From the Mind of MandoRon

Powerful day at GracePoint today.  Great music!  Powerful message!  Extreme drama!  Week 3 of the “5 Easy Steps to Wreck Your Life” was about addictions and the power of God to heal you.

The eXtreme Drama team performed a very moving skit during the offering.  It illustrates how Satan uses the things of this world to stiffle our relationship with God.  The song playing during the skit was “Everything” by Lifehouse.  I’ll post a link if the video pops up on the Interweb.  [The video is now posted on Facebook!]

The setlist:

• All Jacked Up by Gretchen Wilson (walk-in)
• Never Going Back to OK by The Afters
• Pull Me Out by Bebo Norman
• He Reigns by The Newsboys
• Wasted by Carrie Underwood

All Jacked Up… I struggled with this one for a few weeks, before I finally put it in the setlist.  It was a great fit for a sermon on addiction.  If it weren’t such a sarcastic series, it probably wouldn’t have made it.  I thought it was little scary how well the band pulled off some honky-tonk…

Never Going Back to OK is a great high energy song to kick things off with and fit today’s theme as well.

Pull Me Out is a great sing-a-long song, or at least  it seemed a lot of people were singing along.   Again, a great fit for the theme today - sometimes, we need Jesus to pull us out of the messes we get ourselves in.

He Reigns is an oldie, but a goody.  People seem to really enjoy it.  (And yes Vicky, this one was for you!)

Wasted was originally supposed to be the offering song, but it got moved up to make room for the drama.  It turned out to be a great way to set up the message this week.  Christina did a great job on the vocals!

The band: one female singer, one male singer/bass player, electric guitar,  electric mandolin and acoustic guitar (me!), keys (killer piano on All Jacked Up!), and drums.

You should be able to download the worship podcast from itunes in a few days.

To see more of the Sunday Setlist blog extravaganza head over to TheWorshipCommunity.com.

Day 2 of the “5 Easy Steps to Wreck Your Life” series at GracePoint brought a pointed sermon on drifting away from God, and yes, more country music. 

The setlist:

• Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven by Kenny Chesney (walk-in)
• All Because of Jesus by Fee
• Salvation is Here by Hillsong
• Draw Me Close by Kutless
• Here is Our King by David Crowder Band
• Jesus, Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood (offering)

Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven actually turned out pretty good for a rock band trying to play country, but then again it’s really more Jimmy Buffet than country anyway…

All Because of Jesus was quite awesome.  The arpeggiated synth thing that Rod was playing was filling up the whole room.  Gotta love stereo effects!

Salvation is Here had taken a bit of a break from the setlists, due to a little Hillsong burnout.  It’s one of my favorite Hillsong tunes, so I was glad to see it back in the lineup.

Draw Me Close is an old one that we hadn’t played in a while.  It’s been at least 2 years.  I’m too lazy to go grab the pre-Planning Center records and tell you for sure…  Great song!  We like the rocked up feel of the Kutless version.

Here is our King last showed up in August of 2008.  Wow, I didn’t intentionally resurrect songs this week…  It just kind of happened.  The band was off the chart on this one.  Stellar  job!

Jesus, Take the Wheel … this might have been the first time that Carmen ever sang country before, and she did a fantastic job.  I thought the song fit perfectly with the sermon today.  It’s almost like we planned it, or something.

The band: 1 male and 1 female vocalist, 2 electric guitars, bass, keys, and drums.

You should be able to download the worship podcast from itunes in a few days.

As always, this post is one of many in the Sunday Setlist blog carnival over at TheWorshipCommunity.com.

My 8-year-old daughter keeps wanting to text and send emails to different family members.

So I mentioned to my wife that maybe we should get Jada her own email account.  (Definitely no cell phone though…)  She thought it was a good idea, so I set one up for her and for my 6-year-old son who is just learning to read (and pitched a fit that he wasn’t getting one.)

Needless to say they were excited, and have sent several emails to grandpas, grandmas, aunts, and each other.  Even Jett typed an email that went something like this: “Do you love me? I like you. I love  you.”

It occurred to me that I had no idea at what age most kids get email addresses.   I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talk about it.

I think a few questions for you, the reader, are in order:

1. How old were your kids when they got their own email accounts?
2. Did you take any special safety precautions?
3. Any other thoughts on the subject?

Leave a comment, ’cause I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Many people hate speaking in public.  I’ve never minded, but it seems like my body used to react violently to speaking in front of even a small group.  It was a completely physiological reaction: chest tightens, heart starts beating rapidly, vision narrows, mind goes blank, sweat starts flowing, etc…  It drove me nuts!

Eventually I got over it, and my body stopped rebelling against public speaking.

The same thing happened when I started playing mandolin in church.  I’d get really nervous, especially if I was bringing in a song or playing part of a song by myself.  Five years later, I’m much more comfortable.

But then last night, I volunteered to lead worship at a Celebrate Recovery small group.  While I’m comfortable playing in public, singing is a whole other matter.  And I’ve never lead worship solo before either.

We’ve all seen the American Idol auditions where the singers are so nervous that they can barely stand.  And I’ve always found it interesting how being nervous makes you really pitchy.  That was me last night.  I’m a pitchy, mediocre singer at best.  But combined with nerves, I think I missed every single note in all 3 songs. 

And I got so focused on the vocals, that I made a ton of mistakes playing guitar.  Crazy since I know those sings inside and out.

Ironically,  I read this scripture from Isaiah 40 to them before I started:

“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.”  (Isaiah 40:31, NLT)

If only it had said “They will play guitar and not be nervous.  They will sing and not be pitchy.”  I wonder if some of ancient scribes accidentally left off that part.

I wonder if they’ll invite me back…

Happy Valentines Day Ya’ll!

(I can’t believe I just used ya’ll in a sentence…  Too much country music, I guess…)

Today at GracePoint, we kicked off a new series “5 Easy Steps to Wreck Your Life”.  Bryson preached a hard-hitting (and gloriously sarcastic) sermon about “How to Commit Adultery”.  Very fitting subject for Valentines Day!

The teaser videos for the series has an animated guy singing country, so we were asked to provide some country music for the series. We’ll see if the band survives four weeks of it… 

We also had a new pianist this week, Stephanie.  She’s going to be a great addition.

The music:

• Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood (walk-in)
• Let God Arise by Chris Tomlin
• Sing My Love by Sarah McMillan
• Amazing Grace by John Newton (House of the Rising Sun style)
• You Are My King (Amazing Love) by Billy James Foote (Newsboys version)
• I Run to You by Lady Antebellum (offering)

Before He Cheats doesn’t exactly model ideal behavior, but given the sarcastic nature of the sermon series, it seemed fitting for a sermon on adultery.  We really needed some steel guitar, but oh well. 

Let God Arise is a favorite.

Sing My Love is another one we’ve been doing for a while.  Great song!

Amazing Grace… This was the second time we’ve done this one using the music for House of the Rising Sun by The Animals.  The arrangement was two verses (complete with 3 part harmony on the first verse!), guitar solo, two more verses, mandolin solo, repeat first verse.  Great stuff!

You Are My King has been in the rotation for many years too.  I like it because it’s easy to sing along with, and has such powerful lyrics.

I Run to You was picked to go with the sermon, but it turned out to be perfect for Valentines’s day.  Jamie and Thomas did a great job on the vocals.

The band:  two female and one male singer, electric guitar, electric mandolin (me!), bass, drums, and piano.

If you’re interested, you can now download the worship set each week from iTunes. 

For more Sunday Setlists, be sure to check out TheWorshipCommunity.com and see what other churches are doing.