Today is the funeral for my friend, Dean Maggard. Dean was a long time member of the church I currently serve, and was one of the sweetest, talking-est people I knew. He was great. Deep baritone voice, contagious laugh, big smile that you couldn't chisel off. He used to say that he had a voice and a face for radio, and that the reason he liked me was I had the same.
When we do a series of messages that are tied to Wednesday night gatherings, we call that a super series. For me, the best part of doing a super series was getting to the Wednesday night component early, before the meal started, and sitting at the table with Dean. We would sit and laugh, mostly making fun of each other and our wives. Wednesday nights will not be the same without my friend Dean. The room of 200 people or so will seem empty.
Rest in Peace my friend. We will see you later...
Monday, July 13, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
My first look at the Wasabi Gospel
A few weeks ago I answered a twitter from Shawn Wood about possibly getting to read his new book, “Wasabi Gospel” early, and writing about it here. To be honest, I didn’t think that I would get to participate, because I didn’t respond the very second he tweeted it (Shawn is a popular guy). I couldn't not try, as I am a big Sushi fan. Low and behold, I got the email and here I am. This is just one of many in the “Wasabi Gospel Book Bomb” on Amazon.com. You can pre-order today and get a good deal on both of Shawn's books.
Having read the entire book from virtual cover to virtual cover, I can tell you that it has caused me to re-think how I look at pieces of scripture, and not just the ones covered in the book.
I have chosen to write today, about the first chapter in this post, not just because it is, what I am sure will be, the first of several posts about the book, but because it is in the first chapter where a term that completely wrecked me came from… Preemptive Forgiveness. I have always known that Jesus died for my sins and the sins of others, but to put it in that wording brought it back to life for me.
One of the things that I struggle with is anger issues, which extend sometimes to forgiveness problems. I have in the past few days in particular, been praying about a situation and I keep going back to this quote: “We often become intoxicated by our anger, happiness, sadness, or other emotions and are left with an emotional hangover. In order to make sober decisions we must somehow separate ourselves from our emotions.” (pg 16). I haven’t perfected it by any means but I am working.
I say all that to say, go out and get this book, you won't regret it, even if it wrecks you, and it will.
Having read the entire book from virtual cover to virtual cover, I can tell you that it has caused me to re-think how I look at pieces of scripture, and not just the ones covered in the book.
I have chosen to write today, about the first chapter in this post, not just because it is, what I am sure will be, the first of several posts about the book, but because it is in the first chapter where a term that completely wrecked me came from… Preemptive Forgiveness. I have always known that Jesus died for my sins and the sins of others, but to put it in that wording brought it back to life for me.
One of the things that I struggle with is anger issues, which extend sometimes to forgiveness problems. I have in the past few days in particular, been praying about a situation and I keep going back to this quote: “We often become intoxicated by our anger, happiness, sadness, or other emotions and are left with an emotional hangover. In order to make sober decisions we must somehow separate ourselves from our emotions.” (pg 16). I haven’t perfected it by any means but I am working.
I say all that to say, go out and get this book, you won't regret it, even if it wrecks you, and it will.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Father's Day reflections
Today has done a couple things for me. The first is to remind me how blessed I am to have a family that loves me and blesses me with their talents and gifts. Note...
So today has been bitter sweet for me. Mostly sweet with memories, old and new.
Later kids...
- My day started by seeing a drawing taped to my dresser from my middle son Joey. It made me smile. He is talented like his mother.
- I then got the great gift of having my oldest son, Andrew be the Front of House sound engineer for worship this morning. He is an amazing servant, and has a great ears.
- During church, I got to watch people be touched by a video that my beautiful wife Jenny shot and edited. She has a way of making the story jump off the screens. God gave me a gift I didn't deserve when he sent her to me.
- After worship, we had lunch together as a family, and then we sat on the couch as my youngest son, Aaron, played piano for me. He is my free spirit, easily distracted, but gifted.
- When he was done, he went to the computer and started to lay down piano tracks for a video that Jenny is working on.
So today has been bitter sweet for me. Mostly sweet with memories, old and new.
Later kids...
Sunday set list 6.21.09
Happy Father's Day.
Today was one of those days where I woke up late and kind of rushed to get out the door. On of those days when I hoped I hadn't left a gap unshaved on my head or face. A day where one of my vocalists, who happens to be our children's pastor, calls me and tells me he can't sing because his host for this morning is sick. A day where one of our camera ops doesn't show up and we have to put a new guy in the booth with one of the graphics computers. Sounds like a horrible day, huh?
Not at all. It was wonderful. We got to do an extra song, happy fathers day to me, and we got to hear from one of the great seasoned men of our church. All in all, no major distractions, and the congregation sang out strong, even with our numbers down just a little. I went without my in ears monitors today, and I am glad I did. My son Andrew was running FOH, and he had a really good mix today. I could hear well, and I coiuld hear the congregation too. I got a couple of compliments on his mix this morning. He is Awesome.
Here is how the day went...
"My Savior Lives"
"Mighty to Save"
Welcome, and set up
Father and Son mini testimony and prayer
"Marvelous Light"
"My Jesus, I Love Thee/Tis So Sweet" Bart Millard arrangement
Greet
Message (Our Associate Pastor, Adam, preached at our campus today, and our Senior Pastor was at our Greenwood Campus)
Announcements and Offering prayer
"Your Grace, Still Amazes Me"
Benediction
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.
Today was one of those days where I woke up late and kind of rushed to get out the door. On of those days when I hoped I hadn't left a gap unshaved on my head or face. A day where one of my vocalists, who happens to be our children's pastor, calls me and tells me he can't sing because his host for this morning is sick. A day where one of our camera ops doesn't show up and we have to put a new guy in the booth with one of the graphics computers. Sounds like a horrible day, huh?
Not at all. It was wonderful. We got to do an extra song, happy fathers day to me, and we got to hear from one of the great seasoned men of our church. All in all, no major distractions, and the congregation sang out strong, even with our numbers down just a little. I went without my in ears monitors today, and I am glad I did. My son Andrew was running FOH, and he had a really good mix today. I could hear well, and I coiuld hear the congregation too. I got a couple of compliments on his mix this morning. He is Awesome.
Here is how the day went...
"My Savior Lives"
"Mighty to Save"
Welcome, and set up
Father and Son mini testimony and prayer
"Marvelous Light"
"My Jesus, I Love Thee/Tis So Sweet" Bart Millard arrangement
Greet
Message (Our Associate Pastor, Adam, preached at our campus today, and our Senior Pastor was at our Greenwood Campus)
Announcements and Offering prayer
"Your Grace, Still Amazes Me"
Benediction
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.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Sunday set list 6.14.09
It has been a couple weeks since last we spoke friends. Here is my report from today.
We are in a series called "StoryTellers", and we are working through the parables. Today was the parable of the wedding feast. We used a video from the Free Hugs Campaign to illustrate the invitation to the party. This seSries really plays to strength of both Rick and Adam, in that they are both very comfortable with using stories in their sermons. After the service, I got to go out into the Atrium and hold a sign that said "Free Hugs". I got about 100 hugs. It was great. Being Italian, I will hug all day long.
Here is how it went...
"Forever"
Welcome and set up of the day
"Sing to the King"
"At the Cross"
Greet
Message with "Free Hugs" (see it here)
Prayer written by Mother Theresa
"Dear Lord, Help me spread your fragrance wherever I go. Flood my soul with your spirit & life. Penetrate me, possess my whole being so utterly all my life may only be a "radiance" of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only you, O Lord! Let me preach you without preaching, not by words, but by my example by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to you. Amen." Mother Theresa
Announcements and Offering Prayer
"Healer" Kari Jobe version
Benediction
Later kids...
This post is part of the "Sunday Setlists" blog carnival over Fred's place. Click on the graphic to see what other worship leaders had to say about their Sundays.
We are in a series called "StoryTellers", and we are working through the parables. Today was the parable of the wedding feast. We used a video from the Free Hugs Campaign to illustrate the invitation to the party. This seSries really plays to strength of both Rick and Adam, in that they are both very comfortable with using stories in their sermons. After the service, I got to go out into the Atrium and hold a sign that said "Free Hugs". I got about 100 hugs. It was great. Being Italian, I will hug all day long.
Here is how it went...
"Forever"
Welcome and set up of the day
"Sing to the King"
"At the Cross"
Greet
Message with "Free Hugs" (see it here)
Prayer written by Mother Theresa
"Dear Lord, Help me spread your fragrance wherever I go. Flood my soul with your spirit & life. Penetrate me, possess my whole being so utterly all my life may only be a "radiance" of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only you, O Lord! Let me preach you without preaching, not by words, but by my example by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to you. Amen." Mother Theresa
Announcements and Offering Prayer
"Healer" Kari Jobe version
Benediction
Later kids...
This post is part of the "Sunday Setlists" blog carnival over Fred's place. Click on the graphic to see what other worship leaders had to say about their Sundays.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Sunday set list 5.24.09
I know, it has been a long time since I posted. I have had a rough last couple weeks, not sleeping and having nightmares again. Luckily I slept pretty well last night. I needed it.
We did something that we have never done. We used a drum, click and loop track. Our drummer was out of town, and we have been wanting to try it, so we took the plunge. I have to say, it went really well. We only did 2 songs with it, but we tied them together and let the computer run. The 2 songs that we did were familiar to everyone, so they didn't have much trouble. We used Ableton Live 7 and ran it out to an M-Audio box that sent the different tracks out separately so our FOH engineer could mix them.
We also got to do a baptism today. That always gets me fired up. Makes me all jumpy and excited.
Here is the set...
"Holy is the Lord"
A prayer based on Psalm 147
"Here I Am to Worship"
Welcome
Baptism
Prayer
"Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)"
Greet
Message
Announcements and Offering
"Free to Be Me"
Commissioning of Stephen Ministers
Benediction
It was a busy Sunday, but a really good one for us. I will post later this week about what, if any, reaction we get to the loops and such.
I hope your Sunday was as fun as mine.
Later kids...
This post is part of the "Sunday Setlists" blog carnival over Fred's place. Click on the graphic to see what other worship leaders had to say about their Sundays.
We did something that we have never done. We used a drum, click and loop track. Our drummer was out of town, and we have been wanting to try it, so we took the plunge. I have to say, it went really well. We only did 2 songs with it, but we tied them together and let the computer run. The 2 songs that we did were familiar to everyone, so they didn't have much trouble. We used Ableton Live 7 and ran it out to an M-Audio box that sent the different tracks out separately so our FOH engineer could mix them.
We also got to do a baptism today. That always gets me fired up. Makes me all jumpy and excited.
Here is the set...
"Holy is the Lord"
A prayer based on Psalm 147
"Here I Am to Worship"
Welcome
Baptism
Prayer
"Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)"
Greet
Message
Announcements and Offering
"Free to Be Me"
Commissioning of Stephen Ministers
Benediction
It was a busy Sunday, but a really good one for us. I will post later this week about what, if any, reaction we get to the loops and such.
I hope your Sunday was as fun as mine.
Later kids...
This post is part of the "Sunday Setlists" blog carnival over Fred's place. Click on the graphic to see what other worship leaders had to say about their Sundays.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday set list 4.26.09
OK, so today was one of the crazier days I have had as a worship leader. First, it is always crazy when whoever is speaking has to cover both campuses. Today was Adam's turn. On days like today, we have to front end everything in the service in order to give Adam time to drive across town. At the end of the set, during the last song before offering, we had a person pass out, and the folks around him started working on him, and then they called out for a doctor. So, and this is one of the reasons I have the best band in the world, we faded out of the song we were doing, and I started praying as they worked with him, and got him into a wheel chair and out to the EMT's. When the song was over, Adam had arrived but was back stage and didn't really see what happened but heard me talking. I made the decision that that moment was not at all the time to take an offering, so we went ahead and sang a scaled back version of "Enough" and then went into the sermon bumper and sermon. We had planned to do a song at the end of the sermon anyway, so when Adam finished up, we came out and I led into the offering and did the benediction out of that. Good news is that Eric, the guy who passed out, is fine.
So here is the set list...
"Beautiful One"
"Mighty to Save"
Welcome and Sermon Set up
"Blessed Be Your Name"
"Never Let Go"
"Enough" scaled back for prayer sake
Sermon Bumper
Message
Offering
"Draw Me Close" (on the fly, thanks to my Piano player, a 25 year veteran of worship leading)
Benediction
This post is part of the "Sunday Setlists" blog carnival over Fred's place. Click on the graphic to see what other worship leaders had to say about their Sundays.
So here is the set list...
"Beautiful One"
"Mighty to Save"
Welcome and Sermon Set up
"Blessed Be Your Name"
"Never Let Go"
"Enough" scaled back for prayer sake
Sermon Bumper
Message
Offering
"Draw Me Close" (on the fly, thanks to my Piano player, a 25 year veteran of worship leading)
Benediction
This post is part of the "Sunday Setlists" blog carnival over Fred's place. Click on the graphic to see what other worship leaders had to say about their Sundays.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday Setlist 3.29.09
Today was one of our best Sunday's ever. Even with introducing 2 new songs (not something that we normally do) the participation was great.
"Thief" (Third Day)
We started the service a little differently today, by doing a song that I would classify as a special. We did some different things lighting wise, in that we don't usually do a lot of changes during songs, and it was just me singing. It was well recieved.
Welcome and set-up
"Glorious One" (Steve Fee)
"Trading My Sorrows" (Darrel Evans)
Greet
"Today is the Day" (Lincoln Brewster"
I have been wanting to introduce this song for a while now, and the sermon and the theme for the day fit well, and after teaching them the verse and chorus, they sang right along.
Message
Offering Prayer
"Glorious Impossible" (Carl Cartee)
I heard this song for the first time when I was at Re:Create in February. It is an amazing song. It pushed me vocally in the chorus (the key is in F#), but it was well worth it. Powerful lyrics.
I have to give a great big shout out to my tech team today. They did an amazing job with all the lighting changes, and the screens looked great.
This post is part of the "Sunday Setlists" blog carnival over Fred's place. Click on the graphic to see what other worship leaders had to say about their Sundays.
"Thief" (Third Day)
We started the service a little differently today, by doing a song that I would classify as a special. We did some different things lighting wise, in that we don't usually do a lot of changes during songs, and it was just me singing. It was well recieved.
Welcome and set-up
"Glorious One" (Steve Fee)
"Trading My Sorrows" (Darrel Evans)
Greet
"Today is the Day" (Lincoln Brewster"
I have been wanting to introduce this song for a while now, and the sermon and the theme for the day fit well, and after teaching them the verse and chorus, they sang right along.
Message
Offering Prayer
"Glorious Impossible" (Carl Cartee)
I heard this song for the first time when I was at Re:Create in February. It is an amazing song. It pushed me vocally in the chorus (the key is in F#), but it was well worth it. Powerful lyrics.
I have to give a great big shout out to my tech team today. They did an amazing job with all the lighting changes, and the screens looked great.
This post is part of the "Sunday Setlists" blog carnival over Fred's place. Click on the graphic to see what other worship leaders had to say about their Sundays.
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