Sunday October 2nd

Here's what we sang this past Sunday:

"O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping Through Us" - Trinity Hymnal #341. Written by Bessie P. Head. This is one of those "keep the same melody re-write the chords structure" hymns. It seemed fitting since the sermon had to do with God "breathing into man's nostrils".

"Everlasting God" - Brenton Brown (not Chris Tomlin)

"All Creatures of Our God and King" - same as last week

OFFERTORY: "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" - Red Mountain Church version (from the Depth of Mercy album)

Salvation to the Lamb - Emily DeLoach (from the Indelible Grace album By Thy Mercy: Indelible Grace Acoustic).

Sunday September 25th

This past Sunday was our 2nd week into the Genesis series. This was the lineup:

"I Sing the Almighty Power of God" - Trinity Hymnal #119. I re-arranged the chord structure. We did verses 1, 2 & 4 in A Major and the 3rd verse in F# minor. Creates a nice transition.

"Salvation to the Lamb" - recorded by Indelible Grace. This week we added a harmony for the men in our choir to sing. We had a female lead on a mic in the choir.

"All Creatures of Our God and King" - Trinity Hymnal #115. This was an extension of the introit we did last week. I added an acappella verse and some different harmonies for the final 2 verses. The congregation seemed to really sing out on this one.

OFFERTORY: "Everything is Yours" - One of my favorite Audrey Assad tunes. My favorite artist this year. I wrote some choir parts based on the harmonies I heard on the recording. Our band did a great job learning their parts, as well as our lead soloist.

"We Are Listening" - Sojourn. Great tune about valuing God's Word. Has a nice folk/country feel.

Sunday September 11th & 18th

My apologies for not making a post last week. Here are the lineups from the past 2 Sundays:

Sunday September 11th (10-year anniversary of 9/11):

-INTROIT: Calmer of My Troubled Heart - this is a Charles Wesley/Clint Wells tune. Recorded by Matthew Smith. The men sang on this one with just the piano. Absolutely beautiful.

-A Mighty Fortress - We used the same traditional melody with simplified chordage

-My Hope is Built - same as above

-Be Thou My Vision - Same as above

-OFFERTORY: Abide With Me, Fast Falls the Eventide - my arrangement with the traditional melody. Choir and piano with an acappella 3rd verse.

-I Will Glory in My Redeemer - Sovereign Grace tune

Sunday September 18th:

(TJ started a sermon series on Genesis, so you'll notice that most of these tunes are geared toward creation and praise.)

-INTROIT: All Creatures of our God and King - the choir sang one verse with a small tag at the end. I arranged this as a 2-part short piece. There's really no way to get around the meter changes in this song, but we made it sound as 4/4 as possible. We sang it at about 60 - quarter note.

-Praise to the Lord, the Almighty - Travis Cottrell's version from the album "Alive Forever". Has an awesome chorus in between verses where we just sing "Praise the Lord!" Good stuff.

-Never Cease to Praise - written and recorded by Jeff Bourque (Grace Community Church, Brentwood, TN).

-Jesus, My Great High Priest - my re-write of the hymn. Isaac Watts original author.

-OFFERTORY: All Creatures of Our God and King - my piano arrangement in F#. Love that key.

-Salvation to the Lamb - Indelible Grace. Recorded by Emily DeLoach

Sunday September 4, 2011

Wow. Is it really September already? We have our first Christmas concert rehearsal tonight. I'm so pumped. I actually got the entire concert planned before our first rehearsal this year. Still a few charts to finish, but overall, I'm excited about the possibility of having more solid preparation.

Anyhoo, here's what we sang this past Sunday:

Introit: Salvation to the Lamb - for those of you who aren't familiar with the term, "introit" is just a fancy way of saying "introduction" or "intro to worship". This particular tune is one we're going to start using during worship, so usually songs like that will be played as an introit or offertory so the congregation will have heard it a time or two beforehand. It's by Indelible Grace folks.

Come Christians, Join to Sing - Trinity Hymnal #302. We re-arranged the chord structure and harmonies to have a more modern sound.

How Vast the Benefits Divine - Trinity Hymnal #470; a hymn originally by Augustus M. Toplady and re-written by me! It's a great summary of Ephesians 1 & 2

Jesus is Our Great Salvation - a tune off of Red Mountain's "Gadsby Project" album (recorded by my friend Stokes Skellie). Very calvinistic.

Offertory: Give Us Clean Hands - the classic Charlie Hall tune

Communion Song: Grace and Peace - Fernando Ortega

Hear Us From Heaven - Jared Anderson/Ross Parsley

Sunday August 28, 2011

This past Sunday we did the following tunes:

-King of Saints (From the collection of hymns by William Gadsby; recorded by Red Mountain Church)

-Lord Most High (Ross Parsley)

-Great is Thy Faithfulness (Fernando Ortega arrangement)

-OFFERTORY: Holy, Holy, Holy (my piano arrangement)

-Rock of Ages (Fernando Ortega arrangment)

Sunday August 21st

Hey everyone,

I thought I'd start posting about the songs we sing on Sunday. Being that St. Andrews uses both traditional and contemporary music, and the fact that I'm constantly looking for new songs, it seemed necessary to post the names of the tunes and the authors/arrangers so you could be listening at home or in the car!

Sunday August 21st

Holy God, We Praise Your Name

-Trinity Hymnal #103

-We used the same melody with a more simplified chord structure

Never Cease to Praise

-Written by Jeff Bourque. Jeff is a music director at a church in Brentwood, TN (close to the Nashville scene).

And Can It Be

-Not the traditional Trinity melody. This one is by Bob Kauflin - my favorite of all the versions of this tune. Has a great chorus.

Jesus, I Come (offertory)

-There's a new worship gal name Shelly Moore that has a band. It's called...wait for it...the Shelly Moore band. This is her version of the tune.

I Will Glory in My Redeemer

-The folks at Sovereign Grace ministries put out a bunch of great tunes. This is one of them.

Yesterday and Today

Last week we introduced a Sovereign Grace (see link on the right) tune called "Oh the Deep, Deep Love." We sang it again yesterday. I really, really, really like this song. The verses have rich thoughts about the work of Jesus, and the chorus is a response to that great work. I love songs that give you some room for reflection. That's why I think Chris Tomlin's re-write of "When I Survey" ("The Wonderful Cross") works so well. It's the same melody and the same old hymn, but it's got a great chorus that allows you to reflect on the verses. I think that's why it takes me a little longer to fall in love with old hymns - I have to memorize all the words before it really sinks in.

I just finished a study of 1 & 2 Samuel. To me, these 2 books are like a musical: The 1st act is upbeat and climaxes to the end. The 2nd act is darker, sometimes even depressing, but usually with an ending of hope. What's helpful to me about the Old Testament is that you get to see how God intercts with people in their day to day life, good times and bad. You get to see how he brings about his good and perfect will even when the world seems to be falling apart. It's helping shape my theology about who God is. Even though it's not always as easy of a read as the New Testament, I'm learning to love it.

This morning, I began a reread of Max Lucado's "In the Grip of Grace." It's been 10 years since I last read it (I was 17 years old then). I'm one of those people who doesn't like to admit their need for help. I'm quicker to give advice than to ask for it, so naturally, I struggle with grace and the acceptance of God's forgiveness. When I saw this book on the shelf, I knew right away I needed to read it again. Having been a Christian for 10 years now, I'm optimistic that I'll be able to understand it better, and hopefully, be more amazed at grace by the end. In all the moves Stacy and I have made and of all the things we've thrown away, I'm glad we've kept all of our old books.

Recap from Sunday 6/20/10

Yesterday was a unique day of worship. Mens chorus led us in music. I especially enjoyed the offertory - "Calmer of My Troubled Heart." Last Wednesday, we discussed during our rehearsal the broad spectrum of emotion this song covers. In the verses, you find yourself praying out of distress and pain. In the chorus, you find yourself singing, "Hallelujah!" I think we see this theme in the Psalms, too, where David offers up his pain...then he worships.

Calmer of my troubled heart
Bid my unbelief depart
Speak and all my sorrows cease
Speak and all my soul is peace

Hallelujah...

What a comfort it is to be able to confidently bring our pain to our Father!

Another unique part of our worship service was that a good friend of mine, Caleb Gundlach, got his very first preaching opportunity. Using Ephesians 4:17 - 5:2 as his text, he shared with us that the Holy Spirit is always building something, and that something is ultimately the church. So if that's the case, it doesn't make sense for a Christian to try and function apart from the church. We need each other. How silly would it be for a leg to say, "I don't need the rest of the body. I can walk, run and kick all by myself." Same with the Body of Christ. The song Stacy and I sang last week dealt with this issue:

I haven't come for only you
But for my people to pursue
You cannot care for me
With no regard for her
If you love me you will love the church

-Derek Webb

I think Caleb is already a talented teacher, so I look forward to watching him grow and mature in his craft. Great job, bro!!!

I watched the US Open yesterday. I've always pulled for Tiger Woods, so obviously I was disappointed he didn't win. However, I am proud of the guy that did win, Graeme McDowell. Graeme is Irish by birth, but he is an alum of UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham). Before we moved to Florida, Stacy was employeed there as an admissions counselor. We also have multiple friends who have either attended or work(ed) there, so it's kinda cool to have a hometown guy win the US Open. I'm sure that'll be a big pitch from the coaches for future freshmen who are interested in playing for UAB.