From the Mind of MandoRon

Hola and welcome to this week’s edition of the Sunday Setlist!  Be sure to check out FredMcKinnon.com for more Sunday Setlists from churches all over the world.

This is going to be more abbreviated than normal, because we’re hitting the road for Norman immediately after church.  Goin’ to see U2!  (Please note that I can’t tell you how Sunday morning went, because I’m typing this Saturday night…)

Today was Week 3 of the “G-Force” series at GracePoint.

• Show Me What I’m Looking For by Carolina Liar (walk-in)
• Undo Me by Jennifer Knapp
• Look What You’ve Done by Tree 63
• See His Love by Kim Walker-Smith
• Hosanna by Hillsong United
• New Ground by Carmen Kamps (offering)

The band: two female vocalists, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and keys.  (Yours truly mixing FOH sound…)

I wanted to make sure and point out “New Ground”.  This was an original written by our very own Carmen Kamps.  It’s a song that God put on her heart for our church several months ago.  I hope to be able to get a decent recording Sunday to share with you.   But for now, here are the lyrics:

New Ground by Carmen Kamps

Quicken our hearts as we stand on new ground

Fuel us with the salvation we found

Watch us build your church with not bricks but with love
Standing on the shoulders of those who lifted us up
In prayerOn new ground he said I’m calling I’m waiting for you
On new ground oh he said the harvest is coming soonUse the soil of our hearts to grow
You have promised if the seeds are sown
Watch us build your church with not bricks but with love
Standing on the shoulders of those who lifted us up
In prayerOn new ground he said I’m calling I’m waiting for you
On new ground oh he said the harvest is coming soonOn this new ground
Holy Spirit come pouring down to kiss this ground
Holy Spirit come pouring down to kiss this ground
Come pouring down, Come pouring down
To kiss this ground 

The David Crowder Band just tweeted a link about their new robotic drummer, Steve 3PO.  It was too cool not to share.

http://texascentralpositronics.com/blog/2009/10/10/steve/

David introduces Steve around the 7:00 mark in this youtube video, and then Steve rocks a drum solo… 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIl4JPR4lpY

Good evening blogosphere!

Another great Sunday morning at GracePoint today.  It was week 2 of the “G-Force” series and Terry Johnson delivered an incredible message on the subject of community.  I hope we’ll get to hear more from him in the future.

I thought the music was pretty good today too.  Although we unleashed a couple of new songs for the walk-in and offering, we went relatively old-school with the worship set.  The music seemed to flow really well today.  My only complaint was that I ended up switching between instruments on every single song…  I always wonder how disruptive that looks.

On to the setlist!

• Give A Little Bit by The Goo Goo Dolls (walk-in)
• Take My Life by Jeremy Camp
• Jesus Freak by dc Talk
• You’re Worthy of My Praise by Jeremy Camp
• If We Are the Body by Casting Crowns
• Use Somebody by Kings of Leon (offering)
• Give A Little Bit (exit)

Give A Little Bit is a lot of fun to play on acoustic guitar, I discovered.  If you haven’t heard it, the Goo Goo Dolls do a great cover of the classic Supertramp song.  We talked about using this a few years ago, and even developed a chord sheet, but never played it for some reason.  Jamie did an awesome job on the vocals!

Take My Life is a great rockin’ worship song.  Along with the other songs in the worship set, we’ve been using it in church for 4+ years.  Gil sings this better than Jeremy, in my opinion.

Jesus Freak is a fun one that we pull out every now and then.  It’s been a few years since I’ve got to rap on this in church because we’ve been inviting PC to come rap most of the time.  Jesus Freak came out in 1995.  I spent hours in the car with my CD learning the lyrics.  Little did I know that ten years later I would be sitting in band practice when Mike would say: “Clint can’t make practice tonight.  Does anyone know the rap on Jesus Freak?”  I did…  This week we changed things up a bit.  I flip-flopped the raps between the 1st and 2nd verses, and the put a break in the second rap where I got the crowd shouting out “Jesus saved is what he raved!”  I thought it worked pretty well.  Props to Rod for improving upon my idea.

You’re Worthy of My Praise … I believe this is first time that we’ve ever used a female singer for this.  Well, on purpose anyway…  We played it a step higher than normal to make it easier for Jamie to sing.  Good song!

If We Are the Body is a GP favorite, and it really tied in with the Terry’s message.  Gil did a great job getting everyone singing along.  I always get a kick out of the accordion sounds that Rod adds on this one.

Use Somebody is the other new one for us this week.  We decided to learn this about a month ago, and it seems like it’s been all over the radio since then.  Again, I thought this one tied in well with the message on community.  And I got to sing some BGV’s on this one too. 

The band: 1 female and 2 male singers, electric guitar, acoustic guitar (me), electric mandolin (also me), bass, keys, and drums.

Be sure to check out Fred’s Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival to find out what other churchs around the world are singing.

And don’t forget to leave a comment either…

I had the awesome privilege last night to run sound for some incredibly talented local musicians at the Maize Fall Festival.  I thought I would tell you about them.

First up was Ben Strauss.  Ben is a very creative 16-year-old singer, musician, songwriter.  Ben, along with another guy who never told me his name, were playing their first paid gig!  They had about five original songs with some very interesting instrumentation.  Ben sang and played both acoustic guitar and a small (18″?) kick drum.  “Other guy” sang and played a small (toy?) chord organ, floor tom, and cymbal.  The other interesting thing was Ben ran his vocals thru a small guitar amp to get lots of reverb effect on his voice.  Not my cup of tea, but talented and creative nonetheless.

Second, was a local group called Clarensau consisting of Tyler Clarensau, Tyler Caggiano, and Sally Caggiano.  Tyler Clarensau and Sally provided vocals, while both Tylers played acoustic.  I could have listened to them all night.  Incredible acoustic music.  The vocals were awesome.  Especially Sally, she had an incredible voice.  And both Tylers are very talented guitarists.  I highly recommend checking them out around town, or at least check out their Myspace page.  I picked up two CD’s.

The last act of the night was Aaron Lee Martin, an exceptional singer/musician/songwriter.  Aaron accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, banjo, harmonica, and tambourine.  At one point he was playing harmonica, guitar, and tambourine (by stuffing his foot in the tambourine and stomping…)!  Very passionate songwriting and incredible musicianship.  Not to mention a great voice.  Aaron plays around town quite a bit too.  Well worth seeing him live.  I picked up one of Aaron’s CD’s as well.

There weren’t many people that braved the cold last night, but they got quite a treat.

What does it mean to “be in the world, but not of the world”?

Let’s look at a few verses this morning:

Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Phariseess saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scums?“ When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” - Luke 2:15-17

Here, Jesus tells us that as Christians we need to be spending time with sinners, dining with them even.  If we’re not spending time with them, how else are we to tell them about God’s love for them and show them what He’s done for us?

But we’re also given some guidance:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. - Romans 12:2

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. - Philippians 4:8

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. - Ephesians 4:29-30

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31

So God has given us some instructions on how we’re supposed to live and act and speak when we’re out in the world.  We’re called to be set apart.  We’re not supposed to “copy the behavior and customs of this world”.

After all… if we’re copying the world, the world can’t see anything different in our lives.  If they can’t see anything different in our lives, then we’re not living out the life that God has called us to live.

So where’s the balance?  How do we live in the world?  How do we minister to the world using culturally relevant ideas and methods, without succumbing to the world and finding no discernible difference between the world and ourselves?

I think that’s where prayer and God’s Word come in handy. Pray about it.  And bounce what you’re doing off of scripture. 

• Are you conforming to the world’s customs and behaviors, or is you mind being transformed by what you’re doing?   (Romans 12:2) 
• Is what you’re doing “true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable”?  Is it “excellent and worth of praise”?  (Philippians 4:8)  
• Is it “good and helpful?  Is it an encouragement to others?  Or are you bringing “sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live”?  (Ephesians 4:29-30)
• Are you bringing glory to God with what you’re doing?  (1 Corinthians 10:31)

I’d love to get your input.  Leave a comment.