From the Mind of MandoRon

It was good to be back in church yesterday for the first time in three weeks!  Two weeks ago, I was home with my sick daughter.  Then last week, she was in the hospital. So as you can imagine, it was nice for us all to go to church again…

This Sunday, we kicked off the the last sermon series in our rented facility.  Now there are only two more weeks at Maize South!  Then it’s on to GracePoint’s permanant facility!  So exciting!

The Setlist:

• Give A Little Bit - Goo Goo Dolls version (walk-in)
• Awakening - Switchfoot
• Broadcast - Fee
• God of This City - Chris Tomlin version
• Revelation Song - Jesus Culture version
• Love Revolution - Lenny Kravtiz (offering)

Give A Little Bit is a song we learned last year for a series on Giving.  Very fun song, but it’s got a ton of different sections which makes it kind of tricky.  Gil did a great job on the vocals.

Awakening used to be in pretty regular rotation but we haven’t played it in a while.  Great song!

Broadcast … I’ve always thought of this as just a fun, upbeat, get-your-blood-pumping song.  However, the lyrics jumped out at me this week (perhaps based on some new perspective in life…)  The verses are really powerful.  For example, “I know a name that is higher than any name.”

God of This City … speaking of powerful lyrics…  Don’t tell anyone, but I leaked a few tears when I heard Carmen sing this at practice Saturday.  In case you don’t know, “there is no one like our God”.  If you’re not familiar with the story behind this song, I’d encourage you to read this blog post about God of This City.

Revelation Song is such an awesome, powerful song.  Not much else I can say…

Love Revolution was the only new song in the set.  A very cool, funky song with great lyrics.  Tommy did a great job on the guitar solo.

The band: Carmen - vocals, Gil - vocals, Chris - drums, Carlos - bass, Tommy - lead guitar, Rod - keys

For more Sunday Setlists, be sure to check out the Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival over at TheWorshipCommunity.com.

Since I didn’t make it to church this morning (sick kid…), I asked my good friend, Rod Nance, to make another guest appearance.  Thanks Rod!

Welcome back to another Sunday Setlist.  This week is brought to you by the words Sun and Burn.

With each day passing bringing us closer to the opening of GracePoint Westlink, we had a big block party on Saturday.   The morning was filled with volunteers helping throughout the neighborhood - trimming, cleaning, mowing, painting, and lots and lots of sweating.  The neighborhood project was followed up by the block party at the soon-to-be GracePoint Westlink which included clowns, (yeah I know there was only one official one but don’t forget we also had Gil on the premise.)  There were snow cones, hot dogs, popcorn and lots and lots of heat!  As it turned out, yesterday, June 26^th, was the hottest day so far this year.  The excitement was soon quelled by the GracePoint band, Edge of Grace.  (Only kidding.)  Actually, thoughi it was a great set by Edge of Grace followed up Sunday with lots of red faces and burnt shoulders and necks.  OK, on with the Sunday Setlist.

We are still in the Soul Revolution series and Bryson put it to us to put God first.  At one point he had the congregation divided into two with one side yelling back and forth at each other.  “Stay Connected” and “Fruit Happens”.  Not sure I have ever seen that, but then again I never thought I would see spider man in church either.   (I really can’t explain that because it is just too disturbing still.)  Ok, here we go.

Cross the Line by Superchick

This is a new one that I believe Christina brought to everyone’s attention.  A good Rock tune to get people up and moving.  Christina nailed the song and Tommy on guitar just plain nailed it.

Say Say by Kristin Stanfill

We have done this one a couple of times and it is a great song to continue the high energy and move us into worship.  Thomas has that kind of vocal sound that just fits so well and sounds so right.  Excellent job Thomas.

Let God Arise by Chris Tomlin

This has been around for quite a while and always sends out a great message.  Thomas belted this one out.

Sing to the King - Passion version

This has been used many a time here at GracePoint and it still really gets the crowd into the worship atmosphere.  Christina did an excellent job of getting the congregation singing. 

My Savior My God by Aaron Shust

I don’t think that this has been in the rotation for a while and it was really nice to have it back.  Tommy did a great job of making one guitar cover two parts.  Thomas lifted the song up and the congregation followed.

Hope Now by Addison Road

Christina led the worship on this and she has sung it before and I for one really enjoy hearing her as did the congregation.  

This weeks band:

• Skins - Deric
• Bass - Gil
• Guitar - Tommy
• Keys - Rod
• Vocals - Christina and Thomas

Well that is it for this week.  Thanx for stopping by and don’t forget to check out more Sunday Setlists at TheWorshipCommunity.com. 

One a side note…  While I was watching the CBS evening news on Sunday, they had a story about how people are being affected down by the oil spill areas and happened to show a church having worship that was having a contemporary type worship.  On the projector screens you could see the words to “Let God Arise”, so I thought that was interesting seeing that those affected are keeping their faith up and letting God take care of them.

Peace.

Let me begin by saying HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! 

We are in the middle of the Soul Revolution series at GracePoint, and Bryson spoke a lot this morning about men and the church.  He mentioned that he thinks the church has emasculated men by turning church into a “chick flick”.  In hindsight, I think the music was probably more “chick flick” than “Rocky-Rambo Rock & Roll”…  But oh well…

The setlist:

• How to Save a Life by The Fray (walk-in & exit)
• Rise and Sing by Fee
• Break Free by Hillsong United
• Solid Rock by Delirious
• Where You Go I Go by Jesus Culture
• Beautiful, Beautiful by Francesca Battistelli (0ffering)

How to Save a Life is one we used to do quite a bit, but it had been probably two years.  Good song!  Maybe a little mellow for the walk-in…  I’ll have to think about that…

Rise and Sing is a great song that we introduced on Easter. 

Break Free is one of those that you can’t help but bob your head to.  Dancing is also encouraged.

Solid Rock seems to be a GP favorite.  It’s got a lot of fun little musical elements to it.  Rod always adds some very nice Stevie Wonder-esque keys to the song.  Jeff’s slide guitar during the rap was also very cool.  And the lyrics are solid!

Where You Go I Go is new to Sunday mornings.  We’ve used it at the worship nights earlier this year, but not on a Sunday morning.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.  I have mixed feelings.  The lyrics are awesome and it’s easy to sing along with due to all the repetition in it.  I love the music, but I find it rather dark and moody.  Add a comment and let me know what you thought of it.

Beautiful, Beautiful is a new one.  You’ve probably been hearing it on the radio a lot lately.  I thought the band did a great job, but in hindsight, it was maybe a little too pretty for a Father’s Day where Bryson preached about men need action & adventure in the church…

The band: Carmen - vocals, Gil - vocals, Jeff - electric guitar, Bruce - electric guitar, Eron - bass (Eron is celebrating his first Father’s day today…), Rod - keys, and Chris - drums.

Be sure to check out more Sunday Setlists over at TheWorshipCommunity.com.  I always find it interesting to read what other churches are doing.

Have an awesome week!

Week 2 of the Soul Revolution series at GracePoint.

• Jesus is Just Alright by The Doobie Brothers (Robert Randolph & The Family Band with Eric Clapton version)
• No One Like You by David Crowder Band
• The Time Has Come by Hillsong (Melissa How version)
• Hold You High by By the Tree
• Amazing Love (You Are My King) by Billy James Foote (Newsboys version)
• Jesus Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood (offering)

Jesus is Just Alright … As far as I know, this is only the second time we’ve done this.  The last time was Easter 2009…  Cool song.  Next time we need to do it with 2 electric guitars so we can really replicate the Robert Randolph/Eric Clapton recording.

No One Like You is one that I didn’t think was going to stick around when we first used it 4 or 5 years ago.  For some reason while I was singing along on Sunday, I remembered the first time we did this.  I heard some negative feedback that it was too hard to sing along with.  Now it’s a staple.  Who knew?

The Time Has Come … I just realized this week that you can’t clap along to this one.  Too much syncopation…

Hold You High is one of my favorites!

Amazing Love is a bit of an oldie, but it’s powerful.  Jamie and Gil knocked this out of the park with their adlib vocals at the end!

Jesus Take the Wheel is one we learned for another series earlier this year.  I was concerned about the song sounding thin with only one guitar and no keys.  But Bruce did a great job of filling the gaps, and making the arrangement sound really full with just the one electric guitar.  Did anyone else notice that all the women were singing along on this one?

This week was definitely in my top 10.  I thought everything just seemed to work really well.  (I was just in the first service…  Can’t really speak for the second service…)  Great job everyone!

The band:  Gil - vocals, Jamie - vocals, Bruce - electric guitar, Jeff - bass, Phil - drums.  (I was supposed to play this week too, but some nasty tendonitis in my elbow kept me out of the lineup…)

Don’t forget to check out more Sunday Setlists over at TheWorshipCommunity.com!

Today was one of those days where I had no official obligations.  As much as I love playing, it’s also nice to get to worship with everyone else.  The trick though is turning off the leader side of brain so that I stop assessing things and stop making mental notes.  I’m usually only moderately successful…

It was also nice to hear people singing along today, even in the considerably smaller first service.

I don’t know if many people noticed, but we didn’t have a bass player this week (meaning bass guitar…).  The Newsboys haven’t used a bass player for years, so I figured we could go without one too.  Rod covered the bass lines this week on either keytar or keyboard.  I haven’t got to ask Rod’s opinion yet, but I thought it worked pretty well although it limited what he could do keys-wise.  At times, the sound might have been a little thin though…  A second guitarist would have helped fill the occasional void.

The setlist:

• Dig In by Lenny Kravitz (walk-in & exit)
• Until the Whole World Hears by Casting Crowns
• Say Say by Kristian Stanfill
• Finally I Surrender by Misty Edwards
• How He Loves by John Mark McMillan (Jesus Culture version)
• Heaven is Here by Kim Walker-Smith/Jesus Culture (offering)

Dig In is a fun Lenny Kravitz tune that we’ve been doing for years.

Until the Whole World Hears … Cool guitar riffs and some nice acapella at the end.  In church-speak, it’s a good “Great Commision” evangelism song.

Say Say is a pretty new one for us - only used it once or twice.  Great song.

Finally I Surrender is also relatively new to GracePoint.  They lyrics are so powerful.  I feel like it’s just me and God when I sing it…

How He Loves … Sometimes God’s love is hard for us to fathom.  This song is nice reminder of His infinite love and grace and mercy.

Heaven is Here is a new one for us.  It’s off of Jesus Culture’s most recent album, Consumed.  We’ve been tossing it around as an idea for a year, or so.  I absolutely love the verses and the feel of the song.  I honestly struggle with understanding what the chorus has to do with the verses…  If someone figures it out, let me know.

The band:  Carmen - vocals, Thomas - vocals, Tommy - purple electric guitar, Phil - drums, Rod - keytar and keys

(For those of you who don’t know what a keytar is, check out this picture of Rod’s keys.)

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