June 6, 2010: Baptism Sunday

copyright 2010 Cade Bowman

We held baptisms at the Raleigh service of Vintage21 Church yesterday, which always makes for a beautiful reminder of what God desires to do through the church. The short statements made by two men being baptized were so honest and real, all of us on stage were moved by their heart behind their desire to be baptized.

I Boast No More
Words by Isaac Watts
Music by Sandra McCracken

We took this meaningful song and created a slightly more upbeat arrangement based around a solid 4/4 beat. The bridge was dropped several years back, as its not ideal for congregational singing.

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

The value of this song lies in the outward focus that it brings. Where corporate worship can often become inward-focused (“I’m a worm, woe is me, I’m a worm, me me me”), this song declares both God’s power outside of our own personal life and praises His sovereignty in all things. That we are actually in downtown Raleigh always stirs my heart when we sing this song, and I wonder: Do churches in rural towns sing this one?

Sermon: Mark 10:13-34
Pastor Tyler Jones

Before The Throne Of God Above
Words by Charitee Bancroft
Music by Vikki Cook

The version we sing is by the musicians from Sojourn Church in Louisville, Kentucky. We changed the chords slightly this week, which brought a minor-chord feel to the first two stanzas, and resolved back to the original for the last one. I never grow tired of singing this melody and these words.

In Feast Or Fallow
Words and Music by Sandra McCracken

This new song by Sandra McCracken was introduced last month, and already the congregation is picking up on it. Especially the “Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel” part. Wow – that is a picture to me of the voice of the church.

In Christ Alone
Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Seeing as it was baptism Sunday, in which we often have both scheduled and spontaneous baptisms, I wanted to sing songs that reminded us just what baptism commemorated and celebrated. This monster of a song by Getty and Townend was sung with gusto, and hopefully was a reminder to those who follow Jesus and a challenge to those who do not.

Band
Keith Hibler, Thomas Dameron – Sound
Rob Fisher – drums
@GeraldUpdyke – bass
@AndreaUpdyke – vocals
@DanielRood – keys, vocals
@MattStevensNC – guitar, vocals