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!