Message Series: Questions & Answers: Questions & Doubts We Encounter

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“You Came To My Rescue” – Passion – Key of F – Female 1 Lead (Multi-track song)
“Heaven and Earth” – Hillsong – Key of A – Female 1 Lead (Multi-track song)
“Always” – Kristian Stanfill – Key of A – Male 1 Lead
“Your Great Name” – Natalie Grant – Key of A – Female 1 Lead

Our opener is a newer addition to our library and our team absolutely loves it! It’s so fun and the message is spot on for what we want to be putting in our heart, mind and spirit. Mainly, it’s a song of gratitude, which is perfect for an invocation song. We used a multi-track for both this song and the song that followed, “Heaven and Earth,” which was the song we introduced for this new series. We vamped on the verse though before cueing the track, as Pastor Devin welcomed everyone and set up the new song, which he did really well, emphasizing us inviting Heaven to come as we enter into God’s presence.

The congregation really seemed to take to it and ending with the powerful bridge was a sure win, “by His stripes we are healed, by His death we can live, in Jesus’ name, in Jesus name… all oppression will cease, every captive released, in Jesus’ name, in Jesus’ name.” We then remained in the key of A and swelled into the intro of “Always.” We ended with tagging “from the Lord…” at the end of the bridge before a four count into “Your Great Name.” It worked really well that the last three songs were all in the same key and made it a distraction-free set by helping avoid any awkward dead space in the transition moments.

We concluded “Your Great Name” with the tags as well and ended with a celebratory moment before concluding with a closing prayer and transitioning into meet and greet. We made that change since coming back from Church of the Highland’s GROW conference, because we really enjoyed how they journeyed in worship. (Two up-tunes or celebration songs, one intimate worship song and concluding with a mid-tempo song which ends in celebration.) Since trying this format out, we have really noticed a change in the way people enter into worship. They just seemed more engaged when we add more celebratory moments rather than reflective moments. Not to say we no longer facilitate reflective moments, we just make those more selective.