I’m amazed at how great the services are Bethel. Every Sunday we experience a new level of Worship and Pastor Steve delivers a message that makes you want to draw closer to God.
This Sunday was no different. Pastor Steve delivered a powerful message titled “Running on Empty”. Click the link to listen the podcast from that sermon.
Here are the songs from Sunday Worship.
Sunday Morning:
1. Blessed Be Your Name - Matt Redman
2. Just A Little Talk With Jesus - Traditional Hymn
3. Freedom Reigns - Jason Upton
Sunday Evening:
1. When We All Get to Heaven / Oh I Want to See Him / Everybody Will Be Happy Over There - Traditional Hymn
2. I’ll Fly Away - Traditional Hymn
Once again, services were great today at Bethel. Pastor Steve delivered a great message this morning on “The Gap Man” for his Father’s Day message (You can click the title to go to our podcast page to listen to this message). Tonight was the start of Vacation Bible School and it was awesome to see all of those kids there hungry to learn about. I do want to say how great Phillip and everyone else did on the staging. I hope to have some pictures of that up this week.
Here is our worship set list from today.
Sunday Morning:
1. Let the Praises Ring - Lincoln Brewster
2. Lord Reign in Me - Brenton Brown
3. How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin
Sunday Evening:
1. Friend of God - Israel Houghton/Michael Gungor
2. Surrender - Marc James
I’ve been working over the last week planning the upcoming worship band practice. I’ve been working on songs to add that will be beneficial to the worship experience at Bethel Church. And I’m starting to realize more and more that there are so many factors that come into play when choosing a song. I started out with a thought for two new songs which are powerful, but the closer that we get to the practice time, the more I’m starting to go away from those two songs. I thank the Lord everyday for for a great band that loves God and also who love to worship and play music. I’ve been talking with our bass player through email today while we are both at work. We both send each other Youtube videos a lot of potential songs. So, I sent him one that we both feel would be a great song and he sent me a video link of a song that I had never even considered that would be great. I guess what I am trying to say is this, always think of the people that worship with you. Crowd response is a big part of worship. You can worship all you want, but if the people don’t worship with you, then it will never work.
So here are a few pointers when you are considering a song.
1. Make sure that the song is God focused. When we worship it should be about God. If we focus our attention toward God during worship, he will then turn his attention to us. You can be healed, delivered of addictions and sin, and so much more during worship.
2. Pray about the song!!!! I cannot stress this enough. Seek God about the songs that you will be using in church.
3. Don’t ever pick a song just because it has a great lead guitar intro or an awesome drum solo. If that is your basis for a worship song then you sit down and rethink why you are a worship leader.
4. Always think about the people that worship with you. Is this song going to be inviting for them to worship? Is it going to spurn something in them that will make them want to worship?
5. Is the song singable. There are a lot of great worship songs out there that are so wordy that they are just hard to sing. If you have a hard time as a worship singer singing them, think of what the people around you are going through at that moment.
There are so many other factors, but these are a few that I use when I consider worship songs. I hope this helps you out.
I’m getting to the point where worship is becoming really fun. You may think that sounds really weird, but I love worshiping God. Why should it not be fun? If you can give me a reason as to why not, I’ll change that line.
Anyways, Praise and Worship was great Sunday at church. God is really showing how real he is. The congregation of Bethel Church is a congregation of worshipers. They love to praise God. Thank the Lord for a pastor that teaches us that worship is not only important but vital.
Here are the songs we did Sunday.
Morning Worship:
1. Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman)
2. Just A Little Talk With Jesus (Traditional Hymn)
3. Mighty to Save (Hillsong United)
Evening Worship:
1. When We All Get to Heaven (Traditional Hymn)
2. Lord, Reign in Me (Brenton Brown)
3. Amazed (Lincoln Brewster)
Man, I feel great this morning. Even though, I am running on about half the sleep that I normally would get during the work week.
Last night was just great. After last years heartbreaker in the final four, and having the play the waiting game about the decisions to return or not from our best players, this championship is just sweet.
I’ve been a tarheel fan all my life, I’m not a bandwagon fan. I don’t remember the 82 championship because I was 3, but I do vivedly remember the 93, 05, and now the 09 championships. People said that some of the tarheel players were crazy to return with the chance to make big moeny, but I really think it’s because they knew that if this team reassembled on the court one last time, they would not stop until they cut down the nets and got to see “One Shining Moment” on the jumbotrons.
Thank you Bobby Frasor, Mike Copeland, Danny Green, and Tyler Hansbrough for 4 years of joy. It’s been great to watch you play. Thank you to Wayne Ellington and Tywan Lawson for playing your hearts out and giving us one more year. You guys have a greater task ahead of you now in the NBA. Thank you to Roy Williams for being an old country boy that came back to his alma mater and showed people that you are one of the best coaches in the history of Men’s College Basketball. And thank you to the Tarheel fans for being the best fans in all of sports.
Well, now that I have gotten the mushy stuff out of the way, here is a video from the Daily Tarheel from Frankling Street following the game last night. Enjoy, and I can’t wait for Football season.
I purchased a new worship album a couple of months ago at the urging of a friend that happens to play guitar on the album. It’s a worship album by 6:22 Ministries out of Greenville, NC titled “A New Day Is Rising”. The message was strong and to the point on this album and it is full of the presence of God. Song #2 (Red Moon Rising) makes a bold statement in verse #2 that many of today’s churches need to hear and implement. It says:
“We are tired of segregation,
Let your people be one.
We are tired of dull religion,
Spirit send us Your fire.”
I’ve had a chance over the last 10 years to lead worship or play some form of an instrument at youth camp, youth conferences, youth revivals, and youth services. And I can tell you this, that song sums it up. This generation is tired of Dull Religion. They are tired of the front that people put on. They are tired of going to church and it being the same as it was the time before. They are looking for something fresh, something REAL, something tangible, something that is going to be life altering to them and their friends. And this generation is not afraid to tell you either. If you think Heaven is going to be separated by denomination, race, sex, age, and many other options, than you’re wrong. We are the body of Christ; it’s time we act like it. For too long now, we have not worshiped with others because of denomination and race, and I think that displeases God.
Recently, my home church where I lead worship at, experienced a sovereign move of God. Over a ten week period, over 350 lives were saved. Over 200 pastors were in attendance. Over 200 churches attended. And every denomination you could think of came. This should not be an acurance to happen occasionally, we should worship together always.
I want to send a message out to the churches. It’s time we forget about the way we have done things for 50 years. It’s no longer working. It’s time we forget about trying to please everyone, we’re here to please God.
I beg of you, get away from your dull religion, turn your hearts back to God, and let’s experience revival in this nation!
Anyone that knows me, knows that I am and always have been a die-hard, blue-bleeding, UNC Tarheels fan. Well, in honor of the Final four (and my Heels being in it), I wanted to post the new Guitar Hero commercial. I’ve been hearing about this commercial for a while now. It has some of the legendary coaches of Men’s Division 1 College Basketball in it and Metallica. Enjoy!
So, I’m really excited. I’m going to be attending the Forward Conference 2009 in Daluth, GA in June. This year Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, David Crowder Band, Fee, Reggie Dabbs, Judah Smith, Ricardo Sanchez, and Jentezen Franklin will be there. If you can take your youth, trust me, it will be worth it. Here is a link.
So one of my favorite bands is back in the studio creating what should be another great album. The new one is called “Church Music”. If you know anything about David Crowder Band, you know that they create good music. And that every album has a totally different feel about it. Here is a video from their recording session. You also can view their live webcam in the studio at David Crowder Band Studio Webcam.
I have always been a fan of music and music has always been a big part of my life. I remember going with my mom to various churches when I was young and I would listen to her play guitar and sing. And I also remember watching my dad play bass guitar in church with the worship band. I really think that they, along with my pastor and his wife, and some other very key people, are the reasons why music is so dear to me. I started playing drums when I was 11 in the band at my middle school and at the same time, my mom was teaching me how to play acoustic guitar. Later on, my pastor took the time to teach me how to play the bass guitar. My father was a decent bass guitarist, but my pastor was very good. He was able to do the runs and licks that I loved to hear.
As I developed as a musician, I started straying from God and I picked up electric guitar. During this time, I learned music from artist that I always said I would not listen to. I allowed things to enter into my heart and my head through music. It bread desires and hungers that were not of God.
And that is what I want to mention in this post. You see, music holds a very strategic place in the church. Saul would call upon David when he felt the evil spirits rising against him. And when David sang, the spirits would leave Saul. But today, I wonder if the evil spirits would leave when we worship. A lot of churches are straying from true worship, and I am not referencing a certain genre as being the cause. But I feel it’s the act. You see, worship is an intimate expression to God from you. It is reverence and honor that we pay to Him.
I think we have lost what the true meaning of worship is somewhere between the stage lighting and the loud systems. And please don’t get me wrong, I love those too, I believe they have their place. But nothing should ever take the focus of God when we worship. I recently attended a worship service at another church and as the worship team played, the person I was with talked on and on about how great the guitarist was, and how great the drummer was, but I never heard how great our God was. And that bothers me. Churches have lost what worship is all about. They’ve forgotten how worship fits into the church. We’ve replaced the Word of God with a quick Bible study so that we can have 45 minutes to 1 hour of worship music. And all the while, most of the congregants are not truly worshipping God.
My question is this, Have we forgotten what true worship is? Have we replaced the presence of God with hype and energy? Where is the worship that changes souls? Where is the worship that causes people to weap in the presence of God? Where is the worship that brings forth the annointing of God?
God is moving across this nation, and lives are being saved. I praise God for that. But as worshippers, we should always come to the throne not asking what we can get from God but how we can honor Him more through our worship. That is the focus. That is the reason we worship. That is what true worship is all about. It’s about worshipping God with every fiber of our being and knowing that we praised Him with everything that we had in us. God takes pleasure when worship Him with all hearts.
I ask that we look at what we are doing. Look at the means that we do things. Look at the way we carry about worship. And make sure that the next time that we step onto a stage to lead worship or enter into a service to worship, that we make it all about God and not about us.