs [Muck/Eckberg]
Let Your Kingdom Reign [Chris Brown/Mack Brock]
Message
The Intercession [Muck/Eckberg]
Dismiss
Children of Your Promise [Eckberg]
THE TEAM
Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocal
Beth Stemble - keys
Jordan Muck - bass
Nick Hostetler - drums
Jess Yoder - vocal
Alli Hutchens - vocal
Cyndi Leamon - vocal
Mike Stemble - audio
Vance Csaszar - video
NOTES
This week we took a break from our series on 1 John and welcomed in a guest preacher. Dr Jeff Gill was with us today. Dr Gill is the Dean of Grace Theological Seminary. He was a Senior Pastor for 20 years in the state of Ohio. He is an incredibly gifted speaker who has a wealth of excellent experience to share. I had the privilege of taking a class with Dr Gill last spring and it has been one of the highlights of my seminary experience thus far. All that to say that we were very excited to have him share his biblical wisdom and scriptural insight with us.
Dr Gill spoke on 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 pointing out our roles as ambassadors of Christ. The emphasis was on the fact that an ambassador speaks for the one he represents. The ambassadors life is no longer his own. He went on to teach that we must find our identity and our passion in the message of the great exchange. Musically, we wound up doing a lot of original material this week. As we work towards this more and more with our people I try to set aside one week every two or three months where we do all (or almost all) original music. I think it gives people a good chance to sing and review the truths that have been taught over the past months.
THE SONGS
Children of Your Promise - We introduced this new song on Sunday. It's an upbeat number that draws heavily from Hebrews 10 and 1 John 3. It's a song about our proper response to GOD's movement in our lives. The verses speak to how He constantly at work and showing himself to be just and faithful. The chorus says, "We will be the children of Your promise / We will not give up our faith / We will be soldiers for Your glory / we will not shrink back / We'll never fade away". The bridge section the asks if we have in fact seen GOD move, then how could we ever possibly keep His message to ourselves?
Holy Nation - This song was written for the 1 Peter 2:9 series. When we were in that series we were without a drummer, so this week was the first time it has been worked out with a full band arrangement. It turned out REALLY cool. I used the electric and gave it a Toad the Wet Sprocket-esqu guitar fill to the verses (the more I think about it, the more I think I stole the guitar part from the song "Brother"). Nick gave it a solid grove and Jordan added a nice bass run to the bridge section. I liked this song when we wrote it, but I loved playing it this week.
Heirs - Jordan and I wrote this one for our last EP and have put some good mileage on it. It fit well with the message of the morning as it's a song about GOD's adoption of us and our new standing as co-heirs with Christ. This adoption gives us new life, the old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). This new life offers us a new identity and new passions in the message of our father GOD through the work of Jesus Christ.
[album - Heirs - Until We're Kings]
Let Your Kingdom Reign - I felt like this song had a natural flow from "Heirs" as we sang of our new life as adopted children of GOD and builds off the new passions thru the message of truth. Our passion is that the kingdom of heaven would rule on the earth. GOD's kingdom will reign forever and we must simply do what He has called us to in order to represent that kingdom on earth. We do a lot of Elevation Worship tunes at CGC. In terms of contemporary worship I think you would be hard pressed to find a band that writes more singable and theologically sound material than these guys. That's why I love their stuff - and have for several years. They are musically interesting and skilled and they don't water down the gospel by oversimplifying things. That's what we're striving for in our original material. We want to be artistically accessible but we also want to keep the majesty of the scriptures and the levity of the gospel front-and-center. If you're in need of quality worship material that rocks out pick up their latest live album/dvd, For the Honor.
[album - God With Us - Elevation Worship]
The Intercession - This song fit perfectly with the message of the day (much better than I had even planned) so it was an appropriate response song. It was written for our series on Isaiah 53 and speaks of the message that has been received and our call to worship as a result of Christ being offered as the intercession for our transgressions. The bridge of the song points back to the great exchange (You saw the light of life / and you were satisfied / exchange of death for live / and we were justified) and really drove home Dr Gill's message.
To see how our brothers and sisters in other churches are worshipping you can check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.
THE SERVICE
Children of Your Promise [Jonathan Eckberg]
Welcome & Announcements / Offering
Holy Nation [Jordan Muck/Jonathan Eckberg]
Heirs [Muck/Eckberg]
Let Your Kingdom Reign [Chris Brown/Mack Brock]
Message
The Intercession [Muck/Eckberg]
Dismiss
Children of Your Promise [Eckberg]
THE TEAM
Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocal
Beth Stemble - keys
Jordan Muck - bass
Nick Hostetler - drums
Jess Yoder - vocal
Alli Hutchens - vocal
Cyndi Leamon - vocal
Mike Stemble - audio
Vance Csaszar - video
NOTES
This week we took a break from our series on 1 John and welcomed in a guest preacher. Dr Jeff Gill was with us today. Dr Gill is the Dean of Grace Theological Seminary. He was a Senior Pastor for 20 years in the state of Ohio. He is an incredibly gifted speaker who has a wealth of excellent experience to share. I had the privilege of taking a class with Dr Gill last spring and it has been one of the highlights of my seminary experience thus far. All that to say that we were very excited to have him share his biblical wisdom and scriptural insight with us.
Dr Gill spoke on 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 pointing out our roles as ambassadors of Christ. The emphasis was on the fact that an ambassador speaks for the one he represents. The ambassadors life is no longer his own. He went on to teach that we must find our identity and our passion in the message of the great exchange. Musically, we wound up doing a lot of original material this week. As we work towards this more and more with our people I try to set aside one week every two or three months where we do all (or almost all) original music. I think it gives people a good chance to sing and review the truths that have been taught over the past months.
THE SONGS
Children of Your Promise - We introduced this new song on Sunday. It's an upbeat number that draws heavily from Hebrews 10 and 1 John 3. It's a song about our proper response to GOD's movement in our lives. The verses speak to how He constantly at work and showing himself to be just and faithful. The chorus says, "We will be the children of Your promise / We will not give up our faith / We will be soldiers for Your glory / we will not shrink back / We'll never fade away". The bridge section the asks if we have in fact seen GOD move, then how could we ever possibly keep His message to ourselves?
Holy Nation - This song was written for the 1 Peter 2:9 series. When we were in that series we were without a drummer, so this week was the first time it has been worked out with a full band arrangement. It turned out REALLY cool. I used the electric and gave it a Toad the Wet Sprocket-esqu guitar fill to the verses (the more I think about it, the more I think I stole the guitar part from the song "Brother"). Nick gave it a solid grove and Jordan added a nice bass run to the bridge section. I liked this song when we wrote it, but I loved playing it this week.
Heirs - Jordan and I wrote this one for our last EP and have put some good mileage on it. It fit well with the message of the morning as it's a song about GOD's adoption of us and our new standing as co-heirs with Christ. This adoption gives us new life, the old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). This new life offers us a new identity and new passions in the message of our father GOD through the work of Jesus Christ.
[album - Heirs - Until We're Kings]
Let Your Kingdom Reign - I felt like this song had a natural flow from "Heirs" as we sang of our new life as adopted children of GOD and builds off the new passions thru the message of truth. Our passion is that the kingdom of heaven would rule on the earth. GOD's kingdom will reign forever and we must simply do what He has called us to in order to represent that kingdom on earth. We do a lot of Elevation Worship tunes at CGC. In terms of contemporary worship I think you would be hard pressed to find a band that writes more singable and theologically sound material than these guys. That's why I love their stuff - and have for several years. They are musically interesting and skilled and they don't water down the gospel by oversimplifying things. That's what we're striving for in our original material. We want to be artistically accessible but we also want to keep the majesty of the scriptures and the levity of the gospel front-and-center. If you're in need of quality worship material that rocks out pick up their latest live album/dvd, For the Honor.
[album - God With Us - Elevation Worship]
The Intercession - This song fit perfectly with the message of the day (much better than I had even planned) so it was an appropriate response song. It was written for our series on Isaiah 53 and speaks of the message that has been received and our call to worship as a result of Christ being offered as the intercession for our transgressions. The bridge of the song points back to the great exchange (You saw the light of life / and you were satisfied / exchange of death for live / and we were justified) and really drove home Dr Gill's message.
To see how our brothers and sisters in other churches are worshipping you can check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday Setlist / 4.29.12
Check out the 10:10 service at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN:
SERVICE
I'll Fly Away [Albert Brumley]
Welcome & Announcements / Offering
We Are One [Dave Hunt / Julie Hunt]
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee [Henry J. van Dyke]
Agnus Dei [Michael W. Smith]
Our God Reigns [Martin Smith]
Agnus Dei (reprise)
Message
For the Honor [Steven Furtick / Mack Brock / Chris Brown / Wade Joye]
Dismiss
TEAM
Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Larry Ingle - vocals
Jess Yoder - vocals
Allie Hutchens - vocals
Kevin Schmidt - sound
Jeff Hutchens - visual
NOTES
We gave our drummer this weekend off, so I decided to go a very different direction than our normal service. We went old-school - we simplified things and went with just a single guitar and vocals. Sometimes that change of pace is really refreshing. The theme of the day was the truth of the Gospel leading to fellowship with God and with other believers. Pastor Jordan Muck is beginning a study of 1 John and this week we looked at 1 John 1:1-4. If you're keeping up with the teaching at CGC, you can download all the sermons here.
SONGS
I'll Fly Away - I gotta be honest, this song had nothing to do with the flow of the message for the morning. With the line-up we had for worship it just seemed like we needed a good, old-fashioned, knee-slapping, jug-blowing tune to kick us off. Larry, Jess, and Allie did a phenomenal job and we had a lot of fun singing through this one.
We Are One - This is a great song that we haven't used in several months. It speaks to the idea that we are all members of one body and that we are dependent upon one another. I thought this went well with our theme of fellowship for the day. If you've read this blog more than once or twice, you've heard my praise of Dave Hunt. He's a fantastic worship leader and songwriter and, as always, I highly recommend you check him out.
[album - Shelter - Dave Hunt]
Agnus Dei - A major theme of John's throughout this epistle is the refuting of the false teachers of the day. In the opening verses of the letter he establishes that Jesus Christ is the real messiah and that he was a historical being. He points to the way he personally interacted with Jesus both before his death and after the resurrection. All of that proof goes to show the sovereignty of GOD and the fact that his truth endures throughout all time. Agnus Dei is a simple expression of GOD's holiness and sovereignty, that is his faithfulness.
[album - Worship - Michael W. Smith]
Our God Reigns - We us just the chorus of this song. It has a natural flow from Agnus Dei. Another very simple expression of the timelessness of GOD's truth and his reign. "Our God reigns / Our God reigns / Forever his kingdom reigns" We segued seamlessly from one to the other. After we had sung this chorus several times we went back and reprised Agnus Dei, singing through just the verse one more time.
[album - The Mission Bell - Delirious?]
For the Honor - Confession: we had no idea we were doing this song until, literally, 5 minutes before the service. I had another song picked out to close with and I just felt like it wasn't going to fit as well as I had initially thought. I mentioned it to Pastor Jordan and he said, "sing For the Honor". With no rehearsal or run through, we printed off the chord chart and walked into the service. I ended up doing the song by myself since the rest of the team didn't know it. By the time the message was finished and I played through the song it was obvious that that was the PERFECT song for the day. Definitely a "GOD-moment" where he brushes aside all your planning and the spirit guides you to a place that will connect with his people. Not the most comfortable move for me, but it pulled together nicely.
[album - For the Honor - Elevation Worship]
To see how brothers and sisters are worshipping in their home churches, check out the Sunday Setlist as www.theworshipcommunity.com.
SERVICE
I'll Fly Away [Albert Brumley]
Welcome & Announcements / Offering
We Are One [Dave Hunt / Julie Hunt]
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee [Henry J. van Dyke]
Agnus Dei [Michael W. Smith]
Our God Reigns [Martin Smith]
Agnus Dei (reprise)
Message
For the Honor [Steven Furtick / Mack Brock / Chris Brown / Wade Joye]
Dismiss
TEAM
Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Larry Ingle - vocals
Jess Yoder - vocals
Allie Hutchens - vocals
Kevin Schmidt - sound
Jeff Hutchens - visual
NOTES
We gave our drummer this weekend off, so I decided to go a very different direction than our normal service. We went old-school - we simplified things and went with just a single guitar and vocals. Sometimes that change of pace is really refreshing. The theme of the day was the truth of the Gospel leading to fellowship with God and with other believers. Pastor Jordan Muck is beginning a study of 1 John and this week we looked at 1 John 1:1-4. If you're keeping up with the teaching at CGC, you can download all the sermons here.
SONGS
I'll Fly Away - I gotta be honest, this song had nothing to do with the flow of the message for the morning. With the line-up we had for worship it just seemed like we needed a good, old-fashioned, knee-slapping, jug-blowing tune to kick us off. Larry, Jess, and Allie did a phenomenal job and we had a lot of fun singing through this one.
We Are One - This is a great song that we haven't used in several months. It speaks to the idea that we are all members of one body and that we are dependent upon one another. I thought this went well with our theme of fellowship for the day. If you've read this blog more than once or twice, you've heard my praise of Dave Hunt. He's a fantastic worship leader and songwriter and, as always, I highly recommend you check him out.
[album - Shelter - Dave Hunt]
Agnus Dei - A major theme of John's throughout this epistle is the refuting of the false teachers of the day. In the opening verses of the letter he establishes that Jesus Christ is the real messiah and that he was a historical being. He points to the way he personally interacted with Jesus both before his death and after the resurrection. All of that proof goes to show the sovereignty of GOD and the fact that his truth endures throughout all time. Agnus Dei is a simple expression of GOD's holiness and sovereignty, that is his faithfulness.
[album - Worship - Michael W. Smith]
Our God Reigns - We us just the chorus of this song. It has a natural flow from Agnus Dei. Another very simple expression of the timelessness of GOD's truth and his reign. "Our God reigns / Our God reigns / Forever his kingdom reigns" We segued seamlessly from one to the other. After we had sung this chorus several times we went back and reprised Agnus Dei, singing through just the verse one more time.
[album - The Mission Bell - Delirious?]
For the Honor - Confession: we had no idea we were doing this song until, literally, 5 minutes before the service. I had another song picked out to close with and I just felt like it wasn't going to fit as well as I had initially thought. I mentioned it to Pastor Jordan and he said, "sing For the Honor". With no rehearsal or run through, we printed off the chord chart and walked into the service. I ended up doing the song by myself since the rest of the team didn't know it. By the time the message was finished and I played through the song it was obvious that that was the PERFECT song for the day. Definitely a "GOD-moment" where he brushes aside all your planning and the spirit guides you to a place that will connect with his people. Not the most comfortable move for me, but it pulled together nicely.
[album - For the Honor - Elevation Worship]
To see how brothers and sisters are worshipping in their home churches, check out the Sunday Setlist as www.theworshipcommunity.com.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Sunday Setlist / 2.5.12
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!
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!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday Setlist / 10.3.10
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Listening Room
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
ANTICIPATED RELEASES:
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
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?
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, August 22, 2010
Sunday Setlist / 8.22.10
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.
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