I only blog here occasionally, as most of my blogging energies go into the Exchange Church Blog, so you might also like to head over there for more of thoughts.
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With unseasonably cool & wet weather, along with the start of daylight savings, I was expecting we might have a few issues today. But we didn't. Yay!
Sunday AM
The message was on "The Life You've Always Wanted", looking at why we don't have that, and what we can do to get it. Bible as self-help...or, not-quite-so-self-help, since it all involved dependence and belief in the promises of God, without doubt. That's a key part of actually getting this Christian life to work - no doubt.
Music
1. No Reason To Hide (Crocker, Houston / Hillsong)
2. Send My Sins Away (Murgida / Awesome Church)
3. To Meet You Here (Scarpato, Goodwin / Awesome Church)
4. Song From Heaven (Chris Falson)
...then following tithes, offerings, news...
5. No Reason To Hide
...and to close the service...
6. Song From Heaven
I was back leading today, and since we had a full service with a baby dedication, communion, and lots of visitors, it was a fairly straight-forward set musically - with our retro-rewalk song for the week being another early 90s Chris Falson chorus, Song From Heaven. The sound was sweet onstage, and I had good reports from off-stage too. Our next recording session on Oct 17 is To Meet You Here, and today was some good preparation, especially for the vocal harmonies. As with all songs I write, it's got loads of harmonies. I'm a choir boy, remember...
Sunday PM
Our youth totally took over the evening service, which I always enjoy. They always run the music, but often with a few slightly less-youthy helpers. Tonight though, it was all high-school and under in the worship, and the message was taken by our youth pastor Mark. It was about Generational Purpose, and looked at our responsibility to dream big on behalf of the next generation, making the path to greatness as smooth as possible - not being a hindrance, etc. Very good, though a small turnout since it was the Rugby League grand final. We may well have been the only church in Sydney with an evening service this week :)
Music
1. All Day (Sampson / Hillsong)
2. This Is Our God (Morgan, Fielding / Hillsong)
...then following tithes, offerings, news...
3. Shout You Praise (Oroso, Araullo, Reddy / Awesome Church)
...and to close the service...
4. Run (Houston / Hillsong)
5. Perfect Son / Awesome God (Reddy, Mullins)
Joe led for the first time this evening, and with the kids from our creative arts team also joining the youth band on stage, it was a very fun evening. I recorded a snippet on my phone for your enjoyment. Joe's got a great gift in leading, and having just been inducted as school captain of his school for 2010, I'm sure we're going to see that leadership skill flourish both in and out of the church.
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