Please pray

Hey guys,

Would please pray for a worship leader in Florida. His name is Will Pufall, and he is in a pretty dire place in the hospital with an infection. He is a close friend of my friend Fred McKinnon down in GA. Fred posted a few minutes ago that they have asked Will's family to come to the hospital.

Thank you for your prayers

Wizard of Oz

For the last 2 weeks my sons and I have been working on "The Wizard of Oz" at our Jr. High. I lit the show, and Andrew did sound. It was a lot of fun and the kids did a great job. Here are some pictures my brother in law took. My son played "Nikko" the head of the flying monkeys.
Enjoy...









Later kids...

Sunday's setlist 3/01/09

Good morning,

Yesterday was one of those days when I wasn't sure what was going to happen. As some of you know, I am having a really hard time with my ears. I had tubes put in 6 months ago, when I was having so much trouble hearing. In the last 3 -4 weeks, my hearing has gotten a lot worse, and my ENT doc told me that both of the tubes had moved out of position and that they were blocked and unable to drain my tubes. So, in a week and half, I have to have the old ones removed and new ones put it.

Until March 11th, I have to put up with not hearing well at all. That is why I wasn't sure about the service yesterday. Luckily, I have a great band and group of singers who held me up, and took care of it for me. The set was a good one for this sermon, on the man born blind.

"Better is One Day"
Announcements
Baptism
"Let Everything that Has Breath"
I started the chorus cold, as the pastor said Amen, as the response and celebration of the baptism.
"Indescribable"
Greet
Message
Communion
"Touch of His Hand"
This song was written by a friend of mine, and was the perfect tie to the song. You can listen to it here
"Hungry"
Offering
"Pure"
This song wrecks me every time. Simple, yet powerful. "Your everything I want, Everything I hope in, Everything my heart cries out for"

That will be my prayer this week.

Later kids...

This post is part of the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival on my friend Fred McKinnon's blog. Click on the logo below to see other setlists and worship reports from around the world.

Lenten fast

Good morning,

I wanted to drop a note and tell you how cool my kid's are. On Monday, we finally sat down as a family and discussed what we would do for lent. We usually try to do something together. This year, my boys drove the discussion and decided that "we" would give up eating out, and meat. Now, eating out is not too big an issue, but MEAT? I am a carnivore. I said, "Well, that won't be too bad, I can still have fish and chicken, right?" My middle child looked at me and said, "No, if it had a face, we don't eat it!" Dang, it.

I am really proud of my family, and it will be an interesting40 (47 really) days.

What are you fasting from for Lent?

Later kids...

Beautiful Jesus

Several of you have asked about the song Beautiful Jesus. It is by Kristian Stanfill. You can get it on iTunes or Amazon. There are 2 versions of it. One that starts with electric guitar, which is on his album "Hello", and one that starts with an acoustic. This one is on the Passion CD "God of This City"

I hope you use this song, and it speaks to you and your congregation as much as it does to ours.

Later kids...

Sunday's setlist 2/22/09

Sorry this is so late. We spent most of the afternoon watching really bad movies.

Yesterday was a day that I was really looking forward to since we were going to introduce "Beautiful Jesus" to the congregation. I love this song, and it seems to grab me and pull straight to Jesus every time I sing it.

Here is the set list...

"Beautiful Jesus" just a verse and couple of choruses
Welcome, sermon set up, and announcements
Baptism
"Beautiful One"
"Open the Eyes of My Heart"
Prayer and Greet
Message
Adam, our associate pastor, did a really good job with the message today. He and I work pretty closely together, but he is usually at our Greenwood Campus on Sundays, so it is good when he preaches at Melrose. The sermon was right in his wheelhouse as he spoke of spiritual development.
Offering
"Beautiful Jesus"
Our congregation really sang out on this. I am very excited about it. It usually takes them a couple of times hearing a song before they start really singing out. I foresee this song being in our regular rotation.
Benediction

All in all it was a good Sunday. Thanks for checking in.

Later Kids...

This post is part of the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival on my friend Fred McKinnon's blog. Click on the logo below to see other setlists and worship reports.

Lent Series graphic

Here is the new graphic Jenny has put together for our Lenten Series that kicks off on March 1st. I will include updates, stage pictures and sermon highlights in my Sunday Setlist postings over at Fred's Place.

The series will visit different people from the Gospel of John whose life was completely changed when their life met Jesus.

Later Kids...

Love You

This morning, as I sat in Starbucks pouring over planning center and finishing up the next month and a half of music for the Melrose Campus, I got a facebook chat popup from my friend Kate. The only words on it were, "Love You". This is the only thing that Kate ever says in these chats, and they are completely random in timing. This morning was particularly impactful for me. During my week at Recreate, I learned to look for God in all things, not just music or a beautiful piece of art. This morning, as I was bogged down in the busy-ness of ministry, God jumped out at me, through a beautiful little girl with Downs Syndrome.

Thank you Kate, for reminding me that I am loved by God, and by you.

Tell someone "Love You" today. See what happens.

later kids...