Easter Sunday Setlist / 4.8.12

The Easter celebration at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN, looked a little something like this...

SERVICE

Intro Music
     Welcome & Announcements/Offering
     Children's Choir
     Video
Jesus Paid it All [Alex Nifong/Elvina M. Hall/John Thomas Grape]
     Message
The Intercession [Jordan Muck/Jonathan Eckberg]
Happy Day [Tim Hughes/Ben Cantelon]
How Great Thou Art [Stuart K. Hine]
     Dismiss


TEAM

Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Beth Stemble - piano
Nick Hostetler - drums
Randy Hepler - bass
Jess Yoder - vocals
Kevin Schmidt - audio
Jeff Hutchens - visual


NOTES

What a crazy morning!  We, as a staff and the church as a whole, have spent a lot of time an energy planning and praying over this week's service for the past few months.  Pastor Jordan Muck was stoked to preach.  Our Director of Ministry and Operations, Cyndi Leamon, had just come home from vacation and was excited about how things had come together for the service.  Well... things don't always go as we plan.  At about 9:00 on Saturday night Pastor Jordan took his wife to the hospital, as she was in labor.  At that point my wife and I headed out to their house to stay with their two year old daughter.  I woke up at 5:00am to a text that they had not had the child yet and that we was not likely to be in church.  So I went to the church early to do some last minute sermon prep (I had prepped a good bit already because we knew that this was a possibility).  After a little work I called Cyndi to update her on the situation and she had returned from vacation with the flu and despite her best efforts she couldn't even get out of bed.  All of this was compounded by the fact that Both Pastor Jordan and Cyndi were on the worship team this week!

The outcome of all of the insanity was that we had our other bass player, Randy Hepler step up and fill in for us on, literally, no notice.  Jess Yoder stepped up and filled a lot of vocal space all on her own.  Nick and Beth were awesome, as always.  And I had the honor and privilege of preaching the Word on Easter Sunday.  As planned, we took a step out of our series on Isaiah 53 this week to look at John 6:28-35.  The entire sermon revolved around the idea that we respond to Christ's call with one of three types of belief: inherited, intellectual, or intimate.  To dowload the audio from today's message (along with past messages) click here.

The thing I was reminded of today was that GOD is going to do his work regardless of the situation.  I think it is important for us to give our best efforts, to plan and prepare meticulously, and to be ready to move when GOD says, "Go."  But at the end of the day, whether our plans succeed or fail, have very little impact on whether His plan will succeed.  The only thing that matters is that we surrender to him and not get in the way of His work through the Spirit.  We missed some of our church family today, but GOD is cool.  He had everything the way HE planned it.

One more note: Congratulations to Pastor Jordan and Bethany Muck.  Gianna Lynn Muck was born at 4:19pm on Sunday, April 8.  She was 7 lbs 5 oz and 21.5 inches long.  It was a rough couple of days for mom and dad but everyone is healthy and doing well!


SONGS

Jesus Paid it All - Another one of my favorite songs to play.  We came out of a video that was a modern day representation of how Christ took on our iniquities and and the pain of death so that we might be reborn as sons and daughters of the kingdom.  As the video ended we went straight into "Jesus Paid it All".  Then as the third verse started up we cut to a video of all of the baptisms from our service several weeks ago.  It was really cool.  Cyndi Leamon put in a ton of time fitting the video together a couple weeks ago.  Once we hit the loud build-up/tag of the song it started clipping through the people rising up out of the water.  It worked out perfectly - it was an extremely emotional moment to sing, "O Praise the one who paid my debt // And raised this life up from the dead" and see the joy on people's faces as rise up out of the baptismal.
[album: Hello - Kristian Stanfill]

The Intercession - With the message revolving around true belief in Jesus Christ and in the message that he spoke, I liked the way this song worked those themes together with an attitude of celebration.  The first line of both verses says, "The message has been recieved // and we have believed in you".  A great fit to begin our celebration set.

Happy Day - We hadn't done this song in quite a while.  I think when I got to the church it was one that had been overused a bit, so I layed off of it (even though I love singing it).  It's another great rocking song about "the greatest day in history // death is beaten, you have rescued me".
[album:  We Shine - Fee]

How Great Thou Art - We've done this one a lot lately, but was a great song to close out an awesome morning.
[album: Our God Saves - Paul Baloche]


To see how other churches around the country worshipped this week check out the Sunday Setlist.  You can find it at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Sunday Setlist / 11.21.10

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/

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/.

Sunday Setlist / 11.7.10

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.