order of worship for 2/1/2009

Hello all - 

Welcome to MuTe to those of you who haven't been here before!  We have a few recent additions/upcoming additions to the tech team and they're probably jumping on the site for the first time.  Thank you for being willing to serve God in the local church by joining a ministry team and using your talents.  It's helpful and it's obedient.  And those two things mean that your joining and service is an evidence of God's grace at work in your lives.  Be encouraged!

To all of you new techies - the music team hears me say this probably more than they care to (so if you're on the music team go ahead and skip to the next paragraph).  If you look at the last post on this blog you'll see that Sovereign Grace is about to launch a huge sale.  One of the things that I think is tremendously important for our spiritual walks and for the quality of our ministry on a Sunday morning is that we all are familiar with the songs that we're doing.  For the power point crew on Sunday mornings, it helps on multiple fronts:

1.  When making new slides, it's helpful to know how the phrasing of the music goes so that you can divide the lines accordingly.

2.  When the congregational worship is underway, familiarity with the music will enable you to follow along more easily to feel where the song is going to go for slide changes.

3.  The more that you're familiar with the music, the more that you'll be able to engage with the worship even while you're serving on the power point team.  If you don't know the songs, you'll be distracted by reading along to make sure that you don't miss a cue.  If you're familiar with the music, on the other hand, you'll have more freedom to sing, to raise your hands, to clap, and generally to worship while you're still serving the church well.

So, it's my recommendation that you check out that sale and select a few cds that you can listen to, enjoy, make a part of your spiritual walk, and use in your service to the church.  Thanks again guys, great to have you on the team.

This week is going to be a bit different than the usual.  We're jumping into what will be a series of messages on the core values of TFC.  The messages will be spread throughout the year.  I think the typical schedule is once per month (give or take).

I'll be preaching this week on our core value of Singing in Worship.  Since singing is the theme of the message, I thought that it might be appropriate to have the bulk of the singing after the message to allow people to respond.

So, we'll have only one opening song and then we'll go into Communion, welcome, offering etc.  Hopefully I'll be preaching by 11:30-ish and we'll be back to singing sometime between 12:15 and 12:30.  We'll close out the service with music.

Rich and Pat are both away this week, so Shelly will be filling in.  

If anyone has any suggestions or questions, feel free to post.

If you would, please be praying for me as I prepare both the music and put finishing touches on the sermon.

Thanks guys,

tw

 

Sunday, February 1, 2009

 

Prelude	Music from 9:50 until 10:00
Song 1	Not what my hands have done (right click here to download the chart)
Communion
Song 2 (during communion)	A debtor to mercy alone (click here for downloadable audio and for the chart)\ Click here to purchase a copy of Upward: the Bob Kauflin Hymns Project - $8.00 Click here to purchase the mp3 download package of Upward: the Bob Kauflin Hymns Project - $6.00
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Song 3 (during offering)	Famous One (click here for a youtube video of the Chris tomlin original - or purchase from iTtunes, right click here for the chart)
Message
Song 4	Arise (i'll try to get a chart up ASAP)
Song 5	Greater than we can imagine (click here for downloadable audio and click here for a chart) Click here to purchase a copy of Psalms in cd format. - $12.00 Click here to purchase the mp3 download package of Psalms - $9.00
Scripture reading
Song 6	Praise the Lord (click here for downloadable audio, and here for a chart) to purchase a cd or download the mp3 package of Psalms see the link above
Song 7	Your great name we praise (click here for downloadable audio and for a chart) to purchase a cd or download the mp3 package of Upward: the Bob Kauflin Hymns project use the link above
Song 8	Holy holy holy (right click here for a chart)

 

resources

Well, I found out today that a bunch of resources that I had just ordered had arrived.  And I also found out this morning that Sovereign Grace is about to kick off a huge sale for all of their resources.  

I ordered a week too soon!

Guys, I cannot encourage you enough to check out this link and the information on it.  SGM is cutting costs by an average of 50% on these things - sovereign grace books, pursuit of godliness books, cds, etc.  Last year when this sale was going on, I stocked up on some stuff.  I'd highly recommend that you take advantage of it.

Take a look by clicking here

order of worship 1/25/09

Hey everyone -

Here are my thoughts for Sunday.  We'll be hearing a message from Phil. 1:6 - "he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it..."  So the themes of the songs center around God's securing grace and how we, though tempted to wander and wandering, though sometimes feeling as though we have fallen too far for grace, are tightly bound up by the finished work of the cross.  "Those whom he called he also justified, and those who he justified he also glorified."  Rom 8.

So that's what we'll be dwelling on in the songs - our objective security, whether or not we feel as though we are secure.

If anyone has any thoughts on the order, just post them.

Thanks to all of you for your service to the church.

tw

Sunday, January 25, 2009

 

Prelude	Music from 9:50 until 10:00
Song 1	Not what my hands have done (right click here for a chart)
Song 2	Come you saints (click here for downloadable audio and the chart)
Scripture reading
Song 3	Jesus, my only hope (click here for downloadable audio and the chart)
Song 4	His forever (click here for downloadable audio and the chart)
Communion
Song 5 (during communion)	How deep the father’s love for us (right click here for a chart)
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Song 6	Come thou fount (right click here for a chart)
Message
Song

To download a copy of the order, right click here

order of worship 1/18/2009

Hi all - 

Very sorry for the late notice.  We just got back from the marriage conference (a real blessing - I'd highly recommend it, if you weren't able to attend this year).

The order is below.  Since this is so late, clearly, I don't expect anyone to have learned anything new or have practiced ahead of time.  Just come with all your stuff and we'll see what we can do last minute.

Thanks to all of you for your faithful work and service.

tw

Sunday, January 18, 2009

 

Prelude	Music from 9:50 until 10:00
Song 1	O great God
Song 2	As long as you are glorified
Scripture reading
Song 3	Isn’t he good
Song 4	Great is thy faithfulness
Communion
Song 5 (during communion)	What a savior
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Song 6	Speak O Lord
Message
Song

To download a copy, right click here

sunday evaluation and the value of owning the music

Hi all - 

I don't have much by way of evaluation except to thank and encourage the team of musicians from this Sunday.  Each of the musicians mentioned on Sunday that they own the Psalms cd that had the new song "Greater than we can imagine" recorded.

I think that the value of owning the music was clearly seen/heard/experienced this past Sunday.  Each of the musicians had spent some valuable time listening to and digesting the song.  It enabled a lot of freedom during practice so that rather than teaching, we were able to tweak very specific things in our arrangement, sound, and application.  So, I want to thank all of you who were involved this last week.  And I want to commend these musicians to the rest of you (vocalists and musicians together) as examples of what happens when we learn the music ahead of time.  It was a tremendous help to me to be able to spend the 10-15 minutes, that generally would be involved in teaching, by arranging, adjusting, working with transitions, etc.  And by extension, I believe it ministered to the church.

I know that a few of you probably didn't particularly "like" the song.  But I think that you will agree that, even if you didn't particularly appreciate the style, the execution of the song by the instrumentalists on the team was tight (despite a couple of broken strings).  So, I'd ask that you consider their example and seek to imitate it in this small area.

Thanks guys,

tw

order of worship 1/11/09 - guest sunday

Hi everyone - 

Thanks to everyone who was involved this past Sunday.  I received several thanks from people who appreciated the songs that we lead.

Congrats to Alan who has a new granddaughter (and a cute one at that)!  Thanks, Alan for your willingness to serve even during such a special time.  Since my son's under 5 months old, I understand the sacrifice (though I imagine it's somewhat different as a grandfather).

This Sunday is a guest Sunday which creates a bit of a different tone than is typical.  We'll do the two new songs that we did last week - Speak O Lord (hopefully to be intro'd by Shelly on her violin with Anna on piano) and Greater than we can Imagine.

I'd like to ask that the musicians be extra prompt this week - if possible, let's be setup to begin practice at 7:30.  Usually our goal is to arrive at that time (though we still have some trouble hitting that more weeks than not).  I'd like to have not only arrived, but tuned, plugged in, made copies (if necessary - hopefully not), and limbered up the fingers/wrists by 7:30 so that we can dig in to practice and some arranging.  And Eric used to say "boy, it's early" at 8:30 as he was taking a gulp of coffee and trying to loosen up his voice!  I think that it would serve the congregation and especially our guests if we could maximize our time.  So, if we could do that, I'd really appreciate it.

By the way, I've corrected the link for "Greater than we can imagine" so that the chord char/lyric sheet is available, rather than the lead sheet.  Also, it looks as though the Psalms cd is on sale for $12.  I'd highly recommend taking advantage of that - if you haven't already (and I know that several of you have - and the evidence is clear in your comfort level in playing and singing the songs).

That's about it.  If there are any questions or suggestions, feel free to post.

See you then,

tw

 

Sunday, January 11, 2009

 

Prelude	Music from 9:50 until 10:00
Song 1	Speak O Lord (click here for a cheesy video that includes a recording of the song, and right click here for a chart)
Scripture reading
Song 2	Grace unmeasured (click here for audio and a chart)
Song 3	Greater than we can imagine (click here for audio, and here for a chart)
Song 4	Because of you (click here for a video that includes audio of the original recording - we will not be doing this arrangement.  and right click here for a chart)
Communion
Song 5 (during communion)	Amazing grace (my chains are gone) (click here for a video that includes the audio.  I'll try to get a chart up tomorrow)
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Song 6	Before the throne (click here for audio and for a chart/lyrics)
Message
Song