I have a stack of songs to introduce to LCC, some have been in the stack for a very long time. The stack consists of new originals, new covers, old songs to re-arrange, hymns…you name it. The pace at which those songs get introduced is slower than I’d like and I usually attribute that to lack of time. But slowly my thick head is understanding God’s providence over the songs we sing and when we sing them.

I’ve had Joe Day’s “Prayer For Faith” in this stack for a long time. This week it was finally introduced, it felt much too late for my liking, but after worshipping with LCC, I could see the timing was God’s and just right. I love it when a line of the song you never expected to hit hard just wrecks the place. My expectations were all wrong for the song and I’m so thankful they were, because God accomplished what he wanted.

2 lines in particular penetrated our hearts as a congregation and we had to go back and reflect and sing them again.

And your love endures

Like you said it would

That promise and thankful praise for God’s faithfulness in his love really ministered to me and to the congregation as a whole. I’m thankful that God’s love has endured in our church through so many difficult periods, corporately and individually. The spirit in the church was appropriate…humble, joyful adoration of our Savior, who’s loved us through every last circumstance, trial, failure, victory and prayer. Thanks you Jesus.

1. The World Can’t Take It Away – Ryan Delmore
2. God of This City – Bluetree (loop available)
3. My Soul Sings – Delirious (loop available)
4. Prayer For Faith – Joe Day
5. Where You Go I’ll Go – Brian and Jenn Johnson (loop available)

This post is part of The Worship Community’s Set List Sundays.

(Report of original posted in 2008)

There are plenty of lists out there talking about “thanksgiving” worship songs, as in giving thanks to the Lord. That’s all wonderful stuff, but I think the question people are really asking is, what does the church have to sing about the actual Thanksgiving dinner. America has some of the best holidays, and thanksgiving dinner deserves to be sung about. Here are the top 5 worship songs for Thanksgiving dinner:

1. Hungry (Kathryn Scott)

This song is a perfect set opener,  it acknowledges what we’re all here for. We’re hungry and we want turkey, it’s that simple. I think this song captures it perfectly:

Hungry I come to you for I know you satisfy
I am empty but I know your love does not run dry
So I wait for you, so I wait for you

Turkey always satisfies. Nothing better than a moist, properly cooked turkey, so I like the stance of faith this song takes and says, “turkey you will NOT run dry.” Lord knows there is also a lot of waiting, patience is so key on this holy turkey day. I end up repeating that last refrain over and over, “so I wait..for you…so I wait…”

2. O Taste and See (Jenn Johnson)

Romans 1:20 says that “God’s eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.” Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in turkey meat. This song challenges us to taste and see God’s goodness, his eternal power and divine nature inside that turkey. And just as Romans says, once we do, we are without excuse.

O taste and see that the Lord is good
O taste and see that the Lord is good to me
You have turned my mourning into dancing put of my rags and clothed with gladness

The “clothing of gladness” sung here is obviously a metaphor for gravy. I love to clothe my entire plate with gladness gravy.

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In December of last year Mark and Kendra Rohl told their story of their struggle to have children in their “God In Our Worst Times” post, which I encourage you to read. They spoke of their frustration, sadness, but ultimately their hope in Jesus and that he is faithful.

In yesterday’s service they took the stage with their newly adopted baby, Tobias Aaron Rohl, and told the story of how in the blink of an eye God rained down a deluge of blessing. They were minding their own business when they got the call…a mom in labor chose them as parents for her baby boy. Just an incredible story, and one I look forward to writing about this week, the conclusion of one chapter and the beginning of another. It was such an answer to prayer for the entire congregation, and as a church body it was so wonderful to celebrate together. There weren’t many dry eyes yesterday as we sung to Jesus and thanked him for His goodness, which truly is beyond measure.

Worship went really well. We did communion at the end of service which I thought went great and we sung God of This City which people really entered into. It was great to see the body unite like that. BTW I finished and released the loop for God of This City, hope you enjoy.

1. Jesus’ Name – Ryan Delmore
2. God of This City – Bluetree (loop available)
3. True Love – Phil Wickham (loop available)
4. Come Thou Fount
5. Where You Go I’ll Go – Brian and Jenn Johnson (loop available)

This post is part of Fred McKinnon’s Set List Sundays.

I was hoping to have had at least one of the new loops I’ve been working on completed for this Sunday, but it wasn’t meant to be. I did remix an existing loop for How I Live though and was much happier with how it sounded. We kind of had to start over with he mixes in our headsets and FOH because we had another church use our sound system. Times like these I wish we had a digital board. But I actually think we got things sounding better than previously after working with it.

Worship went great, people really entered in, there was a reverent, passionate spirit in the building and it was a joy to see our body unite in worship the way they did. Really awesome. We started off One Prayer with an amazing sermon by Francis Chan speaking on God Is Strong. I was curious to see how our sanctuary operated as a “video venue” and it worked great. I was really encouraged by how much people entered in. People were engaged and attentive to the sermon and I think our body was blessed. So thank you Francis Chan!

1. Skeleton Bones – John Mark McMillan (loop not yet available)
2. Hosanna – Hillsong United (loop available)
3. How I Live – Kyle Campos (loop available)
4. Messiah – Phil Wickham
5. Where You Go I’ll Go – Brian and Jenn Johnson (loop available)

This post is part of Fred McKinnon’s Set List Sundays.

Coming off a big Easter and all the work that went into it, I basically took a week off from working on new arrangements and loops. Well, that’s almost true, we did do a new arrangement of Phil Wickham’s “Messiah” but we just put that together in practice before service. So for the most part the set was filled with familiar stuff which I think was necessary for the congregation after a Easter full of new songs and big productions.

I’m still bummed out about how late people are to the service. Literally there was a handful of people at the beginning and then it filled up by the time worship was over. It really doesn’t sit well with me and it’s not an attitude we ever want to settle for in our church. I know almost every church has the same problem, but I think God made me especially irritable to that kind of laziness. Or maybe it’s my sin issue, probably a combo of both. Here’s the source of my frustration and Life Connection people I hope you are reading this cause I love ya, but let’s get our act together.

Corporate worship in the body of Christ is extremely important, it’s something to be valued, cherished, sacrificed for and given to for the benefit of the entire body, not ourselves, and ultimately for the glory of Christ. What each one of us does, each of our attitudes of worship impacts the entire body. I’m not trying to elevate corporate worship to an idolatrous place and minimize an entire life of worship in spirit and truth, but I’m also trying to make sure we don’t minimize the importance of corporate worship. Folks, sacrifice and give to the body, if it pains you to make it to service on time, that’s good! Set the alarm earlier and give of yourself for the benefit of this body and for the glory of Christ. I said it last week I’ll say it again. This irreverent spirit is us bowing at the foot of comfort instead of the foot of the cross. Pray on it, let’s get humble, sacrifice and get there on time.

• Rain Down – Delirious (loop not yet available)
• Dress Us Up – John Mark McMillan
• Gloria 34 - Taylor Sorensen (loop available)
• Where You Go I’ll Go – Brian and Jenn Johnson (loop available)
• Messiah – Phil Wickham

This post is part of Fred McKinnon’s Set List Sundays.

Service this week seemed like there was a small carbon monoxide leak in the building. Not enough to injure or kill, just enough to cause people to look asleep while awake. Lots of folks were still on vacation or in a sleeping coma from over eating. We were disjointed as a band, no big mistakes or anything, but we had some monitoring issues that knocked us a bit and we never seemed to get into a groove.

Days like today I’m not sure what to think other than I don’t have a good feeling about how it went. The sermon was fantastic, so I’m excited about that. So I guess it was just worship that was rough. Here was the set, imagine it going well for me would ya?

1. Salvation Is Here – Hillsong United (loop used, not yet available)
2. Dress Up – John Mark McMillan
3. Everything – Tim Hughes (loop available)
4. So Near – Vineyard UK (loop available)
5. Where You Go I’ll Go – Brian and Jenn Johnson (loop available)

This post is part of Fred McKinnon’s Set List Sundays.

We Cry Out was written by Brian and Jenn Johnson but made popular by Kim Walker’s performance. This loop follows the arrangement that Kim Walker used, same key as well. It’s a great song that is mostly guitars and rhythm. So the loop uses a mellow pad through the song with a rhythm element and a few other rhythmic synth elements. It’s a pretty mellow loop that lets the guitars shine through.

Song: We Cry Out by Kim Walker, We Cry Out (album)
Key: D#m
Bpm: 122
Intro: 4 bar click in w/drums (guitar riff starts on measure 5 in other words)

If you download this loop or you’ve benefited in any way or are appreciative of the service, I’d ask that you please consider donating whatever you feel the loop is worth. The amount (including $0) I leave up to you.

 

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This week marked the return of 2 songs we’d done in the past but had been put on the shelf until I completed the loops. Last week I mentioned I got frustrated working on “Where You Go I’ll Go” by Brian and Jenn Johnson, what I heard in my head just wasn’t getting delivered and after hours of trying to work it out I gave up. This week I took a fresh look at it and it came together pretty easily. Funny what a difference a new week makes. The “My Soul Sings” track was much easier to get through, had a pretty clear goal in mind heading into that one. As a whole the set went over great and the band is getting more and more comfortable in the click, loop world. Here’s the set:

1. Rain Down – Delirious (loop used, not yet posted)
2. I Am A Temple – John Mark McMillan
3. My Soul Sings – Delirious (listen to loop)
4. Gloria – Taylor Sorensen, using Tim Smith Arrangement (listen to loop)
5. Where You Go I’ll Go – Brian and Jenn Johnson (listen to loop)

Part of Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Set List.