Journey of Worship

Posts Tagged ‘setlists’

Sorry that I have not been as consistent in posting lately. I’ve had a lot of stuff going on and some things happening. This will be a quick recap, but I at least wanted to get this up for those of you who look forward to this.

This was the final Sunday of “The Hand-Off”, and the final Sunday of our senior pastor. We’ve spent the last three Sunday preparing for this time of transition. In the midst of all that, we’ve also been getting ready and gearing up for the fall ministry season. It’s been busy.

We began the service with welcome, announcements, and a time of greeting. We then had six children dedicated to the Lord.

One of our team members lead in the call to worship from Psalm 100:4-5, and then we sang O Worship the King (Grant/Gardiner/Tomlin), Be Unto Your Name (DeShazo/Sadler), and Praise the Father, Praise the Son (Cash/Tomlin). Leading into Be Unto Your Name, we had scripture from Psalm 24:1-6 read. Following the third song, we had a time of prayer and confession and scripture from Philippians 3 about not putting confidence in the flesh but our faith in Christ. I didn’t realize until later that all three of these songs were in 3/4 time, but our drummer did a great job giving them depth and body.

We then moved into the offering, and sang How Great Is Our God (Tomlin/Reeves/Cash) during it and invited people to stand toward the end.

We then moved into the message which was based out of Acts 20:17-38 and 1 Peter 5:1-4 and was focused on reminding to be faithful. Part was directed at the congregation and the other part was directed at the elders. Partway through the message, we took a moment to welcome new members into the church.

Following the message, we had a time of prayer for our senior pastor and his family as they transition. We had some folks sing the classic song “Find Us Faithful”, and then the senior pastor closed the service by praying one final time over the congregation.

We had a strong attendance, and I know that many people came to celebrate and connect one final time with a man who has pastored this congregation for over ten years. For many it is a bittersweet time as he leaves, but we also recognize a new season and are faithful to trust in God for what He will do.

To check out what other churches did this past Sunday, be sure to check out the Sunday Setlists posted at The Worship Community. Thanks for stopping by.

The Sunday kicked off the final series of our current senior pastor. As I’ve mentioned before, we are entering into a time of transition in the life of Cody CMA. Over these next few weeks, he’ll be wrapping up ministry here and preparing the church with some biblical counsel for the next season of life.

The metaphor of the hand-off comes from relay races where one runner has to hand a baton off to the next runner to keep the race going. It has to be done correctly so that the team is not disqualified and so they don’t loose precious time in a tight race. When done correctly, it is a thing of beauty that just happens. When done poorly, everyone’s attention is drawn to it and the price can be high.

This past Sunday, we spent time in the book of Philippians talking about gratefulness and thanksgiving. Our service focused on calling people to gratitude and thanksgiving in a number of ways. Read the rest of this entry »

This week we continued with our summer series of Blockbuster Message. We are nearing the end of this series, and it has been a great series with many positive benefits.

Our senior pastor was back after a time of being away, and we focused on the reality of evil in the world today. Our movie example was the recent Sherlock Holmes moves as we tackled the message that evil is just an illusion. The Bible paints a very different picture – that evil is very much real and something to be aware of. But we also took time to remember that our victory as Christians is found fully in Christ who has already won the victory.

Click through to find out how we celebrated and remembered together. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a while since I last recapped one of our services. Sorry about that. I’ve had stuff going on, and haven’t given much attention to the blog. We’ve continued to work through our summer series, Blockbuster Messages.

This past week we focused on the end of the world. Movies like 2012 paint a picture of destruction, fear and hopelessness. Yet, while the Bible also paints some vivid pictures of the end of the world, it even more so draws our attention to remember that the end of the world is coming, that we don’t know when, and that if we are in Christ Jesus, there is no reason to fear. If we live with a biblical worldview, then we will be ready and not caught off guard.

The messages we are receiving though the media are constant and often in contrast with biblical truth. We must be aware and constantly evaluating according to the Bible. Read the rest of this entry »

This week was another week of the “Improving Our Serve” series. Our focus this week was what it meant to serve like Jesus. That concept is tossed around a lot, but not always fully understand. Our primary focus was Philippians 2:5-11. We also had some other special elements this week.

Our series mascot, Skip, made a live appearance this week. Instead of a video, Skip was interviewed live about what he had learned so far about serving. It was great to have him as part of the service, and to have him help us bring serving around to the spiritual side of things. Don’t worry, there was some characteristic Skip elements, too.

This was also the Sunday where we take some time to focus on graduates and youth. They were involved more in various aspects of the service. Click through to find out more… Read the rest of this entry »

This week we continued in the “Improving Our Serve” series as we focused on what it means to serve even when people don’t accept or receive the service well. The title was “Serving Buzzards and Crows”, and it raised some eyebrows since it was Mother’s Day. We spent time in 1 Peter 2:11-12 and 1 Peter 3:15-16.

The challenge with May in our church is that during this month there are so many different elements to coordinate. It can create some challenges in creating a smooth flow of worship that allows people to hear from God and respond to Him. Honestly, I felt that this week’s service was a bit “bumpy,” but others have said that it all seemed to work. I’ve learned that when I think it’s not so great, God still uses our faithful offerings to draw people to His presence. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been kind of lax in creating worship re-cap posts lately. Things have been very busy, and sometimes some stuff has to be set aside for a while. For those who have missed, I’m sorry. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back into rhythm in the next few weeks.

This week we started a new series called “Improving Our Serve.” 2 Corinthians 4:5 says, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” The theme of serving others is something that has been growing in the heart of our congregation for some time now. Each year we take time to look at this important topic.

The choosing of this title was very intentional. The clear teaching of Scripture is that the world will know the glory of God and that Christians are, well, Christians is by how we love one another, and then others. The thing is this: it needs to happen in community, not a bunch of individuals doing spiritual things. So this year, we want to not just help people grow in serving others individually, but to do so together. Read the rest of this entry »

As we gathered on this morning in culmination of a week of remembering, reflecting, and celebrating, we again took time to praise the Lord for His mightiness. After walking through the events of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the vigil of Easter Saturday, it was good to be able to gather and celebrate something that is worth celebrating every single week – the resurrection of Jesus Christ who defeated death, sin, and the grave.

This morning was a part of our ongoing series “Do You Believe?” as we again looking at the truth of the resurrection of Jesus through some of the encounters in John 20 and asked if people believed.

For the full service experience, click for more. Read the rest of this entry »

We again gathered in our “Do You Believe” series as we remembered Palm Sunday and began the journey through Holy Week that will bring us to the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Today, we were in John 18 and began looking at the extensive injustices done to the One who is the rightful King of our lives and the world. The contrast between the celebration during Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey and the injustices done to Him by those same people is stark.

Part of wrestling with question of “do we believe Jesus is who He says He is” is also coming to grips with all that He went through and why He did it when He didn’t deserve it. An innocent man who proclaimed and revealed the Kingdom of God sentenced and punished.

We began our time together with welcome, announcement, greeting, and a reminder of upcoming opportunities to be involved with short term missions over the next months. Read the rest of this entry »

As we continue in our Easter series, “Do You Believe?”, this week we were in John 17. Our senior pastor preached a message called “The True Lord’s Prayer” as we asked if people believed that Jesus is One with the Father. As we looked at what Jesus’ prayer in John 17 revealed about Himself and about the Father, we sang of His glory and celebrated transformed hearts together through baptism.

The service began as normal with welcome and announcements as reminded people about the many events coming up in connection with Holy Week like Palm Sunday, our Maundy Thursday Passover Remembrance, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. We also reminded people about summer camps and heard about one of our regional camps, Yellowstone Alliance Adventures.

In our call to worship (written by our intern), Read the rest of this entry »