August 2, 2009

It’s been several weeks since my band led worship at the Raleigh campus, and all week I was excited to do so over several services. This set list has several staple songs for this band, as well as a few new songs that will probably become regular songs at V21. Besides working on tempo, it was a solid day, and an honor to lead with these people. We tried in vain to come up with band names, so any suggestions you have are welcome.

And Can It Be That I Should Gain
Words by Charles Wesley
Music by Thomas Campbell
Arrangement by Vintage21 Church

While this one isn’t normally an opener, we stepped up the tempo and intensity and it worked well. A bold first song to sing – do people really feel the weight of this privilege at the outset of the service? If you wonder what I’m talking about, read my previous post regarding the mindset we bring to the service.

God Of My Life, To Thee I Call
Words by William Cowper, 1779
Music by Clint Wells, Brian T. Murphy and Ben Pocta

This is a beautiful arrangement by some of the musicians at Red Mountain Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s been a while since any one band regularly sang this song, but I felt we needed to bring it back. Sometimes, there’s just a feeling about a song, and I believe it’s God’s Spirit guiding us.

Sermon: Mark 3:7-21
In Mark 3:7, Jesus has just healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath and the Pharisees are now intentionally meeting in order to kill him. After the Pharisees are meeting in order to determine how they might kill him, Jesus withdraws with his disciples in order to send them out.  Jesus sends out his disciples to preach, have authority, and to cast out demons.  Jesus is sending his disciples to continue the ministry that he has begun in chapters 1 and 2.  This week Pastor Tyler specifically looks at the way Jesus calls his disciples and how that should guide the church as disciples are continuing to be formed in the name of Jesus.

By Thy Mercy (Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory)
Words by James Cummins, 1839
Music by Greg Thompson, 2004
Additional Music and Lyrics by Matt Stevens, 2008

We’re still working on the tempo and groove of this one. If we go too fast, it can feel out of control. But that’s tough as well, because I dig the energy and build of it. The “you are good, lord Jesus” part always feels so appropriate to me.

Only Your Blood Is Enough
Words and Music Neil Robins, adapted from “Psalm 51 Part II”

This is a song from Sojourn’s new album “Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, volume one”. I plan on writing a separate entry on this song, so stay tuned.

Chainbreaker
Words by Charlie Hall
Music by Kendall Combes, Dustin Ragland, Brian Bergman, Quint Anderson

Wow, what a difference tempo made in this one! Another battle to keep from speeding up, but when we laid back at the 6:00 service it made a huge difference. I can’t help but smile when singing “Yeah, the Son has set you free” due to the overwhelming nature of God’s grace. It’s ridiculous to think God loves us that much, and that our response is so weak and stubborn.

God Of This City
Words and Music by Richard Bleakley, Boyd Aaron, Peter Comfort, Ian
Jordan, Peter Kernaghan, and Andrew McCann

After singing of our dependence upon God, His work on the cross, and our freedom through that, I wanted us to turn our focus outward towards going from this service back into our city lest we become so inward focused. You can’t separate God’s grace in our lives from his call that we continue his work in building the kingdom, and for this reason this song is perhaps one of the most appropriate closing songs we have.

Band
Sound: Jeff “Sub Bustin’” Tyndall
Bass: Jerry “4 8 15 16 23 42” Updyke
Drums: Daniel “Misses Out Because He Doesn’t Watch LOST” Deese
Backing Vocals: Tiffany “Sheets” Ashford
Keys: Scott “You Are Everybody” Andrews
Lead Guitar: Paul “My Pedals Rule Only Slightly Less Than My Playing” Sheeran
Guitar, Vocals: Matt “FOR THE LOVE, We Need A Name” Stevens

Today’s Sunday Review is posted in collaboration with other church music ministries at Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlists.