My favorite bearded bass player was out of town this past Sunday and that’s the one instrument we are actually one deep on. I don’t typically invite in outside musician’s for worship services. Not that there’s anything wrong with doing that, I’d just rather serve with who we have in the body and not try and play cover up games. Additionally I thought it might actually be really cool and a good change of pace arrangement wise.

As most of you know I compose and play with loops in my band but usually bass parts are not in there. So I had the option to track bass parts and in fact I did do that for 2 songs, Burning Ones and All God’s Children. So instrumentally it was just me, my drummer and the loop and I think it went pretty well. Although the mix in my ears is never a good indicator of what it sounded like in the congregation, which keeps me awake at night actually.

We actually opened with an acoustic arrangement of Ryan Delmore’s Jesus’ Name. I love that song and it can be played so many ways, fantastic song. We also did Phil Wickham’s Messiah just with electric and drums. And for our fourth song we did None But Jesus with keys, electric and drums and I thought that sounded really cool. Our piano player is killer on keys so he carried us on that one. All in all I thought it went reasonably well. Huge thanks to the band Jon, Kendra and Ish…you guys killed it. Can’t wait to have the bearded wonder back slappin da baaaaassssss.

As our final song we introduced All God’s Children by Delirious. This is actually part of our Gospel Community Worship Project and we had 1 gospel community singing along to it in the loop. We’ll be adding more group vocals to it in the following weeks. Excited about this.

Also huge props to Rick Carrera for preaching to the heart this past Sunday. You filled in well for Pastor Aaron and it was awesome seeing you in your gifting brotha. Well done.

1. Jesus’ Name – Ryan Delmore
2. Burning Ones – Jesus Culture (loop available)
3. Messiah – Phil Wickham
4. None But Jesus – Hillsong (loop not yet available)
5. All God’s Children – Delirious (loop available)

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

Some of my favorite Sundays are those right after Encounter. This Sunday was no exception. We had twenty something people go through our Encounter, which is a single day packed with the gospel, centered around Christ and his work on the cross. The folks that went ran the spectrum of life, from those raised in the church but never knowing Jesus, to drug addicts off the street, to ex-cons, to people in ministry needing reminding of who they are serving and worshipping, you name it, we had it.

As we started worship if was evident of the work the Holy Spirit had done in these people’s lives. There was passionate worship of Jesus in every corner of the room. The unity in worship was just incredible and something I think our church has been growing in consistently over the past few months. Such a blessing to be part of and see. After our 4th song we had those who attended the Encounter come up and give a few testimonies.

Stories of drug addicts not just being set free, but made alive in Christ. Burned out leaders having the joy of their salvation restored, the lost coming to know Jesus. Those stories never get old and God never ceases to amaze me and what he’s able to do. We finished the worship set with “With Everything” and the church really erupted with praise. It was one of the more intense moments of worship I can remember. I’m so thankful for what Jesus is doing in our church and I pray that we’d continue to grow in the gospel and impact our community.

1. Jesus’ Name – Ryan Delmore
2. Burning Ones – Jesus Culture (loop available)
3. True Love – Phil Wickham (loop available)
4. None But Jesus – Hillsong (loop not yet available)
5. With Everything – Hillsong (loop available)

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

This past Sunday we were baptizing people on stage during worship. I truly love and cherish these times. So awesome to see people proclaim their devotion to Jesus publicly. The testimonies given were powerful and a real encouragement to the body, they certainly were for me. And then something happened, I’m simply calling it, “the incident.”

On our last baptism we had a bit of a miscue and the person got dunked facing the reverse direction and instead of the water splash going over the intended side, a mini tidal wave came and washed over my pedal board. 3 thoughts rushed through my head:

1. I wonder how bad this is going to hurt when I get electrocuted?
2. Please Jesus spare my pedals, I don’t have the $ to replace.
3. What am I singing and playing right now?

Apparently from the tweets that went out shortly after, I had a terrified look on my face, so I didn’t play it off well. I stumbled through the song we were playing trying to get my head together and just hope no fires started. One of our elders Mark thought quickly and tossed up a towel over the pedal board and started to dry as we sang. He’s an electrician so has no fear of getting shocked.

As far as I know the pedals are fine, few more tests. But it was a great Sunday and I’m so thankful for the work Jesus has done in those people’s lives.

1. You Love Me Forever – Merchant Band (loop not yet available)
2. Jesus’ Name – Ryan Delmore
3. Gloria 34 – Taylor Sorensen (loop available)
4. The Solid Rock – Edward Mote (loop available)
5. True Love – Phil Wickham (loop available)

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

My band has been enjoying a few months of really problem free playing. We’ve been playing well which is great, but we’ve also had no major and very few minor mishaps. The streak was broken 2 weeks ago when I showed up to find my in ear monitors were gone. Then this last Sunday my drummer’s snare broke a few moments before the set started. The string that holds the snare strainer to the bottom of the snare snapped. Unfortunately with no spare snare in the house it was a mad dash to jimmy rig something up.

I stalled as long as I could, then we prayed and just agreed as a congregation that we’d worship God with everything we had with no instruments if that’s what it took. So I was prepared, at least mentally, at the end of that prayer to just go acoustic and scrap the set. In fact I was almost looking forward to it, but my man Jon Utter has some crazy McGyver skills and got it together just in time.

It really inspired me though to get an all acoustic set thrown in the rotation here soon. I think it would really be beneficial from multiple angles. First it would be refreshing from a creativity stand point, make sure our ears aren’t tired of the same stuff. Second it would be a great demonstration of something we preach that we believe and that’s it doesn’t matter what style of music we play, God get’s glory and worship through it all. Third, it’s a great challenge to the body having them coming to expect one thing and get another, great opportunity for us to grow. So stay tuned…it will happen.

1. Jesus’ Name – Ryan Delmore
2. How I Live – Kyle Campos (loop available)
3. Come Thou Fount – Robert Robinson
   
4. Death In His Grave – John Mark McMillan (loop available)
5. True Love – Phil Wickham (loop available)

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

Recently I became heavily convicted about my lack of prayer and focus on preparation. I was almost entirely reliant upon practical decision making, strategy and some sort of prideful and religious sense of continuous prayer in spirit that really meant no real expressed time of prayer. Let me be clear though, there’s nothing wrong with preparation and strategy, but when it takes the places of prayer, communion with God and reliance upon the Holy Spirit, then it’s sin. I needed to repent and make sure my preparation and strategy was an overflow of prayer and led by the Holy Spirit.

I was excited when my pastor made the decision to use our 1hr time of prayer prior to service as a time for the elders to pray for people. It was a blessing for me to be able to minister to those in the body and pray for them. It’s so encouraging to see humble people come forward out of a love and passion for God and to hear their heart and be able to battle with them in prayer. It was the best preparation/warm-up for leading worship that I can remember.

I believe that time led directly to us having one of the best services I can remember. Worship was incredible, people were passionately praising Jesus, corporate engagement was off the charts, it was powerful. I pray that next week we’re able to come with the same humility and passion.

1. We Cry Out – Kim Walker (loop available)
2. Skeleton Bones – John Mark McMillan (loop not yet available)
3. Live or No Longer Live – Kyle Campos
4. Messiah – Phil Wickham
5. True Love – Phil Wickham (loop available)

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

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.

This week was a special service, we had Pastor Chris Daukas and his core team at Grace Church join us in worship. Chris preached along side our pastor and it was incredible being able to unite with them, worship and fellowship with them. I wish we could do it more often.

The worship set went well, it wouldn’t be complete without at least one hurdle. In the middle of the first set my strap lock snapped off, the guitar stayed on my shoulder, but I had to be very still so the strap wouldn’t completely come off. The transition from song 1 and 2 was long while I switched straps with my backup guitar. But hey, compared to last week’s 2 string snapping extravaganza this was nothing.

I tried to do a relatively simple set since we had some visitors and I wanted them to be able to enter in as much as possible. We did a new arrangement of Come Thou Fount which I thought went really well, I’ll be mixing that this week and see if I can’t release the live recording on the site.

1. Jesus’ Name – Ryan Delmore
2. Everything – Tim Hughes (loop available)
3. True Love – Phil Wickham (loop available)
4. Come Thou Fount
5. Our God Reigns – Delirious (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.