I happened to tweet late on Saturday night the fact that I don't sleep well on Saturday nights, and that Easter eve would probably be sleepless. I did eventually get a few hours in, and we hit the ground running Sunday AM.

First, I'm thankful for all the people who come each week and make what we do possible. We're not a large church, but just like any mega-church we have a set of people who are faithful to give their time and talent each week to enhance the work of God through us. Sure, the staff could get things done, but it would be nothing but the basics and many level of richness would be missing. Thanks to the band, singers, choir, media team members, ushers, greeters, nursery/child care workers, Bible class teachers, cleaning crews, kitchen help, and all others who come early and take time to serve others.

Music-wise, we ended up having a less than ideal situation, in that we were never able to get the band all together for a good rehearsal. I know, I know, not good. So, we me early on Sunday AM and turned sound check time into a rehearsal—one that bled a little bit into Bible study class time. Admittedly, things were a little rough at first, especially because our Hearback system wasn't working out all that well. I think I've got some tweaking to do with it and see if we can work out the kinks.

My son usually runs Sunday Plus for sound check, but we left him at home because he was feeling sick. My older daughter was given some on-the-job training and did a great job!

Once worship time rolled around, we started off with a bang with a choir number from last week's musical—a medley of Celebrate Jesus, Crown Him with Many Crowns, and He's Alive. We did our normal welcome and launched into our first song set. Blessedly, I could hear much better than during rehearsal, and we clicked as a band. Some of the small problems we were having didn't come up during performance.

We had a baptism time—a great thing to see on an Easter morning. There were some visitors in just to see the baptisms, and we're hoping to keep up some contact with them and see their families all come to Christ and get connected to Church. Afterwards, our second set—the one that gave the most trouble during rehearsal—went very well. I don't usually have a lot of good things to say about my own guitar playing—I'm a hack—but I'll have to admit I loved the sound of my axe when I started playing My Redeemer Lives. That was pretty cool.

Our pastor's sermon was Amazed—don't know if that's his official title. He talked about the times in the Bible that the crowds around Jesus were amazed by the things he said and did. Hence the title of my post from earlier today. All in all, we saw about a one-quarter increase in attendance, and I'm praying that there's some momentum our folks will carry into the rest of Spring. Here's our set list:

• Christ the Lord is Risen Today // Charles Wesley (traditional)
• We Believe // David Crain
• He Lives // Alfred Ackley (traditional)
• My Redeemer Lives // Reuben Morgan
• Hosanna // Brooke Fraser
• This is Our God // Tomlin, Reeves

This post is a part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon [dot] com.

Jeff M. Miller \\ Consuming Worship
web: blog \\ twitter \\ chat \\ facebook

Popularity: 1% [?]