We began a new series at The Brook today entitled "Boundaries". Simple huh? Well if you've ever examined the issue of boundaries in your own life you'll know it's not so simple to do! Today Richard discussed what a life lived without boundaries looks like and the dangers it can be fraught with. At the end we gave people a quiet moment just to be quiet with the Lord and pray and ask God to show them where they were living out of bounds.
I wish I had taken a picture of the stage because I really love what we did with it for this series and it works so well with our series theme. We had a new tech on lights and sound today but they did a good job handling a more complicated service.
Here's what we did....
Countdown - I just found one with a grid because it sort of copied the feel of the stage.
Worship
1. Friend of God - Israel Houghton
2. Awesome is the Lord Most High - Tomlin?
3. Amazed - Jared Anderson
4. Breathe - Marie Barnett
Skit - "Tired When Needed" (Willowcreek)
Here we used an audio clip of the chorus and end of "Life in the Fast Lane" to transition the skit/teaching pastor. It worked great! Kudos to Nancy for thinking of it!
Sermon - Richard
Song of Prayer: Invitation - by Jan Owen (me!) (you can listen to it here)
Song of Response: Still - Hillsong
This week the crowd was a bit more lively, although the first service was still kind of quiet. In the 10:45 service we had good energy and I could clearly hear the crowd singing - it was just a different feeling alltogether, and much easier to lead. I noticed that when the crowd has energy, people feel freer to sing loudly and to clap and respond. Passionate worship is contagious!
Thanks for all the encouragement last week!
**This post is a part of Sunday Setlists over at Fred McKinnon.com. Go check it out!**
How was your Sunday?
Sounds great, Jan - isn't it like a domino effect - the more people that start singing, the more people will sing. I'm also convinced that it's tied to overall house mix and sound. Is it too late for you to take that picture?
For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon
www.fredmckinnon.com
www.theworshipcommunity.com
Posted by: Fred F. McKinnon | January 11, 2009 at 02:55 PM
I am so thrilled that people were livelier in their worship today at your church. It does make it so much easier when they are choosing to participate. See, you are called.
Please sneak back and take a picture. I love pictures or other peoples stage designs!
And post it on creative fuZion this Thursdays at designing for Philstines.
Still praying for you.
Posted by: dorothy (vicar of vibe) | January 11, 2009 at 03:35 PM
Glad you had a lively crowd. Ours were really quiet and a tough bunch but I think it's often like that after the holidays. We had two weeks where we had no JBay Java and I think everyone is just starting to get back to it.
Thanks for posting. I'm looking at a more contemplative service next week and I'm going to use some of your ideas for a bit of inspiration.
Posted by: Louise | January 12, 2009 at 01:28 AM
Awesome setlist! Sunday night we also did Friend of God. Great song!
Posted by: Johnny Sierra | January 12, 2009 at 06:23 AM
jan, glad the set worked well. regarding the series 'boundaries', have you been to mad church disease before? it's a series of posts initiated by the author of the book by that name (coming out next month i think). lots there about boundaries. some people need to create boundaries to protect themselves, others need to learn about healthy boundaries so they don't overstep them!
Posted by: bob | January 12, 2009 at 09:39 AM
I love "Still" it's been a long time since we've done that one one.
We had a much better response from the congregation during worship this week also.
Posted by: steffanie oltmans | January 12, 2009 at 10:37 AM
I like the song selection...sounds like a great day.
Posted by: Gary Durbin | January 12, 2009 at 05:54 PM
It's all be said before I got here Jan, and passionate worship is indeed contagious! Sounds like a great week for you guys!
Posted by: David Goodwin | January 12, 2009 at 06:45 PM
Sounds like a great Sunday. Where can I hear this song of yours "Invitation"? How did it go with your congregation? I am glad when I see worship leaders writing songs for their congregation to sing.
Posted by: Russell Martin | January 13, 2009 at 08:09 PM
Hi Russell, you can hear the song here:
http://aworshipfulheart.typepad.com/a_worshipful_heart/2008/11/i-hope-youll-take-time-to-listen.html
It includes a link to the story....
Thanks for asking. :)
Posted by: Jan Owen | January 13, 2009 at 08:14 PM