Today is the fifth Sunday of the month, which may or may not mean anything to you. To me, it represents a potential monkey wrench thrown into the scheduling of bands at Vintage21 Church. My hope is that each band gets used to “their Sunday”, and will leave it reserved to play music for church. In time, it will hopefully become second nature, and when scheduling camping trips or vacation, people will remember their Sunday. Otherwise, if people are in and out of bands each week, the whole reason for musicians being in bands is lost.
This Sunday I invited several band leaders from the Raleigh campus to lead worship. As we began planning songs and the service, I realized that each one is a gifted singer. Singing is not my strong suit, so I gladly stepped aside and let them take the reins. The result has been beautiful – they harmonize without a second thought, lead the congregation well through their singing, and create worshipful melodies of joy in praise of God. This is a gift to Vintage21 Church, and I praise God for bringing them here to serve.
My Hope Is Built
Words by Edward Mote, 1834
Music: William B. Bradbury, 1863
Arrangement by Vintage21 Church
When a hymn speaks truth as simply and deeply as this one, we must labor to write arrangements that allow people to worship through this song. I’m not knocking William Bradbury’s arrangement, but the timelessness of this song isn’t the music, but the words. So we kept the melody, but created a foundation that well suits the melody and words, instead of the default waltz/drinking song that is so easy to fall into with a song in 3/4.
Sermon: Philippians 3:1-11
The Wondrous Cross
Words by Isaac Watts, Jesse Reeves, J.D. Walt and Chris Tomlin
It’s a beautiful thing when the Holy Spirit of God leads us in worship. It’s clear in scripture that God really cares about getting the glory due His name, so why would he not want to lead the service each week? If this is true, why would we not look to God then for leadership? In the past, I planned out songs week by week, and after talking to Pastor Tyler Jones about where the sermon was going, I’d then pray and choose songs based on the scripture and the direction he’s headed with it. The reality now is that with multiple bands, the desire for excellence and familiarity with the songs by each band, and the directional changes that occur after a week of studying the scripture, commentary, and praying, it’s not possible to plan out songs on Tuesday for rehearsal on Wednesday. However, I can still pray, and still study the scripture, asking the Holy Spirit to guide me to the songs for Sunday ahead of time. This song is a good example, as it contains similar words and ideas to the scripture for this week. One of my favorite things on Sundays is singing the words that were just preached.
When Tears Fall
Words and Music by Tim Hughes
This is a beautiful song, and my first time playing it. It’s a well-written song, a good example of instrumentation that drives the lyrics to an appropriate place of worship. The congregation here at Vintage21 Church has really latched onto this one, and I have as well.
Songs Of Joy
Words and Music by Thad Cockrell and Matt Stevens
Today’s scripture passage begins with “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.” That’s what this song is about.
Band For Today
Keys, Backing Vocals: Laura Wooten
Drums: J.M. Huret
Sound: Matt Baldwin
Guitar, Vocals: Josh Bain
Guitar, Vocals: Thad Cockrell
Bass, Vocals: Mike Simons
Guitar: Matt Stevens
Today’s Sunday Review is posted in collaboration with other church music ministries at Sunday Setlists.
Matt Stevens is the Worship Pastor for Vintage21 Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Contact him via Twitter: @MattStevensNC 
Facebook page for Vintage21 Music
Follow Vintage21 Church on Twitter
This looks like an amazing weekend! I cannot imagine being able to draw from leaders from other campus’, what a blessing!
We have benefited greatly from also having ‘assigned weekends’, but like you the 5th weekend creates problems…
We have experimented with several things, my favorite is, our assistant worship leader helps to develop a ‘youth band’ made up of our top upper highschoolers. We have used them a number of times with great success (we also have our assistant worship guy on stage with them). This has become our feeder band, it’s working out better then i could have imagined! Keep up the great work!
I hear you on people remembering when it’s their Sunday to play. I do the scheduling for all the ministries at my church and it seems like theres always someone who forgot it was their week. I now have all of our ministry volunteer schedules on our church website in addition to the hard copy that we mail. I’m hoping this convenience will help peolpe remember.