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.

 

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

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“This is Amazing Grace” – Phil Wickham – Key of E – Female 1 Lead (Multi-track song)
“Beneath the Waters (I Will Rise)” – Hillsong – Key of A – Female 1 Lead
“My Heart Is Yours” – Kristian Stanfill – Key of A – Male 1 Lead
“This I Believe The Creed” – Hillsong – Key of E – Female 1 Lead (Multi-track song)

Starting a new series to kick off the launch of our new semester of Connect groups, we stuck with really strong staple songs for our church. We have done “This Is Amazing Grace” many of times, but this was the first time we had played it along with a multi-track, which really helped beef up the sound so to speak. Our main reason was to make sure we had the synth lead line and other pads available with this track in order to best replicate the recording. It worked well and made a difference in the fullness of sound.

We then via pad transitioned to the key of A for “Beneath the Waters,” where we vamped on the intro progression while Pastor Devin welcomed the congregation and gave an invocation prayer prior to the song. For me, this song is more focused on the story of baptism, but the message of the bridge is so powerful as well as the sing-ability of the chorus, which made for a good mid-tempo addition to the set.

After ending with a down chorus, we remained in the key of A for one of our church’s favorite songs, “My Heart is Yours,” which our male leader led…very well I might add! We tagged “take it all, take it all, my life in Your hands” three times before letting it shimmer out and cueing the multitrack for “This I Believe.” The intro to this song is so recognizable and while we had only introduced it a few weeks back, our church already has gained so much familiarity and love for it.

I can honestly say not one of these songs did I feel people not fully engaged, which is saying a lot. Other than the feel and message of the songs in this set, this is the main reason why I chose this combination. I knew people can, do and love to sing them and that’s what really matters. When people engage, God inhabits the praises of His people. This brings us back to our purpose and goal: We want people to encounter God, experience His presence and hear His voice.

Message Series: “Alive: Celebrate the Resurrection” | Easter Sunday

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“Alive” – Hillsong – Key of G – Female 1 Lead (Multi-track song)
“Only Your Love” – Kari Jobe – Key of E – Female 2 Lead (Multi-track song)
Video Testimony
“In Christ Alone” – Kristian Stanfill – Key of G – Male 1 Lead
“Forever – Shorter” – Kari Jobe  – Key of G – Female 1 Lead
“My Heart Is Yours” – Kristian Stanfill – Key of A – Male 1 Lead (Response)

Easter Sunday, the “Superbowl” for the Church as some people like to call it, is here. For this set, I won’t necessarily break down thematically why we chose these songs, because I’m pretty sure you can guess: they all enforce the story of the Cross. I am mainly going to talk through transitions.

We opened with “Alive” by Hillsong, which was a new song for our congregation. I know introducing a new song on Easter isn’t the most recommended. However, with it being an opener and it fitting perfectly with “Alive: Celebrate the Resurrection,” there just wasn’t a better choice lyric and feel wise. Instead of ending abruptly like the recording, we decided to do a trashcan ending to lengthen the time of celebration at the end and give Pastor Devin more time to get to the platform for the welcome.

During the welcome, we transitioned to the key of E via pad and softly played the intro of “Only Your Love.” When Devin began the invocation prayer at the end of the welcome, we faded the pad and hit the Multi-track for the song, which has pads on it and a pretty lengthy intro. We had coordinated with him how long the intro was, so he could say amen just in time for us to come in at the verse.

We also did a trashcan ending for this song but less celebratory than “Alive,” which followed with a testimony video. The video was mainly talking about what Christ had done in your life since being at Connect. This video was a perfect transition to the song “In Christ Alone,” in which we chose the new Stanfill arrangement with the added bridge. We ended with the tag, “till He returns or calls me home…” and then transitioned to “Forever” in the same key. We chose to do the shorter radio edit version of this song because the previous songs in our set were so lengthy, we needed to cut to keep worship around 20ish minutes.

For our response time following the sermon, we chose “My Heart Is Yours,” which is great for an Easter salvation message, especially for those dedicating or rededicating their life to Christ. For us, this set was a great opportunity to give and create an array of powerful celebratory and reflective moments. It provided a great progression of the message of Christ and His sacrifice for us on the Cross and ended with a declaration of surrender in the song “My Heart Is Yours”.

Message Series: “Integrity: Part III” | Palm Sunday

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“This is Amazing Grace” – Bethel – Key of E – Female 1 Lead
“Here For You” – Chris Tomlin – Key of E – Female 2 Lead
“Holy Spirit” – Jesus Culture – Key of A – Male 1 Lead
“Place of Freedom” – Highlands  – Key of E – Female 1 Lead
“Holy Spirit – Response” – Jesus Culture – Key of A – Male 1 Lead

Even though it was Palm Sunday, we chose to conclude our “Integrity” series this week because Pastor Devin realized that two weeks wasn’t enough time to deliver all the information needed. Thematically, we chose songs that worked for both the series and the occasion of Palm Sunday.

We opened with “This Is Amazing Grace,” and while this is mainly an Easter themed song, we weren’t planning on doing it the following week and it reinforced the series, so we kept it in that spot. “Here For You” was the song that followed that centered around Palm Sunday. To transition these two songs, Pastor Devin came and gave a general welcome and read a Palm Sunday passage to lead us right into the verse.

Following a down chorus, we transitioned to “Holy Spirit,” which I also chose for the Palm Sunday theme, focusing on the prayer of inviting God into our lives to dwell, the pursuit of His presence and the idea of surrendering everything to Him. We also came back to a shorter version of this for the response time.

We ended our set with the fairly new “Place of Freedom,” which our church really seems to love. The chorus is simple and the slow paced nature of the song allows for reflection and time for people to enter in. Overall, this particular set worked well for us trying to accomplish the two-themed goal.