Worshiping Together: 1/31/10

We began our second series of the year this past Sunday called “be People of Prayer.” If you are the observant-type, you may notice that the title and look is similar. This is by design, as the previous series (Be People of the Word) and this one (Be People of Prayer) are designed to work together. We’ll be taking the next four weeks looking at some different aspects of prayer and helping people to begin to establish or continue a pattern of prayer.

The first week was focused on looking again at the example of Jesus and the time He spent in prayer. We looked at Mark 1:35-39, Luke 6:12-13, and Luke 22:39-46 as Jesus prayed often, He prayed hard, and He prayed through. Click for more info and video!Here is again some video of the music portion of our service.

Our call to worship started with a video called “God Speaks” from Floodgate Productions. Check it out:

Worship Music from 1/31/10 from Chris Gambill on Vimeo.

We then moved into our song portion, which had a strong theme of seeing and acknowledging God’s glory in our midst. Our call to worship was based off of Psalm 95 from The Open Sourcebook, and then we did As It Is In Heaven (Maher/Cash), Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King (Robinson/Miller) and All Who Are Thirsty (Brown/Robertson). We read portions of Psalm 5 during the prayer and reflection time, and then moved into the new song by Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown Glorious. I had sent a video link for the song out earlier in the week asking people to familiarize themselves with it and we also did it as the service began. There was a great response to this song for the first time doing it together. People really seemed to engage with it and respond to it. This song has a great message and declaration, and I think it will be a strong addition to our song repertoire.

Following that we moved into our offering while watching a video about some of the international work our denomination is doing, and then moved into the message.

Following the message, we closed the service with something we started a few years ago and has been very well received. At the beginning of each year, we take a Sunday and end the service by having the elders and pastors pray for each family. We line up at the front, and then invite families to come up one by one and share anything they would like prayer for. Then the elder or pastor standing with them prays for them, and another family comes up. It’s a great time of ministry and connection, and something we look forward to as leaders, but also the congregation looks forward to.

It was a great Sunday. People seemed to hear and respond to the voice of the Lord in many ways. The second service was very full, and there was a great energy and connection. May the Lord continue to bless us as we worship Him together.

If you were there, I would love to hear your comments.

Check out what other worship leaders and churches are doing at Sunday Setlists over at The Worship Community.