Set List for 12.13.09

All Creation Sing(Joy to the World) - Fee

Today is the Day - Lincoln Brewster

Run - Hillsong

Do You Hear What I Hear? - River Hills Worship arrangement

Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin

O Come All Ye Faithful - River Hills Worship arrangement

Set List for 12.06.09

O Come All Ye Faithful - River Hills Worship arrangment

Angel We Have Heard on High/Here is Our King - River Hills Worship arrangement

We Will Not Be Shaken - River Hills Worship

Here I am to Worship - Tim Hughes

Prepare the Way - Charlie Hall

'Till I See You - Hillsong United

Glory to God Forever - Fee

Set List for 11.29.09

Hey guys, we had a great Sunday yesterday! We announced the identity of our new Executive Pastor who will be joining our staff at the beginning of the new year. We are exited to add Spencer Breedlove to our team and the River Hills family. I know that God will use Spencer in great ways here at River Hills. You can check out Spencer's blog here, post some love on his wall and let him know you're praying for him!

Here is our Set from Sunday:

Hosanna(Praise is Rising) - Paul Baloche/Brenton Brown

Awesome is the Lord Most High - Chris Tomlin

Here is Our King - David Crowder

We Bring You Praise - River Hills Worship

I Stand Amazed - Chris Tomlin

Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Set List for 11.22.09

We Lift You Up - Jason Morant

Sing Sing Sing - Chris Tomlin

Sing to the King - Billy Foote

Heart of Worship - Matt Redman

We Bring You Praise - River Hills Worship

Glory to God Forever - Fee

Set List for 11.15.09

We Lift You Up - Jason Morant

Run - Hillsong

Hosanna(Praise is Rising) - Paul Baloche/Brenton Brown

Redeemer - River Hills Worship

I Stand Amazed - Chris Tomlin

You are God - Charlie Hall

Set List for 11.08.09

Today is the Day - Lincoln Brewster/Paul Baloche

Run - Hillsong

Sing to the King - Billy Foote

Joyous Light - Chris Tomlin

The Wondrous Cross - Chris Tomlin/Matt Redman

Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall

Set List for 11.01.09

We had a great day at River Hills yesterday. Make sure you're there earlier than normal as we are trying our best to get started on time! We've added an additional song to the beginning of the set to allow people a few more moments to get into the worship center. I hope everyone has a great week!

Awesome is the Lord Most High - Chris Tomlin

We Will Not Be Shaken - River Hills Worship

Made to Worship - Chris Tomlin

How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin

Lead Me to the Cross - Hillsong United

Mighty to Save - Hillsong

Set List for 10.25.09

All Things New - Elevation Worship

Awesome is the Lord Most High - Chris Tomlin

My Deliverer - Chris Tomlin

God of This City - Bluetree/Chris Tomlin

Center - Charlie Hall

Set List for 10.18.09

Today is the Day - Lincoln Brewster

Here is our King - David Crowder

Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin

From the Inside Out - Hillsong United

We Will Not Be Shaken - River Hills Worship

New Music...Wednesday?

Most everyone expects something new on Tuesday. Movies are released to DVD on Tuesday, and most all music records are dropped on Tuesday. Well, unfortunately for me, Tuesday don't fit well in my schedule to share new music. So today I'm introducing New Music Wednesday.

Wednesdays are the day that I set aside time to practice and prepare musically for Sunday morning worship, but also to spend time writing music that relates to River Hills as a church, and what God is revealing to me in my own life.

New Music Wednesday probably wont happen every week, but I'll do the best I can! So here is a new song, it's called We Bring You Praise.



We Bring You Praise
[verse 1]
we bring you praise, we bow our hearts
we set you high, above our thoughts
My King You reign, God of all
we bring your praise, we bow our hearts

[chorus]
glory and honor, strength and power
majesty our king eternal
You are god always faithful
we give our songs to glorify
we bring you praise, we bring you praise

[verse 2]
we rest our hope in your love
we know that you have overcome
may your kingdom reign over all
we bring you praise, we bow our hearts

[bridge]
you are holy, you are mighty
you are holy lord

Set List for 10.11.09

Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall

Glory to God Forever - Fee

How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin

Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill

YouTube Project

So I made a decision tonight that I'm going to start posting some videos on YouTube of some of my original music. I've got a good many songs that I haven't really shared, and feel like it's time. You can even find some of them on Myspace.

For the past couple of years I've wanted to record a serious album(as far as quality) and I was thinking this would be a good way to see which songs people like and identify with the most. Hopefully, I'll try to post at least two a week. I'll make sure they're referenced here as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

Check them out and please let me know what you think! Here is the first song I've posted, it's called When Songs Are Not Enough. I'm house-sitting for The Martin's this week, which actually makes for a cool video set!

Set List for 10.04.09

Wow, it's October already, can't believe it. We mixed things up with an acoustic set, and instead of it being me by myself, Robert and Travis joined me. It was cool and different. Here's what we played:

Rejoice - Chris Tomlin
Hosanna(Praise is Rising) - Paul Baloche/Brenton Brown
Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin
'Till I See You - Hillsong United
Glory to God Forever - Steve Fee

Set List for 09.27.09

Hey guys we had a record breaking Sunday in church attendance this week as we kicked off our amped up Children's Ministry! Here is the set from yesterday:

Salvation is Here - Hillsong United
We Will Not Be Shaken - River Hills Worship
Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin
Mighty to Save - Hillsong
Sing Sing Sing - Chris Tomlin

Set List for 09.20.09

We Will Not Be Shaken - River Hills Worship(lyrics and video below)
Glory to God, Forever - Fee
Mighty to Save - Hillsong
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill

We were able to introduce a new original River Hills Worship song this week! It's titled We Will Not Be Shaken. It's taken pretty straight out of Psalm 62. God is our rock and our salvation, He is our refuge and we will not be shaken. This song is an anthem that testifies to that truth as it resonates in our lives.

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. - Psalm 62:5-8



We Will Not Be Shaken
[CHORUS]
You are our rock and we will not be shaken
We belong to You, we belong to You
You are our hope and our salvation
We belong to You, we belong to You

[VERSE 1]
Trust in Him at all times
Pour your hearts out before Him

[PRE-CHORUS]
He is a refuge for us
God, You are a refuge for us

[VERSE 2]
God, You are our Glorious One
Upon Your rock, we lay down our hearts

[BRIDGE]
You are powerful, and steadfast in love

Deeper: Day #3

So I just wrapped up Day #3 of the River Hills Deeper: New Testament Challenge, and I thought I would share something that stuck out to me. *you can download a reading guide here.

On Labor Day we had one of our fine Interns, Will, preach while Chip was on vacation. He spoke on the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace. Most everyone knows the general story. But the three men had this response to the king when threatened with death for not worshiping an image of gold.

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." - Daniel 3:17-18 *read it in context here.

I say that to say that I've had this on my mind the past several weeks. I've questioned myself many times with the question, "Do I believe God is able to save me from whatever situation I am in?" I know this to be true, but sometimes...ok, most times, I find it hard to trust God and not rely on my own strength, which tends to fail me always.

I'm sure you're asking yourself what this has to do with the New Testament Challenge...

I came across a passage in Matthew when a leper comes to Jesus and says, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand, and touched him, saying, "I will, be clean."

These two passages are different in their own right but I find them similar. I think it's a matter of perspective. It's one thing to say, "God WILL save us." and then if it's not in His will, it's easy to be angry, disgruntled, or disappointed. But saying,"God is able to save us...and even if He doesn't we will still be obedient," is a completely different outlook, and one, if I might add, that is a lot more freeing.

It's quite humbling for me to say in my heart God is able, because I'm taking the control out of my hands and placing it in His. Sometimes there is nothing more gut-wrenching than knowing that you're not in control of whatever the situation may be. For instance, some people have a hard time riding in a car when they are not driving. Even with a professional driver, the lack of control could "drive" them crazy. But how do I change my heart about this and have an attitude of God is able, if God is willing...

Tonight I imagined being a leper, having no other options, completely desperate but completely believing that this Man is able to cleanse me.(Most of my situations aren't that desperate, so it is a great reminder for me.) As a broken man at the end of his rope, I would not demand healing but recognize the power and authority of Christ in my situation and state, "If you will, you can make me clean."

The hard truth about this is even if God doesn't, He is still God, He is still Holy and Just. Let that become our perspective.

Set List for 09.13.09

Doxology - David Crowder Band
Hosanna(Praise is Rising) - Paul Baloche/Brenton Brown
Not to Us - Chris Tomlin
All Creatures - David Crowder Band
My King - River Hills Worship
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall

Set List for 09.06.09

Hey guys, hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day Weekend! We had a great service this past week, the energy level was incredible. Here is the set list:

Awesome is the Lord Most High - Chris Tomlin
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall
Glory to God Forever - Fee
How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin
All We Need - Charlie Hall

Set List for 08.30.09

Sing sing sing - Chris Tomlin
We Lift You Up - Jason Morant
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill
'Till I See You - Hillsong United
Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Set List for 08.23.09

Today is the Day - Lincoln Brewster/Paul Baloche
Salvation is Here - Hillsong United
Heart of Worship - Matt Redman
Center - Charlie Hall
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill

If you haven't made it out to River Hills in the past several weeks, I hate to say that you're missing out. God's really been showing up in a mighty way during the entire worship service. I focused on a verse of scripture that struck me last weekend.

Psalms 86:11 says, "Teach me your way, O Lord; and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name."

That was our prayer during worship this Sunday for us to trust in God and stand firm on His truth.

Lazy Daze Music Festival

So this past Saturday was the first time the band and I ventured outside of River Hills to play music. The City of Winder put on a three-part music festival this summer, one in June, July, and August. It just so happened that the event in August was slated to be a more Christian oriented event, which worked out great for us considering that's what we do.

Let me just start by telling you that the guys I play with are certified Rock Stars. We were at the festival from 4 p.m. til about 9:30 p.m. Then, everyone was at church the next day around 7:30 a.m. to set up and get ready for the worship service. Their willingness to serve and their unfailing commitment blows me away every time.

The coolest moment at Lazy Daze for me was during the song How Great Thou Art. First off this song is about the raw power and authority of God. At times I feel that I forget exactly how powerful and sovereign God is. I didn't hear any thunder Saturday, but I did in fact see lightning on the horizon as I was singing these words.

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed

A chill definitely ran down my spine. I was scared there for a second, realizing that I was not only holding a guitar made with a lot of metal pieces but also surrounded by things that were very fine conductors of electricity, and they were all over the stage. Another cool thing was nobody could actually see the lightning, because it was behind them.

The band could see it clearly.

Thinking through this point just as I am writing this, it maybe more for worship and church leaders. Often times we have a front row seat to see all that God is doing and wants us to do. And it is our job to point them in God's direction. Through our music and words we describe Jesus to them and as we begin to lift high His name people will follow us. We see first hand the awesome power of God and communicate that through whatever medium we were trained and gifted to use. It was a great reminder for me in many ways.

Sorry to get on a tangent, but here are some pics,the set, and a video from Saturday! If you want to see more videos of the band go here.

Set List:
Today is the Day - Lincoln Brewster/Paul Baloche
All Things New - Elevation Worship
All We Need - Charlie Hall
We Lift You Up - Paul Baloche
How Great Thou Art - Charlie Hall
From the Inside Out - Hillsong United
Mighty to Save - Hillsong
Lead Me to the Cross - Hillsong United
All Because of Jesus - Fee
Everlasting God - Brenton Brown
Glory to God Forever - Fee

Set List for 08.16.09

All Because of Jesus - Fee
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall
Glory to God Forever - Fee
My Deliverer - Chris Tomlin
From the Inside Out - Hillsong United

It was a great Sunday yesterday! God is ever faithful to us as He continues to show up and reveal Himself. Here is a video from the previous Sunday (08.09.09) if you missed out. Check out the new lighting and let us know what you think!

Set List for 08.09.09

WOW!

That's all that I can say regarding worship yesterday. It was pretty incredible, by far the best service that we've ever had at River Hills. I've got to give it up to the band. They especially sounded great and came ready to rock it out. You may not realize how much time and effort they put into Sunday mornings, but we are truly blessed to have some of the best and most committed musicians involved with our worship team.

We finally got our new lighting set up and the difference that it made was unmeasurable. The energy was great and it was an amazing experience to worship such an awesome God with so many wonderful people.



Since we started our Deadliest Catch: Anchoring Your Marriage sermon series, we thought we would kick off the service with fun song. Megan rocked it out!(I'm married to her by the way, how cool is that?) Here is the set from Sunday. (if you missed it you can download Chip's message here)

Set List:
Love Story - Taylor Swift
Sing, Sing, Sing - Chris Tomlin
Made to Worship - Chris Tomlin
How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin
My King - River Hills Worship
Hosanna(Praise is Rising) - Paul Baloche/Brenton Brown

Let's See How Far We've Come...

Every Tuesday at The Oconee Enterprise when I finish work, I fill out a time sheet. In my normal routine of the past 20 or so months, I drop my time sheet in the shelf on the General Manager's door. However, being concerned with shutting off the lights and making sure the door was locked, I simply carried the time sheet with me out the door. As I sat in my car I realized that my time sheet was still in my hand. Not having a key, there was nothing I could do.

Out of the 20 some months I've been an employee at The Enterprise this is only the second time that I have misplaced my time sheet. The Manager blames it on me recently getting married stating with a chuckle, "You've got one more thing to think about, so I guess your time sheet got knocked off the list."

Seems logical.

I say all this to say that I made an extra trip to Watkinsville this morning to return my time sheet to its rightful place in the universe...and so I'll have a paycheck awaiting my arrival next Tuesday. Since I was going to be in the area, I decided to spend some time in one of my favorite places, Panera Bread.

There is a point this, so stay with me.

Starting in September of 2007, I moved to Georgia, returning to the land of my fathers. The reason was simply to help plant a church, River Hills. In the beginning of a church plant, there may not be enough resources to supply certain things such as office space. And seeing how one of the coolest, and only coffee house in Winder with free wi-fi closed, my only resort was to drive to either Athens or Lawrenceville and work out of Panera. Consistently sweet tea and delicious tomato soup had everything to do with this decision. Although, most times I would just order a glass of sweet tea, and with a self-serve drink fountain I'm sure I've drank my weight in tea as I sat there and worked for some 6 hours at a time. I would say most all of the first sermon series graphics took form in this layed-back atmospheric establishment.

Now since the Spring of 2009, River Hills is able to support it's own office space. Which really is a great thing. It gives us a presence in the community and helps us(the staff) be a little more organized. It is a place to make our own by covering the walls with white dry-erase boards.

It's little things like having an office that help you see the progress that River Hills Church is having. It's not much, but I've heard from some respectable church leaders that slow, steady progress is the best way to grow.

The irony in this blog is that every now and then, when the day feels just right, even though we finally have an office, I have the urge to spend a day working in Panera. In a sense, it's a monument, for me, in the life of River Hills that reminds me of the small victories we've had and seen as a church.

Set List for 08.02.09

Unchanging - Chris Tomlin
Joyful, Joyful(We Adore Thee) - Charlie Hall
Nothing but the Blood - Brandt Farmer Arrangement
Center - Charlie Hall
Hosanna(Praise is Rising) - Paul Baloche/Brenton Brown

Sorry if there was any confusion in my last blog about something special for this past Sunday.

Let me explain.

This coming week(08.09.09) we're going to officially have lighting!!! No more bright gym lights! Unfortunately we were going to try to have a dry run this past Sunday, but we've had a lot of issues with the shipping of said lights. So I'm sorry if I was Lucy and pulled the football away from you, Charlie Brown. Anyway, great things coming this week.

We start our new marriage series, "Deadliest Catch: Anchoring Your Marriage." Being a newly-wed, I'm looking forward to seeing what Biblical principles I can apply to my marriage. It's going to be good, don't miss out!

Set List for 07.26.09

Our Elevate Series has been very enlightening. It's all about worship. This past Sunday we talked about Giving our best. You can catch the sermon if you missed it here. There's something cool, and a first for River Hills, in store for you this coming Sunday. Be there, this is an exciting time for our church! Here is the set for this past week.

Rejoice - Chris Tomlin
Made to Worship - Chris Tomlin
Yearn - Shane & Shane
How Great is Our God (tag bridge and chorus only) - Chris Tomlin
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill

Set List for 07.19.09

We Lift You Up - Jason Morant
This is the Air I Breathe - River Hills Worship Arrangement
Mighty to Save - Hillsong
Heart of Worship - Matt Redman
Glory to God Forever - Fee

New Graphics on Flickr/Explaination of Deadliest Catch Graphic

Lately I've been spending a lot of time reading and watching tutorials for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, trying to stay on top of my game. It's so easy to get comfortable with a certain technique or style. This is my way of staying fresh with my designs. I've found a great site with some cool tutorials and even some screencasts of those tutorials. The tips and tricks you learn are far more valuable than the art that is created. It's a cool way for other artists to share their designs and why they chose certain methods over others during their creative process. Also for me, it's a great way to see what others are doing and keeping up with the times. I'm only two years out of college and already so many things have changed.

With all this said I've decided to post some of the River Hills Graphics on Flickr. If you look on the sidebar to the right you'll see the lastest six designs. If you click on one of those it should take you to the site where you can see all of them and even leave critics and comments. If you happen to be a friend on Facebook, I've also started a photo album there.

Below is the graphic for our upcoming Sermon Series on Marriage. Chip wanted to use the theme of Deadliest Catch (the TV Show). So I did my best to imulate a stormy sea scene. The final product was a composite of around seven different pictures (seen below the actual graphic). It took a lot of cloning, color adjustments, masking effects, and photo filters to get everything to take shape and blend together. Here are a few different tutorials that I refered to before and during this process, tut 1, tut 2, tut 3, and tut 4. When all is said and done, I would estimate that it took me somewhere around 10 hours, from beginnig to end, to complete this graphic. One reason it took me a little longer than normal was the fact that I was teaching myself and learning new techniques as I created this piece.

Set List for 07.12.09

Here is our King - David Crowder
Awesome is the Lord Most High - Chris Tomlin
You Are God - Charlie Hall
My Deliverer - Chris Tomlin
Holy is the Lord - Chris Tomlin

Set List for 07.05.09

So this past Sunday had a quite interesting set. Unfortunately, I broke a string on my guitar in the middle of the second song, and didn't play every song scheduled. But here is the set.

Unchanging - Chris Tomlin
Raise up the Crown - Chris Tomlin
Desperation - not sure of the artist, I picked this song up from a friend.

Despite the string-breaking fiasco, it was still a sweet time of worship. I feel God moving more and more in the life of River Hills and the lives of His people.

p.s. Worked on a new song last night, hopefully next week I can have something posted to share it. It will probably be up on MySpace and Facebook today!

Set List for 06.28.09

Today is the Day - Lincoln Brewster
All We Need - Charlie Hall
I Stand Amazed(O How Marvelous) - Chris Tomlin
'Til I See You - Hillsong United

Set List for 06.21.09

All Things New - Elevation Worship
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill
Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin
This is the Air I Breathe - River Hills Worship Arrangement
From the Inside Out - Hillsong United

Trials, Tribulations, and Treadmills

trib⋅u⋅la⋅tion [trib-yuh-ley-shuhn] –noun
1. grievous trouble; severe trial or suffering.
2. an instance of this; an affliction, trouble, etc.

I happen to be an optimist, I don't know why, I can't help it. It's just who I am. Whether I've always seen the glass half full or whether I was taught to look at it that way beats me. Going through trials in my life so far has been fairly easy. Being older, however, it's a little bit harder. The tribulations are bigger, more complex, and have heftier consequences. In a perfect world, there would be no trials, but would that be a good thing? We would never grow as individuals, as Christians.

I've been directed to a couple of verses in James today, and it has really shed some light on my life and the season that I feel I'm in and fixing to break out of. If you need, you can read the first chapter of James in its entirety here.

James 1: 2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

In the month of March I had a short stint with a personal trainer as I wanted to get in a little better shape for the big day coming up on May 30. One thing I learned on the last session was that your body will get use to a workout routine. You will "plateau" and not see the same results you did when you first started. That's when you mix it up, confuse/shock your body. Changing things around causes your body to adjust, and as a result you break out of the slump and start getting stronger again, but at a higher level.

I see this is exactly what God allows to happen in our lives as we get use to a routine. We grow stagnant, and then God throws us a curve ball to get us moving, growing. And as a result we become stronger as people, in our avenue of life, and the next time it happens we are able to handle more "weight" from whatever life can throw at us.

Church Culture

So I started reading this book this week on discipleship, and it has definitely got my head spinning with several issues. The biggest issue that has been brought to my attention is the idea of the church culture. Why does that issue raise so much anxiety in heart?

I feel, and have seen, over the past 10 years of my life, that Christians have created an entire culture, a bubble so to speak, that hinders any contact with non-believer/the rest of the world. Is that bad? Not entirely. I definitely think that a strong community of believers is important to the spiritual growth of any believer. But it is devastating when there is no outlet for one to share their faith. I am walking a thin line by writing this because sharing my faith has been a big struggle for me my whole life, especially in college when all my activities outside of class revolved around a church or Christian organizations.

I say all that to say this. Are we hindering non-believers from knowing/experiencing Jesus Christ because they first have to conform to a culture created by Christians and the Church? Are people uncomfortable with taking the first step in coming to church because they feel they need to dress/act/speak/appear a certain way? Must they jump through flaming hoops before they are able to see Jesus for who He really is?

I wonder how the spiritual temperature of the Church would change if people were able to be transformed by the saving grace of Christ, rather than first being converted to this fake culture, a facade, put on by Christians as a whole.

All this may sound harsh, and I am no one to criticize the Christian culture, which I've been apart of my entire life. But being involved in a church plant, it has been a challenge to take myself out of that thought process, out of that bubble, and see the issues some people have with the current church and try to overcome those issues to reach people for Jesus. Looking from the inside of the Christian bubble it is real easy to see the problems and shortcomings of the world. But it's not easy to see what's wrong with yourself. I think to understand how to reach people we have to first understand why we are not reaching people. Minimizing the noise between the gospel and people would minimize the confusion of the outside view of the Christian world, allowing the gospel to speak more directly to the hearts who need the good news more than a makeover.

River Hills Church wants to be a church with a culture that brings Truth and people together, that brings Jesus and people together with as little noise in between as possible. We are simply human, we make mistakes and have a distorted view of life and the world, but it's all about the journey, it's about reaching and striving to know and live like Jesus.

Church Planters Conference/"I think God is going to be awesome!"

So this week has been crazy already. Churchplanters.com puts on an annual conference up at Mountain Lake Church in Cumming, GA. I was able to go last year, enjoyed it and looked forward to it this year. Since Chip came down with pneumonia last week, it was up to me and Chance to carry out on our own. So we met at Chick-fil-a Monday morning and had breakfast, then headed to Cumming from the Discover Mills area. To make a long story shorter we missed the road off of Hwy 400 and stopped at a gas station, almost in Dahlonega, for gas and directions. As I looked up directions on my phone, Chance began to start pumping gas. A few seconds later he opens the door and says,

"Hey Brandt, how do I turn on the gas pump?"
"Push the button," I replied without looking up from my phone.
"I don't see it, where?" Chance said frantically.

So I turned around and there is a big white rectangle that says Push Here to Start. There's no need to go any further into that. A picture is worth a thousand words.



So we were on our way back from the conference, Tuesday around lunch time because I have to be back for the newspaper, when we began discussing God and what he is going to be like.

"I see God as a Zeus figure, throwing lightning bolts whenever He does something." Chance said enthusiastically.

[Sound effects included when describing God throwing lightning bolts]
"I hope God is muscular and has facial hair," he added after a moment of reflection.
He ended with this statement, which is a classic quote. " I think God is going to be awesome."

Now, obviously that came out wrong. But it was hilarious, and I began to think about that later last night and came up with this. So many times in my life I think God is "going to" be awesome. Looking ahead of myself wanting God to do something so big, and so great that it's beyond my imagination. I simply forget about what God is doing around me, through me, and through River Hills....I think Chance is awesome.

Set List for 01.04.09

Sorry if I've gotten slack on posting the set lists, but with a new year comes resolutions about that kind of thing. So here we go... I really feel like the band is starting to come into their own. A lot of hard work is beginning to pay off, and I feel the band is starting to see that.

Awesome is the Lord Most High - Chris Tomlin - See the Morning
Made to Worship - Chris Tomlin - See the Morning
How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin - Arriving
I Stand Amazed(How Marvelous) - Hymn
Mighty to Save - Hillsong - Mighty to Save

I've been listening to a worship planning seminar from Nelson Searcey at this church and one thing he said caught my attention this week. He said that Excellence isn't perfection, it's giving God your best. This hit home this week as I screwed up the first chord of the song posted below. I guess it was little reassuring that I can still strive to be excellent.