We had a good day yesterday. Energy was good and some of the congregation lethargy is wearing off. We're still not in the place I'd like us to be as a congregation, but I must be careful and not attempt to judge the heart attitudes of the people. I must face facts that, even though we're in a growing area and receiving an infusion of new people all the time, we're still very much a mainline Southern Baptist church with all the attributes that entails. I'm happy that folks are singing along, and not just standing there with their arms crossed in the "bless me if you can" stance.

Case in point: our offertory was performed by our pastor's wife, a jazzy rendition of the gospel song "Soon and Very Soon." Immediately following, our special music was the old song "Put Your Hand in the Hand." My wife played up the "countrified-jazz" style, and the singer who performed it put lots of good slides and nuances in the song. Our pastor is also a great musician, and so as he and I are sitting on the front row together, we start clapping off-beat. Immediately, the crowd around us totally ignored our lead and started clapping on-beat. I just gave up and sat there and enjoyed the song, but I probably looked like I was bored since I refused to clap on-beat. I just couldn't do it. Oh well, at least the crowd was into it. Funny.

Sound wise I was very pleased. The choir numbers were up (but still lower than I'd like), and I had a full praise team for the first time since the sound board replacement. I could hear HARMONY! Ah, harmony, how I've missed you. Welcome back.

I pulled out a couple of song we haven't done in well over a year since we (like many churches) felt they had been over done. Mandy's post yesterday about cutting "Holy is the Lord" echoes some of the same thoughts I had while singing "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever." Do we have the right to sing, "but when the world has seen the light, they will dance with joy like we're dancing now," when I've never seen even a hint of dancing in our congregation? Something for me to seriously ponder.

To top it all off, we had a "special guest" yesterday, but if you've read my last post you know all about that. Here's the breakdown:

• I Could Sing of Your Love Forever // Martin Smith
• Majesty // Jack Hayford
• To God be the Glory // Fanny J. Crosby (trad.)
• Jesus Paid it All // Hall and Grape (Kristian Stanfill's version)
• Wonderful King with 'Tis So Sweet// David Crowder, Louisa Stead and William J. Kirkpatrick (my arr.)
• Jesus Paid it All // Hall and Grape (trad.)

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