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.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Sunday Setlist / 5.20.12
A look at how we get down at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, IN...
THE SERVICE
Children of Your Promise [Jonathan Eckberg]
Opening Challange
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus [Helen Lemmel]
Come Ye Sinners [Joseph Hart]
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (reprise)
You Are So Good To Me [Don Chaffer/Lori Chaffer]
Your Grace is Enough [Matt Maher]
Message
THE TEAM
Jonathan Eckberg - guitar/vocals
Nick Hostetler - drums
Randy Hepler - bass
Larry Ingle - vocals
Kay Smith - vocals
Staci Smith - vocals
Kevin Schmidt - audio
Vance Csaszar - video
NOTES
We decided to try something a little different with our schedule today. One of the things we, as a staff, have been considering over the past several months especially is how to integrate the entire service better. We strive to tie every aspect of the service into the theme of the message. Our goal is that, from the time people walk into the sanctuary until the time they walk out at the end of the service, the people are hearing one message. I think we've come to a point to where all of the elements are where they need to be (or at least headed in the right direction). Our new challenge is to bridge the elements and walk people through the service in a seamless manner.
With that in mind, we started this week with a shortened intro song. Then Pastor Jordan Muck offered a brief "challenge" that presented the concept of the morning and gave people a direction in thought before we launched into the worship set. We worked out transitions between songs in the set with some musical interludes and some scripture meditation and tried to work our schedule to take people on a journey that led them to the mornings message.
I think it worked well. As with anything, we have some improving to do and there are many ways we can clean up the entire service, but I was pleased with how it turned out. The staff will now sit down and evaluate and tweak and we will continue to try to progress and build the service that makes the most of the time we have to spend with our church family every week.
The message this week was the the close of our 4-week series in 1 John 1 that examined Christian fellowship both with GOD and one another.
THE SONGS
Children of Your Promise - We introduced this song two weeks ago. It was written when we were discussing teaching a longer series in 1 John and it draws heavily from 1 John 3 and Hebrews 10. This is a song that turned out really well and I'm excited about using it a little more with our congregation and getting it recorded later this summer (working on some details, but we are hoping to do a recording project in late July/early August... I'll post some details when we get it all locked down).
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus - We opened the main set with this song written by Helen Lemmel in 1922. The message today focused on admitting our own sin and confession. The act of confession begins with a forsaking (in a certain sense) of all that the world tells us is important and resting our eyes solely upon Christ as the things of earth fade from our hearts. When this becomes our focus we are renewed in knowledge according to the image of our Creator, able to put on love and bear together, forgiving as Christ forgave us, and stand united in Him (Colossians 3:10-14).
[album - This is Our God - Hillsong Live]
Come Ye Sinners - We use the updated version of this old hymn. I used this sandwiched between choruses of "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus". The thought behind it is that we must recognize who Christ is in order to truly recognize our own sin. When we do that we can rest in the love and grace of Him who was sacrificed for us. We see that we are sinners who are weak and wounded, sick and sore. But it doesn't end there we can, as the lyrics say, "arise and go to Jesus". In doing so we gain an even greater understanding of love and grace and our affection and attentions (our eyes) should be drawn back to Jesus.
[album - 10,000 Charms - Robbie Seay Band]
You Are So Good to Me - As I've mentioned about this song before we rock this one out. It maintains the melody and all, but we give it a cool bluesy-rock vibe. It's a lot of fun to play. Between "Come Ye Sinners" and this song we had a time of scripture meditation that included Psalm 14:3 (acknowledgment of personal sin) and Romans 5:8-11 (redemption from that sin through Christ). "You Are So Good To Me" then is a song of celebration. It is a song that expresses the goodness and grace that we have received not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ did on our behalf.
[album - Waterdeep Worship - Waterdeep]
Your Grace is Enough - As we rest in the goodness of our father we realize that even in our natural sinful state we serve a god who is faithful and just and who gives his children everything they could need in this life. Even when we wrestle with our own sin we know that as the battle continues, the war is won - because His grace is enough.
[album - Arriving - Chris Tomlin]
To see what other churches are singing visit the sunday setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com
[album - 10,000 Charms - Robbie Seay Band]
You Are So Good to Me - As I've mentioned about this song before we rock this one out. It maintains the melody and all, but we give it a cool bluesy-rock vibe. It's a lot of fun to play. Between "Come Ye Sinners" and this song we had a time of scripture meditation that included Psalm 14:3 (acknowledgment of personal sin) and Romans 5:8-11 (redemption from that sin through Christ). "You Are So Good To Me" then is a song of celebration. It is a song that expresses the goodness and grace that we have received not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ did on our behalf.
[album - Waterdeep Worship - Waterdeep]
Your Grace is Enough - As we rest in the goodness of our father we realize that even in our natural sinful state we serve a god who is faithful and just and who gives his children everything they could need in this life. Even when we wrestle with our own sin we know that as the battle continues, the war is won - because His grace is enough.
[album - Arriving - Chris Tomlin]
To see what other churches are singing visit the sunday setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com
Monday, May 14, 2012
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
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
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.
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]
[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]
[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]
[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.
[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.
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, April 9, 2012
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.
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, April 1, 2012
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)