• Again I Say Rejoice (Israel & New Breed)
• For Who You Are (Hillsong)
• Come Thou Fount (David Crowder)
• Saviour King (Hillsong)

This was the second Sunday singing at New Horizon Church.  I haven’t watched the DVD back yet, so I don’t know if I still look like a rabbit in the headlights, but I definitely felt a bit more comfortable this week than last.

Again I Say Rejoice was fun to sing.  I was a bit worried during practice last Wednesday night as I was totally lost.  I used to do For Who You Are back home, so I was well familiar with this one.  I led on Come Thou Fount so I put in loads of extra effort last week to memorize the words.  We finished with Saviour King which is such a brilliant song.

• My Saviour Lives (New Life Worship)
• Our God Saves (Paul Baloche)
• Nothing But The Blood (Matt Redman)
• My Life Is Yours (Planetshakers)

Yes, today was the day.  My first Sunday with the worship band at NHC.  I was nervous as per usual.    It was our Baptism service today and 60+ people were baptized over the two services.  Praise God!

We sang the first three songs before the message, and the final song during the offering.  I was leading on the final song.  It’s weird leading worship with no music stand and no guitar.  I’ve nothing to hide behind anymore.  My hand was shaking so much holding the mic, I had to grasp it with both hands.  It probably looked like I was trying to rock the microphone or something – but I was not.  ;-)

I liked all the songs on today’s set, but for me Nothing But The Blood stood out this morning.

I can still remember my own baptism very well.  It was in a small church tank in Strabane, Northern Ireland. I was 14 years old.  We had joined with at least one other church so there was lots of people going through.  I seem to remember the service running into the early hours of the next morning.  Each of us came out of the tank and give a small testimony of God’s goodness.

If the outpouring God’s Spirit could be measured by the percentage of my t-shirt soaked in perspiration, today was totally amazing.  However, we can’t measure it that way at all, can we?

How do you normally know if God moved in a big way?

• The congregation goes crazy?
• The worship leader prays during the set?
• The pastor asks that you sing that song again?
• Really good feedback afterwards?
• You sweat a lot?
• You felt the “buzz” of the Holy Spirit?

How do you know?

I felt this morning went very well.  I kept a check on the congregation and they seemed to be really enjoying it and entering into God’s presence.  Even the offering / kids-going-out didn’t seem to impact too much this week.  George said some nice things after the band had finished since it was my last time.

For me, the last three went down the best – God Of All Splendour, You Are God Alone, and Amazing Love.  I dropped The Wonderful Cross.

I think the key to You Are God Alone is to avoid too much repetition.  Keep an eye on the congregation, as sometimes they can tire a little from singing the chorus over and over.  You can usually tell by the look on their faces!

This evening was a different congregation who prefer older songs.  Of the set, the two favourites seemed to be What Can Wash Away My Sin and I Stand Amazed.   After the set was finished, several people were invited to sing.  I sang Don’t Let The Fire Die by Steven Curtis Chapman.  It seemed to be accepted very well – much better than the middle songs of the worship set!

How dare you sing Amazing Grace to a different tune!

In the morning I will be leading worship at my church and in the evening I will be leading worship at my Dad’s church in Lisburn City centre. 

My band for the morning consists of Janette on keyboard/vocals, Robert on sax, James on Drums, Peter on bass/vocals and me on guitar/vocals.

Due to the fact it’s probably my last time leading worship at my church before hitting the states I asked everyone in the band to forward me a song or two that they have enjoyed playing.

James chose Knocking On The Door Of Heaven and Grace Like Rain.  Peter chose I Confess My Hope (You Alone Are God).

(E) Knocking On The Door Of Heaven
(E) Glory
(E) Grace Like Rain
(E) God Of All Splendour
(C) You Are God Alone
(D) Amazing Love
(D) The Wonderful Cross

For the evening the band consists of David on drums, Elena on keyboards and me on guitar/vocals.  The congregation prefers older songs, so I’ve tried to provide a good mixed set list of old and new.

(E) What Can Wash Away My Sin
(E) Grace Like Rain
(G) For Who You Are (Standing Here)
(G) We Stand And Lift Up Our Hands
(G) I Stand Amazed (How Marvellous!)

With having so much on recently, it’s easy to get distracted and not put the usual effort into compiling a set list.  I pray the Holy Spirit will be able to move and minister through the songs I have chosen.  I pray the band gels together like never before and we go out with a bang!

Does anyone else experience a large drop in numbers when a prayer meeting is organised?  Or a special worship marathon?  Why do people loose interest?

A few people turned up on Saturday for our day of prayer.  We started with an hour-long worship set. 

Although the attendance was low we had a nice time and the hour went so quickly.  The band were superb, even though we had not practiced for it.  Thanks to Janette, James and Peter.

After the discussions recently about keeping your eyes open, I attempted to do that this week and connect with people in the congregation.  Did it enhance the whole worship experience?  I don’t know is the truthful answer.

Ok, I’ve reduced the list for Saturday morning, and here it is.  I probably still have a few to spare, but that is always a good idea.

Here’s the first pass of songs selected for Saturday’s Day Of Prayer.  There’s far too many here, so I will drop some out over the next couple of days…

I’m leading worship for an hour this Saturday. I need to start putting together a band and set list.

Lisburn Christian Fellowship
Day of prayer

Saturday 15th September 10.00am to 8.00pm

From 10.00am on Saturday morning until 8.00pm in the evening
we will be having a prayer event to bring all that Lisburn
Christian Fellowship is and represents, before God.

As a church body we want God to bless, direct and annoint all
the activities of our fellowship. This is a time to evaluate our own
walk with God, review our part to play in this body and renew our
passion and zeal for His kingdom. We want all our church activi-
ties to be fruitful, not by power, not by might but by His Spirit.

Please take the time to spend even just fifteen minutes with us
on Saturday. Maybe you need personal time with God. Maybe
you need break-through for a situation, an illness or a friend.
Come and spend time in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We will be praying for other churches in Lisburn as well as our
local council and also a prayer-walk in the city centre in the after-
noon.

Everyone is welcome even children, we look forward to your
company on Saturday.

10.00 to 11.00am……..Worship led by Alastair Vance

11.00 to 12.00……….Prayer time for LCF
Led by Marilyn McKee

12.00 to 1.00pm……Prayer for Transform, Popcorn club, Ignite, Thrive, Mums & Todds, Kids church, Little Doves etc
Led by Melanie Hilary

1.00 to 2.00pm……Breaking of Bread ceramony, (music by LCF choir)
Led by Alan Paul

2.00 to 3.00pm……Prayer for teams; worship, presentation, hospitality, audio visual, mission support
Led by Peter Galloway

3.00 to 4.00pm…….Prayer Walk around Lisburn City Centre to pray for businesses and the people of Lisburn

4.00 to 5.00pm…….Prayer for supported Mission Workers
Led by Valerie Stevens

5.00 to 6.00pm…….Prayers for the churches of Lisburn City and the Local Council.
Led by George Hilary

6.00 to 7.00pm…….Prayers for the leadership of LCF

7.00 to 8.00pm…….Worship led by Mark Wilkinson

All times are approximate

Today’s service turned out to be a family service (kids stay in) + communion.  I knew it would be a communion, the family aspect was a surprise.  Not necessarily a bad one. 

This usually makes the service a bit more “bitty”.  What I mean by that is the worship set is broken into multiple parts (e.g. three songs, break, two songs break, two songs, finish).  Most of the time I would rather do the worship in one flowing set so people are being ushered along into God’s presence without interruption.

What’s your opinion on that?

Anyway, the service still went well especially the last song which we introduced at the last minute.

We started as planned with Grace Like Rain.  Sometimes the first song just doesn’t catch people at all and I think it was very much the case this morning.  People where settling in, finding seats, catching up with other people they hadn’t seen in a week, etc.

Then we started straight into What Can Wash Away My Sin.  This was brilliant.  I love this hymn.  I hope to do a YouTube video of it soon.  We play it quite up-tempo and it works very well.

The band I put together this week had not heard God Of All Splendour before, so I introduced it during practice.  They loved it.  It really is a great song with an amazing chorus.  It has a certain amount of predictability that makes it easy to sing.

We played God Of All Splendour while the offering was being lifted.  It’s the second time I’ve played the song in church and the congregation seem to be enjoying it.  I know the offering is supposed to be part of our worship – and we try to encourage that – but sometimes I think it can also be a distraction.  This is probably why some worship bands will do more of a performance type of song during the lifting of the offering.

After that, the band stepped down while we had a puppet show for the kids.  Then Nora shared for a few minutes.

When we returned I dropped How Deep The Father’s Love For Us and instead sang both Let Us Adore and You Alone Are God.  I think it’s getting to the stage were these two songs should really be dropped out of rotation.  They are a bit over played.

The band stepped down again while George delivered the message and led us in communion.  While communion was being served we got back up and played Saviour.  At the end of the song, Ian had something to share.  This break in between songs worked great, because our last song (which James picked during practice) was Everlasting God.  Turned out to be the best song of the set today.

Thanks to Paul, James and Niall for playing today!

It’s kind of weird leading worship for me at the moment.  Every Sunday I lead I keep thinking “this could be my last Sunday leading worship at LCF!”.  As some of you will know I’ll be moving out to Durham, NC in a month or so. 

Here’s a draft of the set list I plan to use this Sunday. It’s still subject to change and I will update the post to reflect that if necessary.

(E) Grace Like Rain
(E) What Can Wash Away My Sin
(E) God Of All Splendour
(E) How Deep The Father’s Love For Us

(G) Let Us Adore / (C) You Alone Are God *
(G) Saviour

(D) Thank You For Saving Me

* one or the other