Behind the Mic – November 22nd

Here’s the set list for FUEL this past Sunday:

We Shine – Steve Fee

Mercy – LiFT

Yours Forever – Hillsong United

Hosanna – Hillsong United

From the Inside Out – Hillsong United

Solution – Hillsong United

This past FUEL was another great week.  It had it’s ups and downs, but for the most part it was excellent.  We started with Paul coming up and doing an review of the series.  It was great and he used doughnuts as a catalyst to trigger student’s memories of what they’ve heard the past three weeks. 

After that, we took that stage and played our first worship set.  Technically speaking, this was our first FUEL with our new in ear monitor system.  It was great to really be able to hear each other.  This also will help us with our stage volume as sometimes, well often, we tend to be too loud for the room.  Now we can turn down and have what we each want in our ears, as loud as we want, without effecting the room.

The first set went great, except for a little flub during Yours Forever.  We hadn’t played that song in quite a while and screwed up the bridge a bit.  The great thing though, was that I’m not sure anyone really would have noticed as we never really “fell apart.”  As a band we’ve become pretty good at “rearranging” songs on the fly when something goes wrong.  It is a testimony of how well we know each others playing and abilities after playing together for this long.  The students were into the songs and it was a great time of celebration.

After the first set, Paul came back up and concluded the series.  He asked students how they’ve already put into practice what they’ve learned the past few weeks.  It was encouraging hearing what they all had to say.

We then came back up and did the next set, which was very reflective yet powerful.  Ariel Wood and Mike Kerr were singing as well and Ariel had the lead on Hosanna.  She sound better each time she sings it.  This time it was incredible and I think, as a band, we played it tighter than we ever had before.  We then had an incredible transition into From the Inside Out where the drums just keep playing and Brandon starts the intro riff of From the Inside Out.  It was a great worship set as a whole and students, again, seemed to be really into it and having a true encounter with God.

We then had a prayer time and finished with Solution, which I taught the students a couple weeks ago during an acoustic set.  They still don’t know the song that well, but it still went great and really topped off the series great.  It’s great having well over a hundred students shouting out that God is the solution for the issues and problems that the world is facing and that they will be His hands and feet.  It was a great morning.  Praise God!

The student band Ignite is leading this next Sunday so I’ll be back in two weeks with another explanation of what it was like “Behind the Mic.”

 

Behind the Mic – Nov 16th

Here’s the set list for yesterday’s FUEL service:

Break Free (Beat it) – Hillsong United/Michael Jackson arranged by LiFT

At Your Hands – LiFT

Salvation is Here – Hillsong United

Come and Listen – David Crowder

You Are/Be Lifted High – LiFT

Upside Down – LiFT

I’ve gotta say right off the bat that this service was a blast.  Overall the students were extremely engaged and I truly believe they were able to worship God in both a celebrative way, as well as truly reflect on who He is and how to listen for Him.  

To break up the routine a bit, John started off the service with a worship focus describing different kinds of people we tend to listen to.  After that we opened with Break Free, which we now start with the Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” riff and incorporate it throughout the song.  It is an incredible arrangement which instantly engages pretty much anyone in the room.  It’s a great song to start off with in a worship service as it talks about breaking free and allowing yourself to truly worship God.  We then finished the set with two more songs including “At Your Hands,” which from the sounds and looks of it, is catching on very quickly.  The first part of the service was extremely fun.  We were collectively worshiping God and fully enjoying every moment of it.

After the first set, John came up and continued to speak on listening to God and what He would have us do.  It was a message that called students to action in a practical way.  

After the message we returned to the stage to do the next worship set.  I must also say that Josh Kerr and Casey Lockwood sang with me this week and they did an outstanding job.  It was the first time I had both of them on stage at the same time singing and they sounded great together.  We started the next set with Come and Listen, just the chorus.  Brandon played his guitar with an ebow and we really sang it with very few instruments.  It was a great time of reflection which drew everyone in the room together as it spoke of simply listening to God.  The song then transitioned perfectly into You Are which also speaks of listening to God in the stillness as He calls out to us.  It was a great time of reflection.  At moments, I again felt like I was the only one in the room.  Many times during worship, I am always looking out wondering how students are reacting and engaging.  The best moments are when I don’t even notice them and am fully engaged with Christ, which happened several times yesterday.  At the end of You Are, Brandon sings the tag which builds up to a full band explosion including Tony soloing on his guitar.  It was a powerful moment, it was for me anyway.

We then had a prayer time, which, again was different than usual.  We had students group up and come up with 2 lists, a list of things they could do instantly, without having to pray for, and a list of things that God could reveal to us that we have no idea what to do about and need to pray for like there’s no tomorrow.  

We then closed with the theme song for the year.  Again, it was a great morning and hope there are many more like it in the future.  Praise God!

Later

Behind the Mic – November 8th

Here is the set list for yesterday’s FUEL service:

Not to Us/Here is Our King – Tomlin/Crowder

Chorus of All Who Are Thirsty (Come Lord Jesus Come)

Here I am to Worship – Tim Hughes

Have Your Way – LiFT

Solution – Hillsong United

One Way – Hillsong United

As I mentioned in my last blog, last week, for me, was rather frustrating.  Students were talking and the connection between myself, God and the students seemed very weak.  So this week I opened up with a scripture from Amos: 5:21-24.  Read this it’s fantastic!  It’s from the Message.

“I can’t stand your religious meetings.  I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.  I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals.  I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making.  I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.  When was the last time you sang to ME?  Do you know what I want?  I want justice — oceans of it.  I want fairness — rivers of it.  That’s what I want.  That’s ALL I want.”

I first read the NIV version of this verse then followed it with this version.  I then briefly explained the disappointment from last week and that the real reason we are at FUEL each morning is to have an encounter with God, our Savior and Creator.  It isn’t about anything else.  It isn’t about us, it’s all about Him. 

Then we went into Not to Us.  Again, this week was all acoustic.  It was just Ariel and myself.  The first set, which was really a medley of two songs went great.  The students seemed to respond much better.  I wanted to keep the first set short though and leave time for some more reflective worship in the middle of the service. 

Paul then came up and continued to talk about the theme of “I-DO.”  Explaining that we need to see what God has in store for us to do.  He explained compassion, and what is it that we feel compassion for.  He explained being the hands and feet of Christ.

So after Paul spoke, Ariel and I went back up and did a reflective worship set.  We started with the chorus of All Who Are Thirsty, simply asking the Holy Spirit to come down (or remain down) as we continued our worship.  We then went into Here I am to Worship.  During this song, I could really feel the presence of God.  It was encouraging.  I could sense the students connecting.  More importantly, in a weird sort of way, I was able to disconnect and focus wholly on God myself.  During the song, students came, uninvited, to the altar to meet with God.  It was an incredible time of worship.  A time that I had been longing for, especially after last week.  We ended the set with Have Your Way which fit perfectly with what Paul was talking about.

We then had a prayer time as usual.  However to change it up a bit, and break away from routine, Paul had them remain in their seats and personally reflect for about a minute in silence.  Paul then prayed and we went into the last set.  Another great moment.

Another way, I tried to change up the routine a bit was to introduce a song at that point.  Usually we introduce new material after the message.  This time I had them focus on the lyrics of Solution by Hillsong United, as Ariel and I sang it.  It was incredible.  God worked everything out in a great way.  The song seemed to be written specifically for Paul’s message.  It was an incredible moment, and from what I could tell.  Students enjoyed the song.  We will be doing it again in a couple weeks with the full band to wrap up the series.  We then closed with One Way, and older song by Hillsong United.  It was well known and carried a good amount of energy.  

It was a great morning.  I personally felt as though I met with God, and through that I believe many of the students had incredible encounters with Christ as well.  Praise God for the good and the bad times.  The weaker moments really seem to springboard into excellent moments.

See ya next week.

Trevor

Behind the Mic – November 1st

The set list for this past Sunday was:

The Time has Come – Hillsong United

Holy is the Lord – Christ Tomlin

Rise Up – LiFT

You Are – Josh and Mike Kerr (Ignite)

How Great is Our God – Chris Tomlin

Revolution – Worth Dying For

This week we changed things up and bit and did an acoustic set.  Josh, Mike and myself led, all with acoustic guitars.  It was a simple yet, at times, powerful worship service.  However during this worship service overall, I did experience some things that frustrated me.  I’ll get to that in a moment.

We started the worship service off with a 3 song set.  It went great for the most part.  When leading an acoustic set, it is easier to hear the students singing.  At the same time, it is easier to hear that they are NOT singing as well.  We chose songs that the students were familiar with and, for the most part, they seemed pretty engaged.  It was also the morning after Halloween, so I’m sure students were a little more tired than usual.  Mike and I took turns leading the songs in the first worship set.  It was nice to play off of each other.  We were also able to sing 3 part harmonies a lot of the time with Josh singing as well.  Which we do a lot of usually, but it is heard much easier when we’re leading with only acoustic guitars.  It made for some pretty powerful moments.

After the first set, Kevin came up and spoke about DOING.  We have been talking about our identity in Christ over the past 3 weeks.  Now we are moving from ID to I DO.  The first topic we discussed was DOING things for Christ, with the right attitude, and how attitude can make or break what God is calling us to do.  

After Kevin spoke we went back up and did two more songs.  One of them, You Are, was one that Josh wrote, Mike helped in the writing as well I believe.  It is a song that Ignite started doing.  (On a side note, it has been incredible watching God work through Ignite by giving them original music.  They have several original songs they do written by different members of the band.  The next time they play, they will perform a song written by Nicky Clements.  It’s exciting to see God work through them).  The students, from what I can tell, have accepted the song rather well as one of their own even though they’ve only heard it a couple times.  Josh lead the song.  After You Are we played How Great is Our God.  During this entire set, primarily the final song in the set, I could hear students actually talking and having conversations, OVER the music.  Granted it’s easier to hear it without a full band and it may go on more often than I realize.  Either way, it’s very distracting not only to me as I’m worshipping, but most definitely to the students around them who are trying to worship.  As far as I know this doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s somewhat angering.  I realize some students may not want to be there, and their parents maybe just drop them off, but it is still rude.  It seems it’s something I need to address.  We are worshiping our Creator, our King and some people just act as if nothing at all is going on around them.  I pray that God will reveal Himself to them in the near future in a mighty and powerful way.  (I said I was going to be honest in this blog, for those of you who actually read it.  It is a place for me to at least let out my frustrations).

After that set, we had a prayer time, which surprisingly enough a lot of the students who were having a conversation, ran to the front for prayer before Kevin even finished inviting them.  It’s hard for me to understand it, but I pray God will really do a work in their hearts, in real, deep and meaningful way.  After the prayer time, we ended with an acoustic version of Revolution by Worth Dying For.  It was extremely fun to play and the students were very engaged, as they usually are during the last songs of the service.  

Overall I thought the service went well, aside from the frustrations I shared.  It was different, original and fun.  In fact, this next week, the service will be very similar, due to the unavailability of my band as well as Ignite.  I pray God continues to work through me and the rest of the musicians on stage as it is not about us, but all about Him!

Later till next time.

Trevor

“Behind the Mic” October 25th

The set list for this week was:

All Because of Jesus – Steve Fee

No One Like You – David Crowder

Take it All – Hillsong United

Stronger with Mighty to Save – LiFT/Hillsong United

Tell the World – Hillsong United

Broadcast Medley (What the World Will Never Take and Broadcast) – Hillsong United/Steve Fee/Arranged by LiFT

This week worship was incredible.  Unfortunately Brandon, one of the guitarist couldn’t make it this week, so we were down one member.  And Casey Lockwood sang with us this week for the first time as well.  She did outstanding.  It is always amazing to me how God uses us as worship leaders in such an incredible way, regardless of who is or isn’t on stage.  It just proves to show that it is God working through us. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love having the whole band together.  It makes for an effortless morning musically.  

Anyway, since we didn’t have Brandon I chose songs that we could pull off great with only one guitar player.  So many of our songs now have intricate parts that need two guitars to cover, so I chose songs that had fewer guitar parts, or songs that I could fill in the missing parts with my acoustic.  

OK onto the service.  We started with All Because of Jesus.  It went great and I felt the students were getting into it slowly.  It’s always difficult for me to feel their engagement during the first song because, a lot of them, probably just rolled out of bed and are still waking up.  I know I did that when I was their age and, well, still do it. After the first song, I read Jeremiah 10: 6-7 to lead into No One Like You.  This is always a fun song to do.  It’s very upbeat and wakes the students up pretty quick.  We then closed the first set with  Take it All which seems to always be a hit.  It is awesome watching the students shout out to God, with fists raised in the air, that they want God to take everything they have to serve him.  In saying that, I fear a lot of the time, songs like this just become songs and students, and myself, forget what we’re really singing.  To shout out to God, “take it all” is a pretty bold statement.  My prayer is that the students really understand what they are singing and believe it in their hearts.

After the first set, Paul spoke on living wholeheartedly for Christ, not being lukewarm.  It was a great and powerful message, that I believe, hit many students between the eyes.  And yes it hit me too.  We then went up for the next worship set.  I talked briefly on how at times there are mountains in our way that can hinder our focus on Christ and living wholeheartedly for Him.  And how God wants to do 1 of 2 things with those mountains: move them for us if we ask, or climb over them with his help and guidance.  That tied in to the song Stronger with talks of God’s strength over everything.  Then we go directly into the chorus of Mighty to Save.  This was a powerful worship moment.  This combination of songs always seems to bring to the surface issues that are holding students back.  It is awesome watching them release those issues and situations to God.

After the song I prayed and Gary started the kick drum for Tell the World….except…it wasn’t time for it. Haha, little laugh and little preview of what was coming up after the prayer time.  

After the prayer time we started Tell the World and the students absolutely loved it.  We even, pretty subliminally, added a reggae groove over the second verse to change the song up a bit since we’ve been doing it for so long now.  Then right out of Tell the World we started the Broadcast Medley.  As usual, the students loved it and were singing, shouting and dancing for their Creator.  This medley is a combination of really 3 songs.  We start with What the World Will Never Take. We modify the lyrics a bit to fit the Broadcast theme (This was our theme last year).  Then we go into a Rage Against the Machine riff from “Sleep Now in the Fire,” and get the students jumping.  Then we transition right into Broadcast.  If you’re actually reading this and haven’t heard us do it live, you can listen to it on iTunes.  Search Lift Worship Band and go to the Lift live performance podcasts.  There are a few live recordings on there.  And I’ll be putting more up in the near future.

Overall the morning was excellent.  God worked in great ways through us, and I strongly believe He met the students.  Praise God!

Trevor

Behind the Mic (October 17th and 18th)

Well this is the second week in a row I’m posting a blog, let’s see if I can keep it up.  :)

This week I had the privilege of leading worship in the main worship center with my band LiFT.  So I actually have 3 services to comment on, however, for the most part, they are all identical.  The songs we used in this weeks worship set were:

Upside Down – LiFT Worship Band

Salvation is Here – Hillsong United

At Your Hands – LiFT Worship Band

You Are/Be Lifted High – LiFT Worship Band

Surrender – Marc James

Mighty to Save (Chorus only) – Hillsong United

Mercy – LiFT Worship Band

Lift – LiFT Worship Band

As you can see we had the opportunity to do a lot of our own material, which was nice.  

As for the service itself, I’ll comment on the 9:30 service.  As I said, they were all the same for the most part and that was the service that felt the tightest to me.

We opened up the service with the theme song at The Hub this year, Upside Down.  I think those who were in the worship center enjoyed it for the most part.  Although we may have scared a few people out of the room.  Then similar to last week in FUEL I officially started the service reading scriptures talking about Salvation.  We then went into Salvation is Here.  It was a great time of worship and I felt a great connection with the congregation.   Since they knew that song well, it seemed it was easy for them to connect with their creator as we opened the service.

After the first song, we had a time for announcements and then we taught the congregation At Your Hands.  They mostly listened to the song, but I could see a lot people singing along once they caught on to the melody.  The beginning of the service overall was very up beat and energetic, as is the way I usually like to start any service.  

Following At Your Hands Bill Nykyforchyn spoke on spiritual markers in our lives, and keeping our focus on Christ.  

We followed the message with a very powerful and reflective time of worship with a set including You Are, Surrender and Mighty to Save.  These times during worship for me are the best.  I love jumping around and celebrating what God has done in my/our lives, but truly reflecting on who God is and what He’s done for us is amazing for me.  And during this worship set, I could see the congregation experiencing God.  One lady told me after the service that she felt that people were truly experiencing a one on one worship time with Christ, even though they were in corporate worship.  That is truly awesome to me.  That is what I personally feel most of the time when I’m on stage.  At times it’s almost as if the congregation isn’t even there.  When people reach that level of intimacy with God, in a corporate setting, that is a win for me as a worship leader.  Praise God!

After that set, Matt Bubar came up to share about the trip to Zambia that the team had just arrived back from.  It was amazing to hear what God has been doing over there through our church.  

We then followed up during the offering with Mercy, which talks about being the arms of mercy for our community and world.  It came out of the missions highlight great.  It also from a musical perspective, transitioned into the high, upbeat, celebrative ending I like to do.  After Mercy we played Lift as the final song of the service.  The congregation was into it, as they have heard it before from when we’ve played it there in the past.  

Overall the service was powerful in a spiritual way, and tight musically.  Praise God for a great weekend.

Behind the Mic (October 11th)

Ok, I realize I haven’t blogged in……ahhhhhh…..forever.  Considering we’re coming up on winter and my last blog was “Shovel Ministry.”  So I’m going to actually try and do something on a regular basis.  I’m calling “Behind the Mic.”  I want to give people a perspective of worship from on stage and share my heart with people on how I personally was able to experience worship on Sunday morning.  People always comment on how they feel worship was for them in the congregation.  What we tend to forget is the worship leader(s), myself and the band in this case, are worshipping as well.  I feel the emotions, and spirituality of what we experience may be interesting to some people out there.  And for musicians I feel that the musicality of what happens on stage may also be interesting.  Maybe this doesn’t make sense, but I’ll start with this past Sunday and see how it plays out.

This past Sunday I personally came home spiritually amped from a great weekend at Catalyst, in Atlanta Georgia.  However as “amped” as I was, I had decided that this Sunday would be a great Sunday to bring down the volume and do an acoustic set.  So I led this week on my own.  I didn’t even have any background vocals.  I just wanted it to be pure and simple.

I started the service out with Endlessly, by the Desperation Band.  It’s always difficult with an acoustic set to create an “energy” in the room.  Not to mention the students are half awake at this point, which is quite understandable.  I thought it went well, but felt little engagement from the students.  And I myself was trying to hear myself sing, as my in ear receiver had fallen of and ripped my in ear out of the jack in the middle of the song.  In all honesty, I wasn’t experiencing much of a spiritual connection at that point.  

After Endlessly I read several passages of scripture all focusing on Salvation and then did an acoustic version of Salvation is Here.  This is where I was able to focus on the lyrics and focus on my Savior.  I also felt a bit more of a connection from the students at this point, as this is a song they know very well.  We usually do it with the full band though, it was the first time I did it acoustic.

After the first worship set, Laura Wachowiak, game a message about how Christ is our heavenly Father and related Him to her earthly Father.  It was a great message.  Then I came back with a worship set including the chorus to All Who are Thirsty (Come Lord Jesus come) into Amazing Love, directly into It is You.  It was a great worship set where I personally was really experiencing the presence of God.  I was also able to see the students truly engaging with their Creator at that time.  It was the highlight of the service for me spiritually.  The music was simple yet powerful.

We followed that up with a prayer time, as we do every Sunday, where several students came forward and prayed with one another.  I then concluded with a worship set including I am Free and My Redeemer Lives.  The students were fully engaged in both songs.  The nice thing about leading an acoustic set, is it is easier for me to hear the students singing.  The were singing the echo of I am Free great and during My Redeemer Lives, they were getting into a lot.  Even though the music was softer, the energy was still there.  

Overall the service was great.  I felt there was a pretty good connection between myself and the students, and that God was present in every aspect of the morning.

Shovel Ministry

I can say that I am finally impressed with winter here in Buffalo.  I have lived here for 7 years now, and this is the first winter that has actually impressed me.  I’m from Wisconsin and we got a ton of snow there.  When people heard I was moving here, they all told me to expect even worse winters.  Well if snowing one day and being 60 degrees the next is a rough winter, I’ve been misinformed of a “bad” winter.  Anyway, this year it’s been impressive.  We have feet and feet of snow outside and I love it.  Our broken down car has been 95% buried under the snow for a couple months now.  I’ve also been given a snowblower, however haven’t actually picked it up yet, so I’ve been shoveling all the snow by hand.  I must say it is quite a good workout.  

Tonight while shoveling, my 82 year old, neighbor Gene, was out shoveling her driveway.  As shameful as it is to admit, I’ve lived in this house almost a year now and hadn’t even introduced myself to her yet.  It is interesting how I am in ministry, yet never really even communicate with my neighbors. I’ve really been convicted of that lately.  So anyway, I went over and helped her and was able to talk with her for a little bit.  She was so appreciative, and I’m so glad I helped her.  Just by simply going over with a shovel and serving her, I was able to demonstrate in one little way what being a Christian is all about.  There is no greater feeling than offering yourself with no expectations in return.  

I challenge the 3 of you that read this, to do a simple act of service sometime this week.  You will be surprised how incredible you feel, and how much it will speak to the recipient.

Battle of the Bands 09′

 

Post Memorial Drive

Well it’s been a while since I’ve written on this, as I’m still trying to make it a part of my weekly routine.  Anyway we had our latest Battle of the Bands this past Friday night and it was incredible.  We had 7 bands from local high schools show up and close to 500 students in attendance to watch.  The bands that played were:

Ampersand – Hamburg High School

Back Alley Dance Party – Hamburg High School

Post Memorial Drive – Hamburg High School

Zebra Force Go! – Hamburg High School

In Motion – Hamburg High School

Audio Logic – Frontier High School

Great Divide – West Seneca East Senior

Ampersand took home the prize of a $300 gift certificate to Guitar Center.  It was an incredible evening with hundreds of new students.  We even were able to do live on-line streaming of the event on the internet, which we will also be doing for FUEL, our Sunday morning worship service.

It was a crazy weekend but extremely worth it.  I am hoping to have another Battle of the Bands in the near future that will be invite only.  I will have the top bands in the past few battles come and battle it out to see who can really hold their own.

If you actually read this, please comment on it as it will give me incentive to continue writing on it.

Take care and God bless.

The crowd

I was planning on posting something sooner than this, however am still trying to make blogging a part of regular routine. Anyway, this past weekend I was transported back to when I was a child. I remember being in elementary school, playing outside beside our house in Wisconsin, in feet and feet of snow, trying to make the perfect sledding path. It was always a blast. Well this past weekend I was able to experience it again. It was incredible. Quite a moment I must say. For about an hour, it was just me, the snow and God. I hope I can experience something like that again. I definitely miss my childhood at times, and hope to give my kids a similar one.