Don’t Live Disappointed.

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If it's not worth worrying about

The things that you value, are the things you spend your time on. 

What does your calendar say about what you value? Does it say you value God’s voice? You can’t hear God’s voice and know His will if you don’t make space for Him. Even Jesus had to go and get away. If Jesus needed to do so, we surely need to as well! (Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Luke 6:12)

Our church recently went through 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting together. We all come together during this time to focus on interceding for needs in our church, in our own lives, in our community and our world. Encountering God, experiencing His presence, and hearing His voice was and has been our focus. For those who aren’t use to making space to connect with God (let’s be honest, we can all do better in this area) or are new to fasting, this time was especially challenging.

This has definitely been a struggle for me, because despite my hunger to hear from Him, even when I would get in the Word, my mind would wander and worry about everything else I had going on that day,  that week. Side note: The saying rings true, if it’s not worth praying about, it’s not worth worrying about.

However, I’ve learned that God really does comes to a prepared environment. Yes, God can meet us whenever, wherever and in spontaneous moments. However, the moments when I prepare to meet with God, He never disappoints. Many Christians live disappointed lives because they miss appointments with God.

Our pastor challenged us during our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, so I challenge you:
This week set an appointment with God. Even if it is just 15 minutes! Read for 5 minutes, pray for 5 minutes and listen for 5 minutes. When Jesus was in the desert being tempted, He didn’t quote a whole passage of scripture, He quoted one verse. One verse meditated on could change your mind, heart and emotions quicker than one passage forgotten.

Set an appointment. If we don’t set an appointment with God, we could miss it, we could miss Him.

11.2.14 Set List (Communion)

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Message Series: “The Blessed Life”

The Blessed Life

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“This is Amazing Grace” – Phil Wickham – Key of E – Female 1 Lead
“God Is Able” – Hillsong – Key of E – Female 2 Lead
“Your Great Name” – Natalie Grant – Key of A – Female 1 Lead
“Broken Vessels” – Hillsong – Key of G – Female 1 Lead
“Holy Spirit” – Jesus Culture – Key of A – Male 2 Lead

At the top of the month we like to do corporate Communion. It not only starts off the month fresh, but it resets our focus as a body on Christ and His love, mercy, grace, forgiveness & sacrifice for us. This also works well to support the beginning of a new series. With that being said, our set list began with with “This Is Amazing Grace,” which reminds us of the impact of the cross. If you have read any of my set list posts before, you know I love the synth lead line in this as well… very addictive!

We continued in the key of E as we sang “God Is Able,” another great description of the victory we have in Jesus and a staple song for us at Connect. Transitioning to the key of A using the Ableton pad via midi keyboard, we sang “Your Great Name.” Again, common theme here: the cross! Sometimes having a universal theme throughout your set is good, especially if it is leading up to a particular message/moment. Just make sure the songs are theological rich in content.

Pastor then came up to read scripture and set up/administer communion as we transitioned and softly played the intro to “Broken Vessels” behind him. (Right now we do the peel back cups and place them at every chair.) We then sang “Broken Vessels,” the song we introduced last week. I knew going into Communion week I wanted to do this song. Therefore, I introduced it last week so it wouldn’t be completely new to our church. I wanted to ensure connection with the lyrics/story/melody of the song, even though it has the familiar hymn “Amazing Grace” as its pre-chorus.

For response time following the message we played an abbreviated version of “Holy Spirit,” which is attached above. During this time, Pastor invited everyone to just ask themselves the simple question: “What is the Holy Spirit saying to me through this message?” while asking the Lord to help them put Him first in every area of their lives.

Leaders are Readers

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Leaders are Readers

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” ― Charlie Jones

Sitting down and reading hasn’t always been something I’ve enjoyed. However, as I get older I’ve realized I have learned more through the books I have read than I ever did in college. Having said that, I put together a short reading list of books that not only opened my eyes to new perspectives, but also assisted in problem solving and faciliated vision in my life. So, if you are looking to grab a good book this year, take a swing at one of these:

360 Degree Leader by John C. Maxwell

Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code by Samuel R. Chand

God of the Underdogs by Matt Keller

Good Leaders Ask Great Questions by John C. Maxwell

Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton

Simple Church by Thom S. Rainer & Eric Geiger

The Blessed Church & The Blessed Life by Robert Morris

Who’s Holding Your Ladder? by Samuel R. Chand

10.26.14 Set List (Baptism)

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Message Series: “Living the Anonymous Life”

Living the Anonymous Life II

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“Running” – Hillsong – Key of E – Female 1 Lead
“At Your Name” – Phil Wickham – Key of A – Male 1 Lead
“Never Once” – Matt Redman – Key of G – Female 2 Lead
“Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace)” – Hillsong – Key of G – Female 1 Lead
“Something In the Water” – Carrie Underwood– Key of G – Female 1 Lead

This week was the last week of our “Living the Anonymous Life” Series as well as our first time doing Baptisms. So, thematically I planned accordingly. We brought back “Running” as our opener from launch day as well as “At Your Name” from three weeks prior. We used the midi keyboard to transition smoothly between these songs via Ableton pads. Details of why I chose these songs are on the previous posts when we introduced them!

After, I had our second female leader lead “Never Once.” Like the song “Cornerstone” from last week, this too is typically a male led song. However, changing it up was a fresh twist for our church. I feel “Never Once” has a message that everyone can relate to, so it really is an easy win in any set.

“Broken Vessels” was then introduced in light of Baptisms. This modern hymn was a hit with our church, especially with the classic “Amazing Grace” chorus as its pre-chorus, not to mention the beautiful picture of salvation as its chorus. It also ends with the line, “raising up the broken to life,” which worked perfectly with Baptism. The one change we made for this song that was different from the recording was we cut it at around 6:10.

Concluding the sermon, after response time (we played “Broken Vessels” instrumentally), Pastor dismissed those who were going to be Baptized to get changed and ready, and we sung “Something in the Water” while a video about Baptism played simultaneously. The idea of doing a song that wasn’t a worship song was something that I really wrestled with. The reason for that was I never want our team to come off as we are trying to give a performance during service, because leading worship is the total opposite of that. However, I really loved the story and the imagery of this song and it really went well with the video. Later, we received several encouraging comments and it helped connect and emphasize the idea and testimony of Baptism.

What Are Your Core Values?

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Everyone ends up somewhere

“Everyone ends up somewhere. Few people will end up somewhere on purpose.”

Our pastor recently did a sermon to kick off the new year and he made the above statement, encouraging us to set vision and goals for the different areas of our lives. At Connect, intentionality is something we’ve taken very seriously even in the infant stages of our church. Something we do at the end of the month for those who are interested in being apart of the platform or media team is go over our core values, purpose and mission as a team. Beyond the once a month core values session for new additions, we have a monthly team team night where core values are briefly reiterated during our time together, because we all know repetition is key.

Establishing the WHY you do what you do is very important to anyone who is planning on joining any team, but especially when they will be apart of projecting the message of the church (verbally and nonverbally) on an ongoing basis. People expect more of leadership and when you step onto the platform, by default position, you become a leader. Articulating what that should look like and simply putting that on paper, helps them know what the expectations are upfront. The purpose is not to set an unrealistic standard or unreachable goal, but to lay the foundation of what the team will be pursuing and keeping each other accountable for as a whole.

Attached are our core values at Connect: Connect Worship Team Core Values
Feel free to take these as your own or let them inspire you to establish a set for your team, if you haven’t already.