Part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival – see what is going on in churches all over the world!

Wow.  I know it’s been a looong time since I posted a setlist blog… but I haven’t been leading worship and while I did attend chirch onine 2 weeks ago, we got in late & missed the worship.  And last week I just didn’t have the energy since we hadn’t gotten home until 1 am and the cat, well, she missed us.  And she proved it throughout the night, but especially around 6:30 that morning.  gotta love cats, right?  Right?

But, I am back as of today!  And yes, it was nice to be back… I missed everyone and I missed being a part of it all (although Art did a REALLY great job last week!)

Onto the setlist…

• Happy Day [G] (Cantelon/Hughes)
• Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) [F]  (Baloche/Brown)
  
• Here Is Love [D] (Cook/Cook/Rees)
• Revelation Song [D] (Riddle)
• kids message on Forgiveness
• Everything To God [A] (Anderson)
• announcements
• message – God, Religion & Politics (aka, love your neighbor)
• Hosanna reprise

It was a great set – the only drawback was the lack of our regular drummer and bass player.  You try to do Happy Day without a rhythm section and see how it goes for you!  Although Taya’s son (visiting from California) stepped in and beat out a rhythm on the djembe which helped some.

High point – really feeling God’s presence.  I can only hope that others felt at least a part of what I did!  And while it doesn’t compare to the former, having someone around to tweak the sound board and make everything sound better.  Wow, what a difference.

Low point – The lack of a strong, solid rhythm section was felt today.  It was kinda icky, but not horrid.

So, how was your service today?

Wow, what a great time of worship we had yesterday!  Well, at least I had a great time… I can only hope everyone else did too!

The list…

• We Lift You Up
• Happy Day (Kim Walker version)
• Reign In Us (Starfield)
• Revelation Song (Kari Jobe version)
• kids message
• Love The Lord
• message – “Going Down?”
• Great Is Thy Faithfulness

The songs just seemed to flow one to the next lyrically yesterday, and it was amazing.  It was our 2nd week singing “Happy Day” and there was much more participation.  That was pretty cool to see.  We tightened up the vocals a bit this week too, and I think that helped a lot too.  We dropped down to 1 or 2 voices to start each song and added in voices on the choruses, and that in itself helped the dynamics a ton.  Now we just need to get the bass & electric guitars turned up a tad more so I can actually hear them…

High point?  Happy Day ROCKED yesterday.  Sam nailed the verses this week and it just felt… better.  Having the congregation get more “into” it really helped too.

Low point? Love The Lord.  It started really s.l.o.w. no, I mean at like 1/4 the correct tempo.  Take a song that seems to go on and on an on forever and then slow it down?  I was very close to stopping after the 1st verse and saying “Now that we remember the song, let’s speed it up!”  but I didn’t want to call it out  like that.  I kept trying to speed it up, but it just wasn’t happening.  Oh well.

I’m still thoroughly enjoying having the space and the centralized sound that Peace Lutheran offers, however I think we may have figured out why they have their later service in the little white church… that sanctuary is HOT by 9:30 am!  We had a few fans going this week, and they had opened up all of the doors and windows for their early service so it was a little better, but we were still all dripping by the time the service started.  Wow.  Of course, it is substantially warmer than normal for western Washington these days.  It’s supposed to hit 98 today… and we often have Summers that don’t break 80!  Yep, I’m looking for any excuse to find a place with a/c.

Want to read about other worship services around the globe (and possibly win some free stuff?)  Head over to Fred’s blog!  It’s the official 1 year anniversary of the Sunday Setlist Bloggy Carnival this week, and Fred has over $600 worth of goodies to pass on to lucky folks like you and me, so head over and check it out!

Ever have one of those days where you are just tired?  You are tired and you can’t tell if that’s the reason that others seem less”with it” or if they are tired too?

sʎɐp ǝsoɥʇ ɟo ǝuo sɐʍ ʎɐpoʇ

We intro-ed Happy Day today for the first time and while I thoroughly enjoyed singing it (and really, who can’t?) I felt like it just kinda “was”

Some people seemed to really like it (yay!) and others… well… it just “was”  and I’m not sure if it was just me being tired, or if they just didn’t really dig the song.

oh well.  We’ll give it another try next week, right?

So, the list for this morning was as follows:

• Happy Day [G] (Kim Walker version)
• Trading My Sorrows [G]
• The Solid Rock [D] (David Crowder version)
• Majesty (Here I Am) [Am] (Martin Anderson)
• kids message – Jesus did a yucky job to model being a servant
• Everyday [G]
• announcements
• message – Love ACTually
• Happy Day [G] (slightly shorter version)

We kept the other songs more well known since we were teaching a new one, but I’m just not sure how it went over.  Some people said that they really, really enjoyed it, some were singing along right away, and others were just standing there.  Just. Standing. There.

How?

How can you just stand there during that song?  It has more energy than any other song I know!  I mean I was feeling exhausted and I could barely keep from dancing.

High point:
- I actually worshiped this morning.  No thoughts about how everything sounded, no worries about blending, etc.  I was able to move far past that (other than feeling like the 1st song flopped).

Low point:
- feeling like Happy Day flopped.

I have to say though, that the look of pure joy that was on our pastors wife’s face during worship was WONDERFUL to see.  I love it when she sits where I can see her.

So, how was YOUR Sunday?

**part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival.  Go check out what churches all over the world are doing each Sunday!**

Yeah, I may try to get in a nap, or just go to bed early.  Who knows.

This is a very belated addition to Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival – check out what churches all over the world sang each weekend!

Sorry I missed last week, we were packing for our family’s camping trip to Mt. Rainier, and I just didn’t get to it.  It was a great time of worship though, and actually using a sound board was wonderful! Unfortunately due (in part) to the lack of sleep over the past week (sleeping on the ground can do that) I don’t remember too much about the individual songs.  Sorry!

Last week was our first Sunday down the hill at Peace Lutheran’s main building – double the space in the sanctuary, a great sound system and quadruple the space for the kids.  Wow.  Who cares if we have to set up & tear down each week!  We finally have space to teach our kids (and the cushioned pews are a nice upgrade from the old wood ones too!)

This week we had our all-church camp out, so it was different yet again.  And Pastor Chris is not one to go the easy route with just an acoustic and a vocal… nope, we had the whole shebang packed up and brought out to Jim Creek!  Friday & Saturday were quite warm days (Sat got up around 90) but Sunday we woke up to cold temps with a bit of wind… it was 60 at 11:00!  Needless to say, we huddled around the (large) campfire for the sermon!  Fortunately it was only sprinkling here and there… not the deluge of rain that was to follow soon after.

But it was still a sweet time of worship.

der lists…

6-5-09

• Forever
• Glorious
• How Can I Keep From Singing
• Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
• kids message
• Beautiful One
• announcements
• message – Please Release Me and Let Me Live Again
• Forever – reprise

As you can see we did not do a “star spangled” service last weekend.  We finished up our series in Ecclesiastes (although Pastor Chris did bring in some elements of patriotism as they related to our Christian walk).

6-12-09

• Everlasting God
• Lord, Light The Fire Again
• Your Grace Is Enough
• Revelation Song
• message
• communion
• Nothing But The Blood (trad. hymn)

Pastor Chris shared his sermon, Wendell gave the communion message, and we sang through the first verse of Nothing But The Blood (trad. hymn).  Then we all finished packing up and got out of there before the real rain started!

And boy did it start.

We had heavy rains, thunder and lightening, and it has lasted for 2 days.  It has been lovely!  And it was cold enough today to cause me to make roasted potato soup for dinner… well, more like roasted root veggie soup, since it had potatoes (red & sweet), carrots, garlic, onions and creamy butternut squash in the broth.  All that was missing was homemade sourdough rolls… but I didn’t get to those today.

We are still resting up from 2 camping trips in 1 week, but both were quite lovely.  Mt Rainier on Tuesday & Wed, home for Thurs, and Jim Creek with the church Friday – Sunday.  I think we are getting close to being caught up on sleep!

I know I’m late getting it posted, but how was your Sunday?

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Wow!  Today was our last day in the Little White Church for the Summer, and we were running with a skeleton crew for the worship team.  Lots of people were out of town or home sick so it was nearly a skeleton crew in the pews too, but we still had the privilege of gathering together to worship God.

Summer scheduling is often difficult, and the past 2 weeks have been ne exception!  We had a piano, acoustic & drums last weekend, and acoustic & drums this weekend… and no male singers at all for either.  Very girlie lately (which ain’t all bad… but is different).

Anywho, here is the list:

• Lord, Light The Fire Again [E]
• Desert Song [D]
• You Gave Your Life Away [E]
• Take My Life [D] (Tomlin/Nockles version)
• kids message on Trust
• Everything To God [D]
• announcements
• Lest I Forget [B] (Rebecca St. James)
• Communion
• Message
• Blessed Be Your Name [G]

Yep, it was a bit more subdued than normal, but that is to be expected when it’s acoustic led (and not rhythmic acoustic).  Taya had a bit of feedback off and on, but it seemed to work itself out by the 2nd song.  She was using a different amp than normal, since we cleaned out as much as possible last week so we’d have room to pack up everything this week.

High Point:
~ Lest I Forget was cool – we haven’t done it in months (unfortunately) and it was nice to do it with just the acoustic & djembe.  They gave it a very different feel.  Finishing up Jim’s sermon with Blessed Be Your Name was pretty amazing too though.  He shared some of the things that God has brought he & his wife through – especially in the last 14 months of looking for a new job.  It’s always amazing to see someone peacefully and joyfully going through something that would make most of us panic!

Low Point:
~ Everything To God.  Wow, it was sssssssllllllllloooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwww today.  Still a great song, still went well with the message, but needed to be sped up at least double!  Oh well.  That tempo gave the kids time to get all of the motions in!

So, how was YOUR weekend?

*this is part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival – head over to check out what worship leaders and congregants all over the world did at church this week!*

… or, How To Spoil A Dad in a few easy steps!

Yeah, I know, there’s a Sunday Setlist in here too – part of Fred’s carnival.  But I’m combining to save time or something.

The muzik:

• Sing, Sing, Sing [A]
• Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) [F]
• Fairest Lord Jesus [C-D] (Nockles)
• kids
• Love The Lord [D]
• announcements
• message
• Your Mercy [F]

Yep – a shorter service means fewer songs (but only by 1).  I think Sing Sing Sing gets longer each time we do it… Chris keeps adding a chorus here an instrumental there, another chorus (or 3)… I think the song is up to like 8 minutes or something now.  But it’s fun to sing (which is good with how repetative it has become these days!)  Seriously.  To Tomlin’s recording we have added a 2nd chorus @ the beginning, 2 instrumentals and 2 choruses @ the end.  yup.

But I skipped ahead of myself.

We only had 6 people today – 3 singers, 1 keyboard, 1 drummer and 1 injured acoustic player.  She did great, but man do I feel bad that she came to play anyway when she could barely stand up!  Next week it’s just her & the drummer… isn’t Summer vacation fun!  Chris switched to keys since it fills in the sound better than electric, and it was great… even though most of us are feeling under the weather.

Fairest Lord Jesus… this is a great version!  It’s the one from Watermark with the addedin chorus.  Once people figured out the melody it went really well.  Yeah, it grew a little longer too (but that was my fault!)  It just seemed too soon to end it after the 4th verse. *shrug*

Love  The Lord was a bit slower today as well, since Taya was hurting – I let her set the pace that she could cofortably play, and it worked really quite well.  Jen thought it was easier to do the motions too, which helps.  Your Mercy was… well, it’s just strange to me when there’s no electric.  I’m so used to the sound that without it seems, well, lacking.  But it worked out.

It being Washington and all and the first day of Summer AND a day that we planned a BBQ, we woke up to rain.  Beautiful, drenching, soggy ground rain.

And I was praying for sun.  I know – weird.  Me actually wanting sun!

By the time church was over, however, the sun was peaking out (although there were very light sprinkles even while it was shining) and everyone was able to hang around and fellowship.

Now to the best part of the day…

It’s Father’s Day here in the States, which means that we get to spoil the lone gent here in the Hudson household.  Poor guy is surrounded by girls – even the cat is a girl!

He mentioned about 3 weeks ago that he’d been craving some red meat… and seriously, who doesn’t from time to time!  No, we really don’t eat much meat around here (too expensive).  Strange since we are all such carnivores!  So, for Father’s Day I picked up a couple of steaks…

Yesterday we had a BBQ with Eric’s Mom, and Tami & Jason to celebrate both FD and mom’s birthday.  Complete with a Cold Stone cake!  The meat was a top round London Broil.  Two, actually.  And they were HUGE.  Marinated in a garlic hoisin sauce for a couple of hours then grilled to perfection… ah yes.  Tasty.

But today is Father’s Day, right?  LEftovers just wouldn’t do.  No, we had to have something new… like top sirloin.  Plus all of the fixin’s o’course.

• Top sirloin rubbed with Montreal Steak Seasoning and seared in a butter & merlot reduction, then broiled for 10 minutes.
• Herbed new potatoes – dry roasted in a 450F oven with chopped sweet onions, oregano and herbes de Provence.
• Honey-Ginger-Dill glazed carrots.  Oh, and they were sooooo good.
• Sauteed mushrooms – sauteed in the drippings from the seared steak with some balsamic vinegar and the rest of the secred ingredients.  Sorry, my Daddy’s recipe (tweaked, of course)
• Artichoke with herbed butter & herbed sour cream for dipping.
• salad w/ crumbled feta, cranberries and cucumbers .  While balsamic vinaigrette.
• Fresh Vienna bread (a Haggen’s thing – slightly sweet, slightly crusty french-style bread.  very good)
• Sparkling lemonade

Yep – that’s spoiling the gent!  Oh, and we left the house so he could take a nice nap too.  Had to go to the store to get ingredients!

So that was our Father’s Day… relaxing, lazy and topped off with yummy food.  I’m getting ready to devour a leftover peice of birthday cake now… red velvet cake w/ strawberry ice cream.  Yum!

How was YOUR Father’s Day?

This is part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist carnival – take a few minutes to check out what other churches are doing all over the country – and world!

We were down by a couple of people today, but it was a great one!  It was one of those days that I did less leading and more worshiping…

da liszt…

• Come, Now Is The Time
• Blessed Be Your Name
• Made To Worship
• Revelation Song
• kids message
• Everything To God
• announcements… LOTS today!
• Message – Ecclesiastes 1-3
• Everything To God – reprise

We started the day with kind of a sparse crowd, but by the time we got to the 3rd song the pews were getting filled up.  My youngest was… umm.. belting it on the first song.  It was cute, but kinda distracting that I could hear her over everyone else   She was singing her heart out to Jesus!

Blessed Be Your Name is one of those songs I can’t not worship to.  I also have a hard time not singing harmony (even though I tried not to!)  We were down by 1 singer today, so I was trying to stay on the melody as much as possible.

Made To Worship went well, but wasn’t spectacular (for me anyway).  I like it, but I’m still learning it…

We introduced Revelation Song to the rest of the church (we led it last Sunday night for the handful that were there), and it went over really well.  Those that already knew it were singing along from the very beginning, and I think most others had joined in by the 3rd chorus.

I *huge puffy heart* that song!

The glimpse of heaven that it offers is… well, words cannot describe at the moment.

Ms. Jennifer read the kids a story that was taken from Eccl. 3, but put into kid terms, and then we sang Everything To God… just a tad slower than New Life Worship does it.  OK, it was a LOT slower than they do it!

Pastor Chris spoke from Eccl. 1-3, bringing out how without God everything is futile… but WITH God… well, that is a different story!  I’ll post the link to the message when it is live tomorrow.

We finished up the service with a reprise of Everything To God – Chorus, bridge, chorus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

High point?  Musically it would have to be Revelation Song.  The team has fallen in love with it (yay!) and every single one of them truly worships while we lead it.  The other high point was  getting to see some old friends that came for a visit before they head over to Europe for a month.  Hopefully they will be back to visit again after their trip.

I didn’t really have a low point this morning.  It was a great day!

So, how was YOUR service?

Part of Fred’s Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival – see what is happening at churches all over!

Wow, that was a great service!  It was so nice to just worship our heavenly Father and not have to worry about keeping to a time constraint or melding with a message.  There were a couple of new faces and a lot of usual faces missing, but I hope that those that made it were blessed – I know I was.

This was our last evening communion service until the end of Sept (we will still take communion every other week on Sunday mornings) and I for one will miss them.  But with the crazy Summer schedules we decided to take a break.

The list…

• Cry Out To Jesus [C]
• How Marvelous (I Stand Amazed) [C] Tomlin
• Communion devotional
• Take Me In [Em] similar to Kutless
• Jesus Blood [G] Martin Smith
• Majesty (Here I Am) [Em] Martin Smith
• How Deep The Father’s Love [E]
• Guided Prayer
• Grace Flows Down [C]
• Revelation Song [C] Jennie Lee Riddle

Cry Out To Jesus was a request that has been waiting for the perfect time, and Art nailed it.  It was wonderful!  It is a song that just needs to be led buy a guy, and I happily stepped back and let him take it away.  The ladies & I added our voices in on the chorus but let him solo the verses, which worked out really well.  It was very well received too (which is always a good thing!)

We did Take Me In, Jesus Blood and Majesty as a medley with Phil. 4:4-7 read between Jesus Blood & Majesty.  It went off without a hitch (which was great!)  I like to put More Love, More Power in between Take Me In & Jesus Blood too, but we didn’t do that tonight.

At rehearsal I realized that I had Revelation Song & Grace Flows Down backwards… I just couldn’t sing Grace Flows Down after Rev. Song!  So we swapped them in the moments before we started the service, and I am SO glad we did!  This was our first time leading Revelation Song, and I got sooooooo many comments afterwords.  Almost everyone there expressed interest in doing it again… as soon as Sunday if possible!  Thank you to David and the others that introduced it to me!  This Sunday Setlist carnival has helped me find quite a few wonderful songs that I hadn’t ever heard of before.  Thank you Fred for hosting all of us.

Personally, this service was just what I needed.  A chance to just worship.  To sing songs of praise and worship and adoration and acknowledgment of His sacrifice and pray for an hour was… well, words can’t describe it.  As a worship leader I often feel the pressure to make sure everyone else gets to enter into worship, that everything goes off without a hitch (right, like THAT ever happens!) and to be engaging.  I’m still figuring out the engaging part and the worshiping while being engaging part.  Tonight I decided that I’d forgo the engaging portion and just worship – no one was looking at me anyway, which was really nice!  The few people that were there were fully entering in and we were just there to worship with them.

Thank you team for putting in the time to practice and giving up your Sunday evening – I really, really appreciate it!  I hope that everyone else there was at least half as blessed as I was.  I’m sure that God was.