Through the 6 years The Hub has been open, our goal, first and foremost, has been to honor God with the resources He has given us. We’ve been blessed with incredible musicians, both students and adults, to lead worship here on Sunday mornings at our student worship service, FUEL.  It has been great to watch both bands, LiFT, our adult band, and Ignite, our student band, develop into extremely relevant and solid bands that both have a high standard of excellence when it comes to leading worship.  It has been amazing to watch God work through our student band and see them grow and develop into young musicians who love and honor God.  It has been indescribable to be a part of LiFT as the worship leader here at The Hub, and see lives changed through the ministry here.

When it comes to our worship services, we’ve tried for years to make them as engaging and relevant as possible.  It has been a goal of ours to leverage and redeem culture to honor and glorify Christ.  That process has been a learning experience for all of us, and will continue to be so, I’m sure, for years to come.  We use secular music at times to raise a question or to give fresh relevance to an older worship song.  We generally play in a musical style that is widely accepted by students of all ages, as well as students who are unchurched.  Overall we want to be a place that students who are followers of Christ, would be excited to invite their unchurched friends to, while at the same time, experiencing God in an exciting and fresh way.  We strive to push the boundaries of church culture a little bit by redeeming what “pop-culture” has become outside the wall of the church, for Christ.  I think Tim Stevens says it in an amazing way in his book, “Pop Goes the Church:”

“It’s not just about being seeker-sensitive, it is about turning around, staring your culture straight in the face, and leveraging that culture to reach people for Christ.  It is about bringing pieces of the culture into the church in order to make the Bible understood, and highlighting where Biblical principles are already present in pop culture.  It is about NOT giving up on the church but changing our view of church from the inside out so that we begin to see life-transformational changes in our communities.

It is about getting out of our holy huddles, turning around and looking real people right in the eyes, seeing the lives they live and the problems they encounter (as messy and unholy as they might be). It is about celebrating parts of pop culture where there are signs of spiritual interest. It is about building churches that focus more on preparing followers to live in the culture and leverage the culture rather than criticizing and building walls of protection around our commune-like congregations.”

When I read those words, I think of a production like the Grammys.  You have an unbelievable production, with state of the art lighting and sound, stuff we as a church and 99.9% of churches, will never come close to having.  This production is set up, in all reality, to worship and glorify what our world deems the “gods” of pop culture, ultimately God’s creation.  So why is it so taboo for a church to even begin to imagine a worship service coming close to that, for the reason of worshiping and glorifying THE GOD of the universe, the CREATOR.  That is something I’ve struggled with for a while and will probably struggle with for years to come.  I realize The Hub is no Grammy Production, nor will it ever be, or should be.  However we are trying to take back just a piece of that culture, a piece of that technology, and use it to worship OUR GOD, OUR CREATOR.

This past year we have recently been blessed with some addition lighting.  We unveiled it at our annual Fall Retreat and have been using it throughout the year, slowly adding to it.  Over the years we’ve been constantly trying to engage our students more and more, without becoming a distraction for worship. And for the most part, from what I’ve been seeing and hearing, its been working.  However we are always struggling with how much is too far.  For several reasons:

-We don’t want the experience at FUEL to be so over the top, that when students graduate, they can’t find anything like it anywhere else, and end up falling away from church altogether, because we’ve raised their standards too high.

-We also don’t want our music and production to go so over the top, that it simply becomes a distraction.  That is the last thing we want.

When it comes to lighting, we want it to enhance the worship experience, to pull emotion out of the worshiper.   I’ve been to several worship events where the lighting was so powerful when combined with the lyrics and music that is was almost spiritually overwhelming, in a really good way.  It is simply amazing to think that all of that is going on for one reason, to glorify our GOD.  It’s amazing.

Recently we’ve added blinders, haze and most recently a center spotlight.  Now some of these have definitely come close and may very well have gone over the line for a worship environment.  We are learning though.  We figure lets try something and see how it works.  Always asking the question, does this enhance the worship, or simply direct attention to the stage, in turn, almost turning the stage into a worship barrier.  That is the very very last thing we want.  And this can be tricky at times, very tricky.  One reason it can be so tricky is that for several people in the room, it might offer exactly what we want, an incredible worship experience. For others, it may do the exact opposite, draw attention to the stage and off of God.  For others it may be setting a standard that will quite possibly be unmatched when they are no longer young enough to attend FUEL.  So we have to be in constant prayer and discussion as to what is best for the greatest number of students.

Ultimately, my goal as a worship leader, and the goal of the team at The Hub, is to create an experience that is current and relevant to ALL who attend.  Our heart and passion is to draw individuals closer to God through music, teaching, and even lighting.  That is our job and our passion.  TOGETHER, we will continue learning what is best, and ultimately what God is calling us to do.  My hope and prayer is that students leave The Hub, energized and focused on nothing but the One who created them, Jesus Christ.  I never want to get in the way of that.  God please forgive me when I do. : )

Worship set for June 26th and 27th (Worship Center)

Our God Saves – Paul Baloche

Greatly to be Praised – Steve Fee

Praise to the Lord – Hymn

You Never Let Go – Matt Redman

Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman

We Have Overcome – Elevation Church

Tell the World – Hillsong United

Well this weekend, I was originally supposed to lead worship for FUEL in The Hub, however Darren, the head worship leader for the main services in the worship center, got sick.  So, I filled in for him.  I have to be honest, at first I was a bit nervous since this was actually the first time I’ve led a full worship service with a different band in a long long time.  I’ve helped out a lot and led songs here and there, but when it comes to full worship sets, it’s been LiFT for a long time now.  It ended up going really really well though.  Everyone in the band played great, and, from my perspective the energy was great, and the congregation was incredibly engaged.

We opened the service with a couple songs that everyone knew well, followed by a welcome and some announcements.  We then played You Never Let Go, another well known song which allowed the congregation to truly engage and worship whole heartedly.

Greg then gave his message on Isaiah 42, explaining the freedom we have through Christ and how we are set free.  He also spoke on the prophecy of Isaiah and how it is fulfilled in Mark 700 years later.  It was a great message.

Coming out of the message we played the hymn Praise to the Lord.  Now to be honest, and most would probably agree who know me, hymns are not really in my main element.  However I do love them, and grew up on them.  The lyrics are direct and inspirational, and say things that are often overlooked in modern worship.  Scripture tells us to worship with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Too often I feel that I focus a lot on spiritual songs, which I would consider to be more  of the modern praise and worship, simply because I relate to it musically easier.  However I, we, can’t forget the importance of the Psalms and hymns.  It is something I’m sure I’ll be challenged with for a while, but acknowledge I need to be a little more open.

Anyway, after that we played the good old song Blessed Be Your Name, which no matter how you look at it, is a great song.  Everywhere I play that song, no matter who is in the audience or congregation, that song gets the biggest response.  It seems to draw absolutely everybody to Christ, because it really covers every aspect of life, both positive and negative.

We then played a new song, that came out of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC.  It was a great song that I simply had a great time singing on.  It was over the offering so the congregation didn’t sing it, which allowed for me to really let go with it.  It was great and I hope to do it more often over at The Hub.

We then had a prayer time and then closed with Tell the World, a great high energy song, where the guitarists get to shine a bit and have some fun.

Overall it was a great and powerful weekend, and when LiFT isn’t scheduled to play in The Hub, hopefully I can get over and do it a few more times.

(In saying all of this, LiFT is my family and absolutely love worshipping with them.  I can’t wait to worship with them at camp this summer in Buffalo!)

Worship set for FUEL, June 6th 2010:

The Time Has Come – Hillsong United

Not to Us – Chris Tomlin

Lift – LiFT

Have Your Way – LiFT

Rise Up – LiFT

Tell the World – Hillsong United

Well, I realize it’s been quite a while since my last Behind the Mic entry.  I went on vacation in April and sort of had a hard time motivating myself to write this thing.  I enjoy doing it as a journal more than anything, since few people read it.  However those of you who do read it, thank you and I appreciate your interest.

Anyway, we started a new series in FUEL this month called One Prayer, www.oneprayer.com, which is a collaborative series with thousands of other churches around the world.  We all listen to the same messages and go on the same spiritual journey together, because when people and churches unite, they can be “Unstoppable” for Christ, which is the overall theme of the series.

We started the worship set off with 3 familiar songs to our students, The Time Has Come, Not to Us and our oldest original song, Lift.  We wanted to change Not to Us up a tiny bit, so during the chorus we changed the feel and sound with a different drum beat in a half time feel.  It worked better in rehearsal. : ) I tried to clap along with it with a very slow awkward clap.  It sounds cool, but needs a tiny bit more refining.   The students at The Hub sometimes get these little surprises, and “tests,” when we try a new sound or arrangement to a song.  Sometimes it turns out incredible, sometimes not so much.  This one was somewhere in between, and when we play it next week for the Graduation Services, I think we’ll have it perfected and the adults that know the song will like it.

OK, so anyway, after the first worship set we listened to the first speaker of the One Prayer series.  What I didn’t mention before is this series includes messages from other speakers across the country, and really all over the world.  We watch them on video in place of having our own lives speaker.  It changes things up a bit for the students, gives them new perspective, and introduces them to new speakers from all over the world.

Our first message was given by Steven Furtick, a young pastor, 30 years old, who pastors Elevation church in Charlotte, NC of about 7000 members.  The church is only a few years old, pretty incredible.  He spoke on the unstoppable power we have through Christ as we are conduits for the Holy Spirit to work through.  It was an incredible message that challenged students, and adults, to move past the mindset that we are “just” a volunteer, or “just” this and “just” that.  He stated that with the Holy Spirit, we are unstoppable and God will use us in incredible ways.   It was a very relevant message that I believe the students really related to, I know I did.  Check out the website if you’re more interested in what he had to say, you may have to sign in.  www.oneprayer.com.

After we listened to Steven, we took the stage and played Have Your Way and Rise Up. Have Your Way went along perfect with the message as the lyrics talk about how God works through us.  I explained the song again and tried to refresh it a bit since it too is an older one of our originals that the students have sung a lot.  But with a fresh perspective, I believe the song came alive again to many.

We had a prayer time following that set, where students asked God to work through them and be that unstoppable force.  Then we closed with Tell the World.

It was a great FUEL service that spoke a lot to me  personally, and I believe, a great deal to the students as well.

I’ll be back next week with highlights from our Graduation service.

Worship set for FUEL, April 4th (Easter Sunday)

All Because of Jesus – Steve Fee

All for Love/Shout unto God – Hillsong United

Sweetly Broken – Jeremy Riddle

Hymn – Brooke Frasier

Here is Our King (Use Somebody)/Rise and Sing – David Crowder (music of Kings of Leon)/Steve Fee

My Redeemer Lives – Reuben Morgan

Well it’s been a while since I’ve written a Behind the Mic.  Mainly because FUEL has been different this past month.  We’ve been doing small group ministry with limited singing.  We came back full swing for Easter though.  It was absolutely incredible!  I must say one of the best Easter services I’ve ever taken part in or even attended.  Let me give you my perspective from “Behind the Mic.”

Attendance was incredibly low this past Sunday as most students were attending worship services in the main worship center with their families.  This was actually the first year we’ve had a student service for Easter.  Other than the low attendance, it was a phenomenal service.

We opened up the service with All Because of Jesus which set the mood great for the service.  Immediately after we finished the song the lights went dark and an audio clip from the Passion started to play.  We wanted to begin where we left off on Good Friday, with the crucifixion.  As the music built we played an audio clip from the Bible Experience, Matthew 27: 45-54, the crucifixion of Christ.  The audio is the scripture being read dramatically accompanied by music which really brings the story to life.  We placed the cross in the center of the room with a white cloth draped on it.  While the scripture was being read, we had lights on the cross to add to the scripture and  imagery of the story.  It was very powerful.

After the scripture concluded we gradually transitioned into All for Love in which Ariel sang the lead on.  It was a great song that focused on Jesus being all we need, and the 3rd verse specifically proclaiming that the cross will draw people to Christ.  The response from the students seemed great, especially for there only being maybe a 3rd of what is usually there.  After we finished All for Love, I continued to vamp on chords while the next audio scripture was read.  It was again from the Bible Experience and the passage was Matthew 28:1-7, the resurrection of Christ.  This transitioned us from death into celebrating the resurrection.  After the passage was finished, we began Shout unto God, Mike Kerr lead this song.  It was an absolutely perfect song to sing out of the scripture as it talk about the enemy being defeated, and death can’t hold him down.  It goes on to then say “Shout unto God with a voice of triumph, we lift Your name up, we lift Your name up.”  Musically it is incredibly dynamic and to this day one of my favorite worship songs.  It was incredible.

Paul then spoke on Romans 5 and the hope we now have in Christ because of what He did on the cross.  It was great and led into communion where students wrote “thank you” notes to Christ and placed them at the foot of the cross, in exchange for taking communion.  It was a powerful moment.  While students were taking communion I sang Sweetly Broken and then Ariel and Casey sang the Hymn written by Brooke Frasier, and outstanding song.

After communion we had a celebrative set where Mike came up with an arrangement of Steve Fee’s Rise and Sing incorporating Here is Our King and the music of King’s of Leon’s Use Somebody.  The chords are identical to Here is Our King so it was  a great arrangement.  I think the students really enjoyed it.  I know I did.

We then had a prayer time and finished with the classic My Redeemer Lives which always goes over great with the students.

I can’t really express through writing how incredible the service was.  It was also a blast combining LiFT and Ignite as the band.  I had Matt and Gary on bass and drums from LiFT, and Josh and Evan on electric guitar from Ignite.  Mike and I co led and Casey and Ariel sang as well.   It was a super service with tight music.  Praise God for His resurrection.  It was amazing

Oh and write before we sang My Redeemer Lives, we showed this Rob Bell clip which is pretty inspiring, take a look at it.

Stronger: LiFT

Not to Us/Here is Our King: Chris Tomlin/David Crowder

Rise Up: LiFT

I am Free: Newsboys

Last night I had the honor and privilege, along with my band LiFT, to minister through worship alongside Nick Vujicic.  Nick is a man who was born with no arms or legs and his story and testimony is simply amazing.  Please check him and his ministry out at: www.lifewithoutlimbs.org.

There were just over 1700 people in attendance last evening.  I can easily say that up to this point, that was the largest crowd I’ve ever lead worship for.  It was interesting though because many of them, I would say around half, were unchurched.  Which was exactly what we were hoping for.  So as we worshipped you could see half of the crowd super engaged, and half of the crowd really experiencing worship, in a musical sense, for the first time.  It was humbling to be able to be a part of that experience for so many people.  It was our hope that we could bring the people to a place of comfort with relevant music, so Nick could later bring them to a place of discomfort, to a place of breaking and crying out to the only One who could save them, their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I must say walking out on stage and seeing the room packed floor to ceiling, balcony and all, was a bit intimidating.  However once we started playing it felt like home.  I was singing to my God and my focus was on Him.  Musically the evening was incredible, as a band I felt as if we were extremely tight, playing together musically and in Spirit.  We did a couple songs that everyone (who was “churched”) would know, and a couple original songs.  The response was great and I believe set up for Nick great.

Nick then came on stage, speaking on top of  a table/desk.  I can’t begin to describe his impact and for further info on him and to hear his story, please visit his website.  Again it is: www.lifewithoutlimbs.org

Toward the end Nick called me back on stage to play while he gave the invitation to accept Christ.  You can I could totally sense the Holy Spirit working through him as I was standing behind him on stage playing.  It was powerful and a couple hundred people came forward to give their lives to Christ!  It was amazing.  Words really cannot express it.

At the end he asked if we could sing “I love You Lord,” an old chorus.  Well at first I must say I panicked as I haven’t sang that song in years and feared I didn’t know the lyrics.  I didn’t know the chords but started in the key of E and just started singing it.  God gave me all the words and it was great to hear the entire congregation singing it a cappella.  It was beautiful and an incredible way to end the evening.

Afterwards, Nick went to the prayer room to meet with those who accepted Christ and pray with them, after that, and after a long 3 days of speaking, he came back to the green room to meet with a couple individual children one on one.  One little girl had cancer and was half blind, the other was born with no arms.  He was placed on the floor so he was eye level with the girl with cancer.  He prayed for her and hugged her. He hugs everyone for obvious reasons but it was even more special with this little girl.  She asked if she could give him a neck hug, which he mentioned doing to another individual while he was speaking.  It was precious.  The just hugged with their necks, and no arms.  It must have meant the world to this little girl and changed her entire perspective on life.  He then did the same with the little girl with no arms and her entire family.  He was incredibly humble and prayed with each and every individual who wanted it.  It was incredible.

After the last guest left the room, John Wood told him he was finished and must be exhausted.  He was sitting/standing on the couch and just fell over onto his side.  We debriefed the evening as he lay on his side talking to us.  It was an incredible evening.  It gave me and everyone else in the worship center a new perspective on life.  Lives were changed for eternity and I was privileged to be part of it.  Praise God!

Worship set for Love Mercy Rewind , February 27th, 2010

I Gotta Feeling/The Time Has Come – Black Eyed Peas/Hillsong United/ arr. LiFT

Beat It/Break Free – Michael Jackson/Fallout Boy/Hillsong United/ arr. LiFT

We Shine – Steve Fee

Mercy – LiFT

Have Your Way/Shout unto God/God of Justice – LiFT/Hillsong United/Tim Huges

Hosanna – Hillsong United

Rise Up – LiFT

At Your Hands – LiFT

I am Free/Jump – Newsboys/Van Halen

Mercy Reprise – LiFT

Well as you can see this was a long evening, but it was simply amazing.  I must say though that leading up to this event I felt attacked with doubts and worries that it wouldn’t come together like we all had hoped and planned.  I knew God was in it though and spend a good part of the day before the event reflecting on God and asking Him to give me the courage and confidence I needed.  You see, the weather was horrific.  It really has barely snowed all winter, and of course, over one of the largest, if not THE largest event we’ve ever planned, it snowed like crazy.  The roads were terrible and I figured we’d be lucky to have 75 people show up.  I prayed though that God would bring people out safely, and, of course, He did.  We probably had around 250 people show up.  And for the weather being as bad as it was, that was outstanding.

Micah Kephart from Poetice (www.poetice.org), also drove in to town to share on his ministry and Reach 4 Life.  R4L is a Bible study designed to raise awareness to African students of HIV/AIDS.  This study/program has already saved thousands of lives and literally transformed schools.  So in continuation of the theme of Love Mercy, LiFT and the Hub staff teamed up with another cause to raise awareness and raise money for this great program.  The following weeks in FUEL our own students will be going through the R4L program.

So…..anyway.  The night was outstanding.  We opened with a quick song to get the crowd engaged and a bit pumped up.  I used the auto tune pedal and sounded like the Black Eyed Peas a bit when we opened with the chorus of their song “I Gotta Feeling” jelling it with Hillsong’s “The Time Has Come.”  It was a great way to start off the evening.  We then followed the welcome with a 3 song set which went great.  We celebrated God’s goodness and the fact that with Christ, we can be His arms of mercy.

Micah then came up and spoke on what I’ve already mentioned and challenged students, and adults, to a 40 day fast of $1 a day to raise money for R4L Bibles, as well as called them to a life of purity. Basically $20 provides the finances needed for an African student to take the course.  (By the way, this is a Christian course, it is the New Testament coupled with articles which specifically and graphically raise awareness of HIV/AIDS.  And this program is taught in the public school system in Africa!)

After Micah finished up, we took the stage and played the Have Your Way medley that we came up with for Baltimore, while students came to the front to accept the 40 day challenge and call to purity.  After Have Your Way we finished the set with Ariel singing Hosanna.  Unfortunately, at pretty much the worst moment, my string broke on my guitar, just prior to me needing to transition into Hosanna.  I successfully switched guitars without much of an issue, however I didn’t get the jack put in all the way and so my guitar wasn’t going through the system.  Brandon, in the nick of time, pushed the jack in the rest of the way and the guitar came back on, literally at the last possible second.  Praise God! It could have been worse.  Ironically, or not, we were singing “the enemy has been defeated and death couldn’t hold You down.” when my string broke.  I believe Satan was trying to fight me on the lyric a bit, however he still lost!

We then had a prayer time and then concluded with a celebrative set, proclaiming our freedom in Christ, and shouting that we would continue to be His arms of mercy!  It was an incredibly successful night.

On a side note, Ignited the student band led worship the following morning at FUEL.  They did incredible.  This past weekend confirmed, yet again, how much I love my job and how privileged I am to be able to work at a place like the Hub.  Praise God for His grace, mercy and provision!

Worship set for FUEL February 21st:

Salvation is Here – Hillsong United

Lift – LiFT

All I Need is You – Hillsong United

From the Inside Out – Hillsong United

Lord Reign in Me – Brenton Brown

We Shine – Steve Fee

I’ve gotta say, for some reason the week leading up to this Sunday I was a bit nervous for FUEL.  I’m not really sure why though.  Maybe it was because I was out of town the whole week and just didn’t have a lot of time to really put into the service.  However, in the end, FUEL was excellent.  This week we did an acoustic set with Brandon and myself playing acoustic guitar, Matt playing bass and Ariel and I singing.  I was worried that some of the arrangements wouldn’t really come off well.  But they did.  It was awesome.

We started with Salvation is Here and Lift.  Salvation is Here was great, as Brandon still played the main riff for the song only on his acoustic.  It seemed the students were engaged and enjoyed the “different” sound than they are used to.  We’ve done several acoustic sets in the past, but this one was a bit different since we added Matt into the mix.  It allowed for a more rhythmic feel to the songs, as well as allowed us to do some more up beat songs.  After Salvation is Here we played Lift, the first song we ever wrote as a band.  Over the years, we’ve definitely played this song a lot and have sort of started to move on from playing it.  However playing it like this gives in a bit of new life.  It came off great.

After the first worship set, Laura came up and concluded the series on Trasform.  She spoke on the Holy Spirit.  Explaining that we need to both take hold of the Holy Spirit while at the same time allowing It to guide us.

We followed the message with All I Need is You and From the Inside Out.  Both songs came across great and I could really see the students response.  Both songs are powerful musically as well as spiritually.  The lyrics are deep and powerful.  Combined with some great dynamics with the help from Brandon, the arrangements came out great and really glorified God in an incredible way.

We then had our prayer time which we followed with the final worship set.  We brought back another oldie, Lord Reign in Me, which came out fine.  Honestly it was the least favorite song to play, and I’m really not sure how the students liked it.  It was nice to just throw something a little different into the mix.  We ended with We Shine which turned out incredibly well.  This was the song that I was a bit nervous about playing acoustic.  It was amazing though.  It is a very minor song and lends itself great to an acoustic sound.  Combined with the leads that Brandon played and the percussive bass that Matt added, it turned into an incredible arrangement that I will definitely do again in the future.  

Overall it was another great morning.  Bringing the intensity of the music down to a quieter, more reflective worship experience, always seems like a breath of fresh air. We love to “rock out” each morning, but once in a while it’s nice to leave aside some of the added distractions that playing as a full band can sometimes bring.  Ultimately we want our worship experiences to be about nothing, nothing, but our Creator.

Worship set for FUEL, February 14th

The Time Has Come – Hillsong United

I am Free – Newsboys

Mercy – LiFT

Better is One Day – Matt Redman

Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman

Tell the World – Hillsong United

This Sunday went great.  We had Will McCauley sit in on drums since Gary was on vacation.  Will is the drummer for Ignite, the student band that plays each month.  He did a great job and even got to play on one of our original songs, Mercy.  It was great working with him and mentoring him.  We hope to do this more often with other musicians from Ignite to help develop them as musicians.

We started the service off with The Time has Come followed by 2 more songs, including Mercy.  This past week I was able to purchase a new toy for the Hub, an auto tune pedal.  It has several vocal effects on it including the popular “hard tune” sound you hear now all over the radio especially with Kanye West and Lil’ Wayne.  A sound that typically doesn’t fit into modern worship, however used extremely sparingly and with discretion, will add a ton to a worship experience.  And it’s just fun.  This Sunday I didn’t actually use the “hard tune” sound effect, but I did use the megaphone effect, which is on the bridge of Mercy on our album.  So Sunday was the first time I was able to sing Mercy exactly like it is on the CD.  It was a blast.  I’m still experimenting with the pedal.  As for the student’s engagement during worship, it seemed pretty good.  There were a lot of students missing, as this week is their winter break.  Most of them had already left for vacation so the numbers were down, however worship was still great.

After the first set, John came up and continued the “Transform” series we are on right now as a whole church.  He focused on the “Great Commandment,” to love God with all your strength, heart and mind.  It was a great message, which was very relevant to anyone listening, especially the students.

We followed John with another worship set including a couple oldies but goodies, Better is One Day and Blessed Be Your Name.  They were songs, Will already knew as well so it made rehearsing a bit easier. It went great and we then had a prayer time where students came forward if the wanted specific prayer for living out the Great Commandment.

We then closed with an older Hillsong song, Tell the World.  I used the pedal again for this song and basically just added a light distortion to my voice for the song.  I think it was cool.  I’m still experimenting with the pedal to see where certain sounds fit.  Again, it really has no spiritual value what-so-ever, but it’s fun to play with and will, hopefully, enhance the worship experience without taking away from anything.  We’ll see how it goes.

FUEL was great, Will did great, as well as Casey Lockwood who sang background vocals.  Praise God for using me and the rest of the band yet again to glorify Him and giving us the privilege to lead others into His presence.

Worship set for FUEL, January 31st

Not to Us – Chris Tomlin

Solution – Hillsong United

Yours Forever – Hillsong United

Hosanna – Hillsong United

Surrender – Marc James

We Shine – Steve Fee

Well this was another great FUEL overall, however it also had it’s moments.  I’d like to be vulnerable a little more than usual in this weeks “Behind the Mic,” as I believe God may have been revealing some things to me.  And I’d like to share it, and take a little different angle about this weeks service.

Prior to, and especially after Baltimore,  FUEL has started to become comfortable to me.  I believe in a dangerous way.  The band has been very tight, we have a bunch of original songs that students are truly enjoying, and we have many many covers that we do quite well.  Planning for FUEL has started to get, quite honestly, very easy.  My fear is that it will just become a normal routine each week, and I’ll miss the true encounter with God.  I want to make sure I’m worshiping with all of my heart while I’m on stage.  I want to pour my entire spirit into what happens on stage and the best way to do that, is to pour my entire self into my relationship with Christ on a daily level.  My times with God, overall have been great.  While still being tempted daily as everyone is, I feel victorious knowing Christ is on my side.  This past week however, it seemed my mind and heart just wasn’t where it needed to be, and I didn’t give the proper attention to planning FUEL as maybe I should have.  In saying all of this, again, FUEL was great.  We sang a bunch of songs and musically, even with only one electric guitar (we’re used to two) the songs were all really tight.  It seemed that the students engaged great and were excited to be worshiping their Creator.  Ariel sang Hosanna and it sounds better each and every time she does it.  I’m super proud of the band and the Mike and Ariel as they sang great.

I’m really just reflecting on myself.  It was one of those mornings where I was there, I was playing the right chords, but I seemed to have trouble connecting to my Savior.  I think it first hit me when I was going to recite the Lord’s Prayer in between Solution and Yours Forever.  Well……I actually forgot it.  Unbelievable.  I stopped and said, “I just forgot the Lord’s prayer.”  I think it was a moment that the students will never forget, me either.  Moments like that though are what keep us human and keep us from getting “above” ourselves.  Anyway we prayed it together and the rest of the service was excellent.

So anyway, FUEL was great, I was “sort of” there.  I guess this rambling is really for my sake more than anything.  To make me realize that I need to prepare spiritually each and every day for the responsibility of leading students in worship.  The music can be executed perfectly, but if my heart isn’t where it should be, I can’t effectively expect anybody to “follow” me into the presence of God.

God bless the few of you who read this and I’ll be back in a couple weeks.  Ignite, our student band is leading next week so I won’t be behind the mic.  :)

Worship set for FUEL January 24th:

Holy is the Lord – Chris Tomlin

Nothing But the Blood – Matt Redman

Desert Song – Hillsong United/Brooke Frasier

It is You – Newsboys

Endlessly – Desperation Band

Jesus Lead On – Brent Helming

This past Sunday morning was great.  It had some really great moments, and a few minor issues.  All in all though, God was glorified.

I planned an acoustic set for the morning and had Ariel sing with me.  We started off with Holy is the Lord and Nothing But the Blood.  I usually do Holy is the Lord when I play an acoustic set because it lends itself really well to a simple acoustic arrangement.  In fact most Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman songs do.  There was a smaller number of students at FUEL for reasons I’m not sure of, however it was still a great time of worship.  The students were pretty responsive from what I could tell.

After we played the first two songs, Paul came up and gave his message.  He admitted that he had a hard time coming up with what he was supposed to speak on.  He explained how he had been pretty devastated by the news in Haiti, which led him to speak on what he did.  It was great and it was simple, love God, love others and prove it everyday, which is the motto of the Family Ministry Department.  He shared his feelings on Haiti and how, even though students may not be able to go to Haiti and help, they can still love God and others each and everyday right here.

After the message Ariel and I went back up and she sang Desert Song.  It is an absolutely beautiful song, and she sang it great.  It talks of how at times we feel like we are in a battle, or in a desert and the enemy is attacking us, but we will still sing praise for the fact that no weapon formed against me shall remain.  Excellent song.  It’s a must listen to, and if you can, a must play at your services.  We then followed up with It is You, which is a great song as well.

After the prayer time, we finished with 2 more songs.  First Endlessly, which half way through my microphone died, so Ariel tried taking over for me until they changed the batteries in my mic, all the while I’m still singing and no one could hear me.  Those sort of moments are needed every once in a while.  They keep things real.  And then right after my mic died, the stage right projector went out.  It will do that every once in a while when it gets too hot. The service was really flowing well with what Paul had to say and I’m pretty sure Satan was trying his best to destroy it.  Unfortunately, he had no success.  God was praised all the more.  We closed with a very old song.  A song that I did a lot when I was first hired 6 years ago, Jesus Lead On.  It is a great song and very fun to play in an acoustic setting.  Some of the students may not have heard it, however everyone was into it.  It was a great way to close the service.

Again, God showed up and did a great work.  It was an excellent morning and I’m looking forward to another this weekend.

Talk to you all next Monday.