copyright 2009 Gabriel Rodriguez http://gabrielboone.com

This past week, we were honored to play the Advance Conference and Acts 29 Boot Camp. Several people have asked about the set lists from those events. Here they are:

Advance 2010 Conference
Songs of Worship

April 26 – Monday Morning Worship Session

“How Great Thou Art”
Stuart Hine/Swedish Folk Tune
© 1941,1953,1955, Stuart K. Hine, Renewed 1981 Manna Music, Inc.

“The Power Of The Cross”
Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
© 2005 Thankyou Music

“Come Ye Sinners”
Joseph Hart, Dan Hamilton, Taylor Johnson, Ryan Owens, and Robbie Seay
© 2005 Birdwing Music

“Holy Is The Name” Mike Simons
© 2009 Mike Simons

“Highest And Greatest”
Nick Herbert, Tim Hughes
© 2006 Thankyou Music

April 26 – Monday Afternoon Worship Session

“My Hope Is Built”
Edward Mote, Thad Cockrell, Mike Simons, and Josh Bain
© 2009 Little Hoss Music
© 2009 Mike Simons
© 2009 Josh Bain

“Holy Is The Name”
Mike Simons
© 2009 Mike Simons

“Only Your Blood”
Neil Robins
© 2009 Neil Robins

“Into The Arms of Jesus”
Thad Cockrell
© 2009 Little Hoss Music

Acts 29 Boot Camp
Songs of Worship

April 28 – Wednesday Morning Worship Session

“And Can It Be That I Should Gain”
Charles Wesley and Matt Stevens
© 2009 Talkstretch Music

“In The Shadow Of The Glorious Cross”
Rebecca Elliott and Brooks Ritter
© 2007 Sojourn Community Church

“Into The Arms Of Jesus”
Thad Cockrell
© 2009 Little Hoss Music

“All Creatures Of our God And King”
David Crowder, William Henry Draper, Brent Milligan, St. Francis of Assisi
© 2002 worshiptogether.com songs
© 2002 sixsteps music
© 2002 Moon & Musky Music

“My Hope Is Built”
Edward Mote, Thad Cockrell, Mike Simons, and Josh Bain
© 2009 Little Hoss Music
© 2009 Mike Simons
© 2009 Josh Bain

April 28 – Wednesday Afternoon Worship Session

“The Power Of The Cross”
Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
© 2005 Thankyou Music

“When You Are Not Enough”
Thad Cockrell and Matt Stevens
© 2009 Little Hoss Music
© 2009 Talkstretch Music

“To Know Your Name”
Matt Crocker
© 2007 Hillsong Publishing

“Holy Is The Name”
Mike Simons
© 2009 Mike Simons

copyright 2009 Geoff Wood Photography http://geoffwoodphotography.com/ @geoffwoodphoto

Leading worship at a conference can feel like being in charge of cooking at an Iron Chef competition. In the back of your head there’s a feeling that you’d like to give a good showing, and the feeling that people expect a good showing. Having attended many conferences, I admit there’s often a prevailing temptation to judge and critique the band and leader, or at the very least crane your neck to see what pedals they’re using. At it’s worst, the time of worship through song can turn into a performance from the band to crossed-arms smirks of Simon Cowells.

Let’s call a spade a spade. Almost everyone there leads ministry, many of those ministries dealing with Sunday morning corporate worship. It’s not only a job, but a calling and a passion, so we would naturally be interested in what’s happening on stage. Due to the community focus of the local church and responsibilities of leading, it’s rare we’re able to visit other churches. Considering these factors, the temptation to watch and brainstorm is understandable. Personally, I’ll allow observation during certain times, usually one unfamiliar song, or during a song that’s so familiar it’s accompanied with a burned-out feeling. Limiting this time allows you to faithfully engage in worship and still satisfy that natural curiosity.

Here are several things to consider when leading worship at a conference:

Jesus Christ Is The Leader, Not You

Worship leaders are not modern-day priests, leading people into the presence of God. This is the work of Christ, who has “entered once for all into the holy places” (Hebrews 9:12). According to Hebrews 9, the atoning blood of Christ has secured our redemption and torn down the wall of the curtain separating us from the presence of God. To lead worship with the thought that it’s on you to conjure up God’s presence or that you have special access to God and it’s good for everyone that you’re there so they can hear from and sing to God is not only arrogant but blasphemous to what Christ has done on our behalf. Read Hebrews and discover what Christ has done and is doing; it will free you from such pressure.

Choose Songs People Will Know

This is a difficult task, especially if you don’t keep up with the latest trends in contemporary worship. You also don’t want to choose mediocre songs just because they are familiar to people. The majority of people at conferences have a church background of some sort, so consider hymns over the contemporary songs. For the Advance Conference, we’re kicking off both sessions with older hymns that are fairly well-known; “How Great Thou Art” and “My Hope Is Built”. We’ve rewritten the arrangements in order to add more melody and groove but kept the familiar aspects of each. Some newer songs are okay, if they are both familiar and excellent. For example, “In Christ Alone” is a monster of a song, and there’s a reason it’s become so popular.

Introduce Original Songs Carefully

Not every church does original music, and oftentimes any new song they introduce has already been purchased from the Christian bookstore by many people in the congregation. Introduce original songs carefully; the last thing you want to do is draw people out of an atmosphere of worship, and launching straight into a new song or over-explaining can have the same effect as a giant record needle scratching. Ask yourself this: why are you doing an original song? Is it so people know you do original music at your church, or are you attempting to further your personal agenda by getting your name out there? Is the song on par with hymns and popular contemporary songs? Is it easily singable beyond the context of your own church? Last year we introduced “Into The Arms” by @ThadCockrell, who led a Vintage21 band, and for months after I received emails asking for a recording. This year we’re playing “Holy Is The Name” by V21 band leader Mike Simons, which I think is on par with every other song we’re playing, and I anticipate more emails about this one.

Pray

Good gosh, have you prayed about this? There’s so much planning that goes into leading worship at a conference, much more than the established rhythm of a Sunday service. Prayer is often left to the last minute or disregarded altogether. If Jesus Christ is the leader and facilitator of our worship, and we’re gathering to sing to Him, lift up His name, hear from Him, and confess our sins through Him, why would we not ask Him to lead us? Simply gathering a bunch of Christians who are excited to be at a conference and who like to sing loud to a group of talented musicians does not equate worship. Pray that God would lead and move beyond what you have planned. And pray that He would guide you in planning. Despite all the practical considerations, the best laid-plans are foolish and useless without the leadership and guiding of the Holy Spirit.

Recently @Nate_Williams and I attended the @Verge2010 conference, which focused on “gospel-centered missional community”. While the humble mindset of the speakers and organizers was to interpret scripture and live out the commands of Christ and follow His example, there was an underlying backlash to what the church has become in our day. This is understandable; if the Western church was living out gospel-centered missional community, there would be no need for a conference, we would simply do it. The unintended irony was that this call for small community was taking place in a large, mega-church setting. As @JonMcintosh points out in his reflections on the Verge Conference, worship gatherings should not be abandoned.

“Maybe some failed to notice, but during Verge we were convicted, inspired, moved, and challenged… all through preaching and powerful corporate worship experiences.”

Read more on this at ReThinkMission.

Something special occurs during corporate worship at conferences, and people often write it off as the hyper-emotionalism of conference junkies, or with the critique that “it’s not the gathered local church, so it’s not legit.” Most conferences aren’t trying to replace the local church, so any truth of this critique lies with the sin of the people attending. Like all things where man digs in with his prideful, dirty hands, you’ll find that some aspects are good and some are bad. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water (seriously, what crazy person first said that? And how did it stick?).

Today on worship.vintage21.com, we’ll examine several positives of large conferences.

Conferences Are Not Your Church

For many pastors and ministry leaders, weekends off are rare; arguably impossible. Last Sunday I was off from leading and attended the 7:00 pm service. Not only is it difficult to worship due to dozens of ideas and critiques running through my brain, but immediately after the service I was grabbed to pray with a woman who wanted to pray with a pastor. It was my privilege and honor to do so, and this is not a complaint. However, with conferences it’s not your church, so you don’t have to be on the clock, and you are almost guaranteed that no one will ask you to help with something. If they do, ask for your money back, or practice saying NO.

Take advantage: Relax and listen. Use this time to soak in and focus on what the Spirit is speaking to you instead of the constant outpouring that is demanded of pastors.

A More Accurate Picture Of God’s Church

The sad reality is that most churches are culturally homogenous, which does not accurately reflect the Kingdom of God. Attending a conference provides an opportunity to gather with people from hundreds, even thousands of churches from all over the country. This depends on the conference, of course, as sadly there develops a subculture of cool within Christian circles. A favorite game on the way to Christian conferences is to choose who else in the airport is heading to the conference. You’ll be amazed at how easy this is. And as much as I’d like to think I’m outside of this critique, you’d probably pick me in this game. Back to the point: a large conference contains voices and cultures outside of the smaller pool of people that is the local church.

Take advantage: Open your eyes, meet new people outside of those you came with, listen to the voices of God’s people around you as we worship together. Be renewed in your understanding of the vastness of God’s kingdom.

Excellent Teaching

The firehose of information and insight that takes place at conferences is unparalleled by the local church. Where else can you hear speakers, thinkers, and pastors like Mark Driscoll, Matt Carter, J.D. Greear, Ed Stetzer, Tyler Jones, and Tullian Tchividjian in one place?

Take advantage: Attend every session, take notes, and visit the mp3s later of the speakers that were particularly inspiring or helpful.

A Chance For Renewal, Inspiration and Guidance

Over the years I’ve gained many ideas and even developed new directions from being at conferences. Often it’s unrelated to the topic at hand, but an approach or mindset taken by the speaker will spark something in me, and I walk away with tons of notes. The plane ride back from and days following a conference are often extremely productive. Conferences are also a good reminder that you’re not alone in this journey, and not the only person who faces struggles. Seek time with people outside of scheduled events, listen to their struggles and share yours. It’s almost guaranteed that you’ll receive solid advice, new insight, or empathy.

Take advantage of the time away from the needs of your local church and gather with people who understand your struggles.

Worship leaders, to this end we’ll be gathering on Monday, April 26, 7:00 pm at Tyler’s Taproom in Durham (324 Blackwell St, Durham, NC). If you’re interested, contact me at matt at vintage21 dot com.

Tomorrow we’ll examine what goes into leading corporate worship at conferences.

Copyright 2009 Gabriel Rodriguez http://gabrielboone.com/

Advance Conference 2010

What began as an idea in the mind of @PastorTyler has grown into Advance The Church – a movement calling churches in the South to recognize and repent from the weak morality Christians are holding high in place of Jesus. Last year’s conference was an amazing beginning to what is developing into a movement, and several Vintage21 musicians were honored to lead those attending in worship through singing. This year we’re leading on Monday, and excited to roll out a Vintage21 original that hasn’t been heard outside of our Sunday services, written by band leader Mike Simons. I’m also looking forward to being led on Tuesday by bands from The Summit, the church partnering with @Vintage21Church in @AdvanceTC.

Acts 29 Boot Camp

Vintage21 Church has been blessed to be a part of and serve within the Acts 29 Network. It was through the support of churches in the network that we were able to survive early on, and they also share our love and call to plant churches. One of the key events of Acts 29 is the Boot Camp. It is some of the best training and assessment out there for church planters. I’ve attended several, and it’s a deep, deep time for men and their wives who are wrestling with the call to plant a church. They are taught, challenged, deepened, and called out- it’s truly intense, tough love. We consider it a high honor to host and lead worship for the Acts 29 Boot Camp.

My hope is that coupled with depth of teaching and challenge would be a chance for these men, their wives and the current church planters to worship God with great abandon. That they would be held by God in this time, knowing that beyond the assessments, beyond the temptations to look good in front of other church planters, beyond the connecting; that every person would know that they are held by God. In praying and planning for these times, I’m asking that God would lead us towards songs that humble us all. There’s no better way to begin a day of teaching, conviction and guidance by the Spirit than with a humble heart, and that can only come through seeing God and realizing our place before him- broken men and women to whom he has given the right to be called sons and daughters.

Attn: Worship Pastors/Leaders

While there aren’t any official events for Worship Leaders/Pastors at the Acts29 Boot Camp, I’d love to get together with any of you who may be attending. At Regional Events for Acts 29, we’ve had some profitable discussions among our oft-misunderstood and stereotyped group. My email address is matt@vintage21.com please let me know you’re coming so we can plan on getting together. Or tune in on twitter by following @MattStevensNC

Today is the regional Advance event hosted by Vintage21 Church. Look for the audio and notes tomorrow here on this site, as well as the Advance blog.

This morning Pastor Tim Smith from Mars Hill led two sessions on missional worship. Those sessions were both affirming to what we’re currently striving for and convicting of areas we fall short. A personal area of darkness illuminated by God’s truth during Tim’s session was my lack of worship outside of the service, specifically in the area of my own family. During the session he pointed out several foundational areas we often skip over or short-change. Here are those areas:

• heart before practice
• private before public
• singers before performers
• worshipers before leaders
• family before congregation

I plan to spend time examining each one of these areas in my own life, repenting of my sin and praying that God will change me. Hopefully repentance and faith in these areas will come to our band leaders and musicians as well.

more to come…

“I am pleased to finally announce the official launch of Re:Sound (ReSound.org) on June 4th at the Advance 09 conference in Raleigh, NC. After a great deal of blood, sweat, and legal fees, I could not be more excited to bring you the musical wing of The Resurgence. Just as Pastor Mark has established Re:Lit to make available culturally accessible, biblically faithful resources in print, we will do the same with music. Re:Sound music will be a consistent stream of music that is theologically unified, stylistically diverse, and musically excellent. Better yet, these resources will be FREE for any non-commercial or ministry use. ”

Visit The Resurgence to read the remainder of the post.
Invite your friends on the facebook page for Re:Sound.

Perhaps one of the most difficult cities to contextualize the gospel in is Seattle. This is what makes Mars Hill church so effective at teaching about contextualization and missionality – they have effectively taken the gospel to a culture that would make most shirt-tucked, clean-shaven suburban church leaders cringe and question their methodology. And no other city is so identifiable with a music scene as Seattle. The band Ex Nihilo is a beautiful example of amazing worship music and contextualization. Their versions of “Here Is Love” and the Miller tune “All My Tears” are enough alone to come. You’ll praise God, and then geek out on their pedals.

Check out Ex Nihilo here.
Invite your friends on the facebook page for Re:Sound.

Re:Sound Reason #2: Music by Sojourn Community Church

All one really needs to do in order to make this argument is post a link to Before The Throne. This album has been a regular in the Vintage21 office for almost two years now, and their arrangement of the song “Before The Throne” is a favorite at Vintage21 Church in our Sunday worship services. I’m blown away by the song choices, writing, arrangements, playing, production, even the packaging of this album. But Sojourn Community Church is more than music; Mike Cosper, the Worship Pastor at Sojourn is a leading contributor to The Open Sourcebook, which “aims at creating useful, plain-language resources for worship.” In all songs and writings coming from the folks of Sojourn Church Music, worship of God is the clear foundation.

Not only will we be led in worship by Mike Cosper and several musicians from Sojourn Community Church, but you’ll have a chance to pick up their new album at Re:Sound, two weeks before you can buy it at their website. This album will continue Sojourn’s leadership of church musicians nationwide, not only leading us in praise to God but also giving us a vision of contextualization and excellence beyond the canned “worship sound” that churches get stuck in.

Visit Sojourn Music.
Invite your friends on the facebook page for Re:Sound.