“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