This post is part of the Sunday Setlists project at The Worship Community.  Check out more sets here!

CenterPoint Church 2/14/10

Opening Set
    -You, You Are God - C-D - Walker Beach
    -Holy Is The Lord - G - Chris Tomlin

Communion Song
    -Your Love Is Extravagant - D - Darrell Evans

Closing Song
    -Your Love Is Deep - D - Jami Smith

This was a fun week!  We celebrated both baptism and communion this Sunday, so I decided to cut a tune from our opening set for time... this was also an acoustic week for us, which is also a good time.  Just two vocals, congas, acoustic guitar, and ukulele.  Good times!  That said, the band had a little trouble locking in in rehearsal yesterday.  Once we got to service time, everything ran smoothly.  I also thought that the team did a great job of navigating the on-the-fly transitions during communion and the flow into the closing song.  Everything felt really good.  This was the first week in a LONG time that we used floor monitors instead of in-ears (always a fun time for the sound folks :-P).  I thought Jim's mix was really crisp and clear... actually all of the technical elements of this service seemed to flow smoothly, as well.  No complaints!

Pastor Dave started a new series yesterday about the prodigal son story.  This series is going to be 6 weeks long, so it will take us right up to Palm Sunday.  We have a lot of really cool creative elements planned, which I've very excited about, but yesterday we kept it pretty simple (especially since we had both sacraments).  The message was basically just a retelling of the story, a set up for the rest of the series.  I'm really excited about what God is going to do with this one!

It was a unique and refreshing time of worship!  Lenten post coming later today...

Check out more set lists at The Worship Community!

CenterPoint Church 1/31/10

Opening Set
    -More Than Ever - G - Robbie Reider, Allan Fuller
    -Glorious One - C - Steve Fee
    -From The Inside Out - Bb - Joel Houston

Closing Song
    -Came To My Rescue - Bb - Joel Davies, Marty Sampson, Dylan Thomas

First, apologies for not being around on the blog the last couple of weeks.  There has been a LOT going on and life has just gotten a little too crazy to facilitate writing much.  That said, I've got lots of good stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks, including posts about new and exciting gear, great new music, spirituality in Avatar, Haiti, 40 days of water and more.  Stay tuned!  Now, on to the matter at hand...

We had a great time of worship yesterday to close our four week "Just Walk Across The Room" series.  I know I've stated this in previous posts, as well, but I really have been impressed with this series from Willow Creek.  The prepackaged materials, combined with Pastor Dave's insights and stories, have made for a very dynamic series with practical, real-life content.  Great stuff.  This Sunday focused on "Grander Vision Living", basically the idea that even our greatest moments of human life are eclipsed by what God offers us, and by what we in turn can share with others.  It was a very powerful message and I hope that our folks will really take the suggestions to heart and use them in their lives!

Musically, it was a pretty standard week, but the energy in the room was really great.  We've been working on getting our FOH volume levels a little more standard.  We use a SPL meter, and have had a high range established for some time now, but the last few weeks I (and other leaders) have noticed that we're running awfully quiet, so we're trying to get a basic minimum volume policy in place, as well.  Since we play on a "silent" stage (in-ear monitors, electronic drums, amps in isolation cabinets offstage), it's really important to have a certain amount of sound headed into the house.  It really helps the feel of the set when we get to a certain threshold.

I've noticed a definite increase in the preparedness of our team lately, which has been a really good thing.  Our rehearsal time is very limited (~1 hour, right before the service), so when everybody comes in ready to go, things run much smoother.  I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that people just have more time this time of year, but I'm definitely hoping that it continues!

All in all, yesterday was a great morning.  I'm looking forward to meeting with the Creative Worship Team tonight and putting together our next series, which is going to be based on the Prodigal Son story.

Check out dozens of other sets at The Worship Community!

In addition to the regular CenterPoint recap, I'm also sharing my set from Cedarville last night.  Yesterday was our first service of the year down there.

CenterPoint Church 1/17/10

Opening Set
    -I Am Free - C - Jon Egan
    -Your Love Is Deep - E - Jami Smith
    -You Said G-A - Reuben Morgan

Closing Song
    -They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love - Gm - Traditional

We ended up skewing a little older yesterday... it was actually pretty fun.  We didn't have a lead guitar for this service, so things were very keyboard driven.  The band was really on yesterday... simple arrangements, but things were really locked in well.  We closed with "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love", which is not at all the type of tune we usually play (even when we do hymns), but it was so perfect for the theme (see below) that I just really felt we needed to do it (in light of the week's global events, that tune and "You Said" both became even more poignant, although they were planned earlier).  We put a nice big heavy backbeat on it and it worked just fine.

As I mentioned last week, we're working through Bill Hybels' "Just Walk Across The Room" materials right now.  I'm definitely liking this series (a lot more than I've liked any of the other "series in a box" stuff we've done over the years).  Yesterday's message focused on what it means to build authentic, loving, Christlike relationships with those around us.  Really solid stuff.

The Spirit was really moving in the room yesterday morning.  Everything flowed very smoothly, but there were several times in the service where we felt the Spirit direct things in a slightly different direction than we had planned.  It ended up being a very powerful time of worship, and God's presence was really felt.


Cedarville United Presbyterian Church - 1/17/10

Opening Set
    -Lord, I Lift Your Name On High - G - Rick Founds
    -God Of Wonders - G - Marc Byrd, Steve Hindalong
    -We Fall Down - E - Chris Tomlin

Closing Song
    -How Great Is Our God - A - Chris Tomlin

This was the first of 2010's monthly Bread & C.U.P. services in Cedarville.  I've been playing there for a couple of years, but leading now for about six months.  The congregation and I are definitely starting to get more comfortable with each other... I'm inspired by their singing and passion for praise.  Definitely looking forward to what God is going to do through that group in the months ahead!  Yesterday I went down a little early and did a percussion clinic of sorts for some of the kids.  Showed them some different instruments and how to play them, and then wrote some very simple parts for them to play along with me on "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High".  Normally, I can't stand that song, but it worked well for this.  It was also easy to work them in since I normally play without a band for this service.  It was definitely a fun night!

If you enjoy this post, be sure to check out more set lists at The Worship Community!

CenterPoint Church 1/10/10

Opening Set
    -Your Grace Is Enough - G - Matt Maher
    -Blessed Be Your Name - A - Matt Redman
    -Breathe On Me - G - Clint Brown

Closing Song
    -You Are My King (Amazing Love) - E - Billy Foote

Yesterday we started a new series based on Bill Hybels' "Just Walk Across The Room" materials.  So far, this seems to be some really solid stuff about practical, relationship based evangelism (something that I'm all about).  Dave's message focused on "The Single Greatest Gift" - the idea that telling someone about Christ (in an appropriate way) is the greatest gift we could give them, just as it was likely the greatest gift that most of us received.  Good stuff.

Josh led worship this week and did a good job.  I love leading, but it's also really nice to just be in the band from time to time, which is what I got to do yesterday.  I was on keys, and it was nice to be able to focus a little more on creating some different textures, instead of pretty much just clunking along on the chords.  We had trouble locking in with the click track for "Your Grace Is Enough" (both in rehearsal and the service), but other than that, the music went really well.  We played "Breathe On Me" again (we just taught it a couple of weeks ago), and the congregation really seems to be connecting with that song.  Really cool to see!

Sunday Set Lists has a new home for the new year!  Check it out over at The Worship Community!

CenterPoint Church 1/3/10

Pre-Service
    -Your Love Never Fails - Bb - Chris Quilala

Opening Set
    -Counting On God - B - Jared Anderson
    -Everlasting God - A - Brenton Brown
    -My Savior My God - D - Aaron Shust

Closing Song
    -Mighty To Save - A - Reuben Morgan, Ben Fielding

First set list post of the new year and it's going to be a quick one!  We had a great service on Sunday talking about CenterPoint's vision for 2010... Pastor Dave reminded us of our "Multiply" vision and what that could mean for our discipleship process in 2010, it was very exciting!  Musically, we did some favorites this week... we had a rocking band, and they were really on it this week.  We introduced Chris Quilala's "Your Love Never Fails" before the service this week - still deciding whether we'll be bringing that one back as a congregational song or not.

The energy in the room was just incredible... the Spirit was definitely moving!  Awesome morning!

This post is part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set Lists project.  Check out more sets at Fred's blog!

I wanted to share a little bit about our Christmas Eve service, and a Sunday Set Lists post seemed the easiest way to do that... so this is going to be a "twofer" :-P

CenterPoint Church 12/24/09

Opening Set
    -Angels From The Realms Of Glory - G-A
    -What Child Is This? - Em
    -The First Noel - C
    -Away In A Manger - F

Offering Song
    -O Holy Night - A

Closing Songs
    -Silent Night - C
    -Joy To The World - D

We took a slightly different approach to our Christmas Eve service this year.  Lately, it seems to me that a lot of churches put a lot of time and effort into creating the most extravagant, elaborate Christmas production possible.  That's never really been my philosophy, and I don't think it really fits CenterPoint as a community, either.  After the success of our Maunday Thursday service "in the round", we decided to take a similar approach for Thursday night.

We did things a LITTLE bit differently... creating one stage in the middle of the room.  This time, however, we actually closed off the regular stage with curtains, effectively shrinking the room.  That really enhanced the intimate atmosphere we were going for.  Lighting and projection was very minimal, and the entire band for the evening consisted of acoustic guitar, cello, ukulele, and two vocalists.  We did fairly traditional arrangements this year... just felt right.

Dave's message was a first-person portrayal of Simeon, continuing in our Christmas series.  He really throws himself into these first person messages, and the result on Thursday night was really powerful and engaging.

Ultimately, it was a wonderful time of worship... and the attendance was much higher than we expected, so that "littler" room felt really full!


CenterPoint Church 12/27/09

Opening Set
    -Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) - G-A - Brenton Brown, Brian Doerkson
    -Give Me Jesus - Bb - Traditional (Jeremy Camp Arrangement)
    -Breathe On Me - C - Clint Brown

Closing Song
    -Center - E - Charlie Hall

We made a conscious decision this year to carry our Christmas series through this past Sunday.  In past years, we've done a one off message to end the year, but it has really felt like a loss of momentum.  I liked it this way much better.

Pastor Dave finished up "The Christmas Journey" series with a message about "Discoveries" - the things that we find a long the road that mold and shape our faith and lives.  I thought the message was really powerful, and heard a lot of other very positive feedback... it was a great teaching and an excellent way to wrap up this series.  There were a couple of points where Dave stopped and asked the congregation to share examples from their lives (easy to do in a church as small a ours!)... people were very responsive to that!

Musically, we kept things pretty straightforward this week, something that was definitely appreciated by the band, and I think the congregation as well.  We did teach a "new" song - Clint Browns "Breathe On Me".  It's a great old song that I've sung at several of the churches I've been involved with in the past, but had never done at CenterPoint.  I think it will definitely be coming back!

A great time of worship, and a great end to the year... I am SO excited about what God is going to do at CenterPoint in 2010!

This post is part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlists project.  Check out Fred's blog for dozens of other sets!

CenterPoint Church 12/13/09

Opening Set
    -O Come O Come Emmanuel - Em - Traditional
    -O Come All Ye Faithful - G - Traditional
    -Counting On God - B - Jared Anderson
    -From The Inside Out - Bb - Joel Houston

Closing Song
    -You Are My King (Amazing Love) - E - Billy Foote

I'm late getting my set up this week... tis the season of business in the lives of worship leaders!  In any case, we had a great time of worship on Sunday!  Timon led worship this week, so I just got to be in the band.  I really enjoy that when it happens.  Nice to be able to focus just on my playing once in a while and not have to sing/lead.  It also gives me room to play around a little bit, hence my setup for the week:

Two basses (one detuned), keyboard, synth module, Kaoss Pad, click tracks... needless to say, I had a good time this weekend :-P  Seriously though, the band was really hitting this week.  In all honesty, it probably wasn't the cleanest service we've had recently, but we were playing really well together and there was just a great vibe in the service.  I think we ran just a little bit louder this Sunday, as well, which helps the energy level a lot as well.  We started to roll out a little Christmas music this week, which I'm ok with.  We've got a lot more coming up this Sunday.

This was the second week in Pastor Dave's Christmas Series about Journeys.  The title of the message was "Detours", and we were able to set up a really cool element as folks came into worship.  We have a member who works for AEP, and he was able to get us a bunch of traffic cones, stop signs, construction helmets, reflective vests, etc.  As people came into the building, they ran into a big detour sign preventing them from entering the worship center through the normal entrance.  Instead, they had to work their way through the building, with "workers" guiding them to worship.  Very cool example of how unexpected (and sometimes very frustrating!) detours can be in our lives.  On top of that, one of the main roads that leads to the church was unexpectedly closed on Sunday morning, so the effect was that much better!  Very cool!

The congregation was really responsive this week!  We had a good crowd (late... but good) and they were definitely into the music and the message.  An excellent week all around!

As always, this post is part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set Lists project.  Check out more sets at Fred's blog!

CenterPoint Church 12/6/09

Opening Set
    -More Than Ever - G - Robbie Reider, Allan Fuller
    -Marvelous Light - A - Charlie Hall
    -Amazed - D - Jared Anderson

Closing Song
    -Today - A-B - Brian Doerkson

We started our Christmas series yesterday.  This year's series is about the various journeys connected with the Christmas story in the Bible, and how they relate to our own faith journey.  Cool stuff.  Yesterday we talked about "Departures" based on Mary's journey to Elizabeth's house after her visit from the angel.  We also used a clip from "The Polar Express" which worked very well.

Even though we were starting Christmas stuff (and the trees are up now and such), I stayed away from Christmas music yesterday.  I've written about this before (although I can't find the specific post offhand), but I think the carol's place in our services this time of year is greatly over-exaggerated in a lot of churches.  Not that they don't have their place, but creating entire services of carols just because it's December has never made a lot of sense to me.  We'll do some next week and ramp up to Christmas Eve, which will be a very traditional, carol based service.  I realize it wouldn't work everywhere, but it works for us.  That said, the music went very well yesterday morning, despite a somewhat unusual rehearsal.  When we hit the last couple choruses of "Amazed", I was almost overwhelmed by the sound of the congregation singing... really an amazing experience.

One other thing that was really cool about yesterday... our church hosts Young Life groups for two high schools throughout the week, and we invited them to attend yesterday... a couple of the leaders shared their testimony with us, and we had a bunch of extra high school kids hanging out for worship.  It was a great opportunity for the two groups to worship together (since we share space, but very rarely cross paths with each other).

This post is part of Fred Mckinnon's Sunday Set Lists Project.  Head over to Fred's blog to see more sets!

CenterPoint Church 11/29/09

Opening Set
    -You You Are God - C-D - Walker Beach
    -Creation Sings - Bb - Eric Frisch
    -Center - E - Charlie Hall

Closing Song
    -Unashamed Love - G - Lamont Heibert

This week was a single message about Thanksgiving.  Pastor Dave talked about Luke 17, where Jesus heals 10 lepers, but only one returns to thank him.  It was a very interesting message, and we found a couple of creative ways to present it.  First, we used a very simple drama about thankfulness.  Funny and to the point.  Then, about halfway through the message, Dave asked everyone to get out their cell phones and call/text somebody they are thankful for.  Very cool.

Musically, this was an ok week.  We were down a couple of positions this week (which is always rough) and we had a few issues in rehearsal, but the band played well and the set was smooth when service time came around.

...Short one today... into our Advent series next week!

This post is part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Set Lists Project.  Check out more sets from all over the country at Fred's blog!

CenterPoint Church 11/22/09

Opening Set
    -Counting On God - B - Jared Anderson
    -My Savior, My God - D - Aaron Shust

Offering Song
    -Embracing Accusations - Em - Shane & Shane

Communion Song
    -Give Me Jesus - Bb - Traditional (Jeremy Camp Arrangement)

Closing Song
    -Mighty To Save - A - Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan

Sunday's service at CenterPoint was jam-packed!  We had a missionary couple from Campus Crusade who spoke during the announcement time, a special during the offering, a video clip before the message, and communion!  We took a song out up front this week, but we still ran about 80 minutes.  That's a little long for us, but we don't do it very often, so I'm not worried.  We also had a delicious potluck lunch after the service ;-)

Musically, we had a very solid Sunday.  We had a great band, and everybody was definitely "on" right from the beginning of rehearsal.  We tackled a pretty difficult special during the offering time this week: Shane & Shane's "Embracing Accusations".  Not an easy song for anybody, and something very different from our usual fare, but the team nailed it!

We closed our spiritual warfare series this week, and Pastor Dave and Jon taught together, which was very cool and a great prelude to communion.  We also ran another "Jesus & Satan" video (an in-house parody of the "Get A Mac" ad campaign that has always been received really well).

We had a great crowd yesterday, and folks were very responsive in worship.  Always a wonderful thing to see & hear from the platform!

To sum up: a great Sunday!