It was a little nerve-racking to step onto a foreign stage and lead a new faith family in worship. I arrived in Westminster on the Tuesday after Easter (having just lead a Palm Sunday production, holy week services, and Easter Sunday). The week leading up to my first time leading worship with WCON was a whirlwind to say the least. But when I stepped up for the first Saturday night together I felt strangely comfortable and at ease. I mean I have led worship all over the country each a first time together but this night was different. It wasn’t a calm derived from years of experience but a calm born out of a gentle confirmation that God had orchestrated this to be and this was His plan for this next chapter of my life.
3 baptisms for the weekend was also a great way to start off my tenure here at WCON. A celebration of life, new life, and new family. Before our first service Sunday morning started I took some time to pray for this new family as well as my old extended family back in Tennessee. As long as I can get out of the way, God is going to do great things here in Denver (as well as Tennessee).

All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises by Paul Baloche
You You Are God by Beach, Walker
God You Reign by Lincoln Brewster and Mia Fieldes
From the Inside Out by Joel Houston
My Jesus I Love Thee/Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus/You Are My King Medley (original arrangement)

Check out what other churches are doing at “Sunday Setlists” or TheWorshipCommunity.com.

Well I have been pretty quiet lately. Not because I forgot to blog but simply my life has been beyond crazy and I just haven’t been able to find the time. Part of the deal with accepting the position an my new church was for them to allow me to take a little longer to get there due to my commitment to our Easter season at my now former church. We had a big production planned for Palm Sunday (and the Saturday night before) and then Holy week services followed up by Easter then a Uhaul truck ride across country. It was a very busy time to say the least.

Because of the grace extended from my new church to allow me to stay longer than what they may have wanted and what would be normal in a situation like this, the timing made it so that I would have to work the first weekend. I spent the first two days in a Uhaul driving from Tennessee to Colorado, had staff meeting Wednesday morning and a special rehearsal Thursday night. In between all that I was learning all the things you need to know when starting at a new place, unpacking and setting up my office, trying to plan out services and meeting so many new people that I can’t keep names straight yet.

And now it is Saturday morning, only hours before my first worship service with my new faith family (and a few band member I will be meeting for the first time hours before service). I felt more underprepared for Thursday’s rehearsal than I have in a long while – afterward I felt much better but still a little scattered. Tonight and tomorrow morning are going to be great and I am just thankful to be a part. God has called me to begin a new chapter in the life of my family. While I know it won’t always be smooth and easy, I do know that God has prepared this way for us and we follow.

We have known about this move for a little while now. But it’s honestly just felt like talk. I have been so focused on rehearsing for our Easter Production that the new job talk has been just talk. It wasn’t till I got home from rehearsal last night that I had that first real moment. I saw the for sale sign in the front yard of what is honestly our dream house that we built. I pulled into the driveway, stopped short of pulling in the garage and audibly sighed as a multitude of thoughts ran through my head. Memories of living here for 9 years, thoughts of what’s to come, and fear of trying to sell a house. I’m sure I will have many more of these moments as time goes on.

We are excited about this new season in our life and so happy to join a faith family in Denver who wants to see their community know the Love of God. We are thankful for our time we have spent here with our friends and family. Even still a sign in the front yard floods the mind with every thought imaginable. The audible sigh was one of joy and sadness, excitement and bereavement.

It is hart to first identify the stirring in your heart. There is a number of different ideas that go through your head as to what it could be.

“Is there more I should be doing here?”
“Is God calling me on to another ministry?”
“Is God calling me out of ministry?”
“Is God suggesting we use more harmonium in worship?”
“Is God letting me that I shouldn’t have eaten 2 gas station burritos?”

I wasn’t looking for another job. I was very comfortable where I was. I was happy with a great job, a new house, good marriage, and wonderful ministry. And that is when it started, right when I was finally hitting my stride. I worked hard to convince myself that it was a stirring to do greater things where I was – to grow my ministry, to figure ways to better the situation in which I was serving. I spent most of my daily prayer just asking for guidance over and over. I kept asking God to identify that stirring inside me.
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It was a bittersweet day today. This week has been one of the longest weeks in my life. It’s the week I have had to announce to some of my closest friends that God is leading my wife and me to Denver Colorado. It’s hard to give that news to people you have lived life together with, have poured yourself into, and have grown with personally and musically. Nonetheless, through much prayer we are just trying to be listening to what God has in store for our lives. Even though personally it was a different day, it’s not about me – Worship was wonderful this week. We played to new songs (well one new presentation of an old hymn). I have fallen in love with Resolved Music’s Enfield Hymn Sessions version of There is a Fountain – just absolutely love it. And Stay Amazed is a song I highly recommend for your worship services if you haven’t already been singing it – powerful!

Hear Our Praises – Reuben Morgan
All Because Of Jesus – Steve Fee
Everlasting God – Brenton Brown and Ken Riley
There Is A Fountain – William Cowper and Lowell Mason (Enfield Hymns Version)
Stay Amazed – Jamie Birkenfeld, Klaus Kuehn, and Robert Quintana

You can check out other setlists from around the country at Sunday Setlists at TheWorshipCommunity.com.

It’s easy to let things get in the way of our goals, our hopes, our dreams. When insurmountable odds are stacked against us we just as soon bow out than continue the course. Below is the true story of a group of children who wanted to play football. They saw what no one else did and persevered in the midst of unbelievable odds to achieve their goal (pun intended). Don’t let anything get in your way today. Be bold and go big. Always be winning.

The creation story told by Long Hollow Baptist Church. Creative moment using many mediums from environmental projection, music, art, spoken Word, and more. But it’s not creative for creative sake. It’s creative for the sake of connecting a group of people to a creative God. I love how worship explodes out of this.

This conversation was sparked in a former post by trying to figure out the difference between a hymn and a modern hymn. And I’ve been having this conversation with people around me ever since. What defines a hymn? What is it that makes us use the term hymn for some songs and worship song for others? Instrumentation? Meter or style? Year written? Chord progressions? Melody?

Here is what the dictionary says.

hymn |him|
noun
a religious song or poem, typically of praise to God or a god : a Hellenistic hymn to Apollo.
• a formal song sung during Christian worship, typically by the whole congregation.
• a song, text, or other composition praising or celebrating someone or something : a most unusual passage like a hymn to the great outdoors.

With that definition, what’s the difference between a hymn and anything modern worship song we sing? One of the major discussions in a lot of church settings is the use or non-use of hymns in worship? Is there something other than the year a song was written that defines it as a hymn?

What do you think? Is there a difference between hymns and other songs used in worship?