Fellowship Bible Church - 03/26 - 03/27/17

It has been a while! It's been a busy month, but it's time to get back on the wagon with the blog posts recapping our weekends. This weekend was our next to last in our series through the Sermon on the Mount,  The Way of Life. In his message, Joe talked about the narrow way and the wide way, and the influences that will lead us down one path or the other. This is one of the more difficult teachings of Jesus, but it was a powerful challenge to follow after Jesus because His way leads to life.

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-Service - "I Am Set Free" [All Sons & Daughters]
"The Solid Rock" [Edward Mote, The Dispatch]
"Before The Throne" [Charitie Lees Bancroft, The Modern Post]
"The Lion And The Lamb" [Leeland Mooring, Bethel]
"Lord, I Need You" [Chris Tomlin, Passion Worship Band]

It was a unique weekend for me, in that I was leading from the bass guitar. I have never led a weekend here from the bass, so it was exciting and challenging. It requires a bit of a different mentality and rhythm of playing, so it took some extra focus to do along with singing, but I really enjoyed the stretch. The team did a solid job leading, and it was a great weekend of worship together.

For the songs we sang, we focused on Jesus as the foundation and forerunner of our faith, as expressed in Hebrews 12:1-2. He is everything we need for faith, for life, and for our eternity. He supplies us with the wisdom, strength, and guidance to follow Him. As He says in John 15, we cannot bear any good fruit apart from Him. Those truths directed our singing time together throughout the weekend.

I hope you had a great weekend!

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Bible Church - 02/25 - 02/26/17

We had a great weekend together as we continued our series through the Sermon on the Mount, The Way of Life. This weekend, the focus was on our secret practices, and how God is more concerned with our relationship to Him and who we are in private than with how we seek to impress other people. It was a great weekend, and I think we were all challenged to focus more on our internal lives and private practices than performing for others.

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-service - "Your Love is Strong" [Jon Foreman]
"Rejoice" [Dustin Kensrue, The Modern Post]
"Your Great Name" [Michael Neale]
"Hosanna" [Hillsong United]
"Lord, I Need You" [Chris Tomlin]

Fellowship Bible Church - 02/11 - 02/12/2017

This weekend we looked at Jesus' challenge to us to keep our word, both in marriage and in the promises we make. In his message, Pastor Joe shared how marriage and keeping our word is a picture of the gospel and the promises that God gives us through Christ. When promises–especially marriage vows–are kept, they remind us of God's faithfulness in His relationship with us as His people.

Here's what we sang together this weekend:

Pre-service - "Nothing But The Blood" [Andy Cherry, Robert Lowry]
"Grace Alone" [Dustin Kensrue, The Modern Post]
"Before the Throne" [The Modern Post]
"Good Good Father" [Housefires]
"Lord, I Need You" [Chris Tomlin]

In our singing, we focused on themes of God's grace for us, Christ being our Atonement and Advocate and Mediator, God's faithful love for us, and our desperate need for the Lord to be our Righteousness. It was a moving weekend together, as we have all been touched in some way by the brokenness and pain of divorce in our culture, and know the deep need we have for restoration, reconciliation, forgiveness, and repentance in our lives and marriages. May God gives us grace and strength to be people who keep our word and reflect His faithful love to the world around us.

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Bible Church - 01/07 - 01/08/16

This weekend we began our spring series through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew–The Way of Life. The message this weekend was an introduction about why and how to listen to God. I'm really excited about this series because the Sermon on the Mount is so powerful and shows us the righteousness of God in such a striking and challenging way. 

Here's what we sang together this weekend:

Pre-service - "Lead Me to the Cross" [Hillsong United]
"Jesus!" [Citizens & Saints / The Northwest Collective]
"Before the Throne" [The Modern Post]
"No Longer Slaves" [Bethel Music]
"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" [Chris Tomlin]

I hope you had a great weekend and that you are resting in the finished work of Jesus as your hope!

in the Son,
Bill

Fellowship Service Recap - 09/24 - 09/25/16

This weekend, we celebrated our church's 20th anniversary. It was a special weekend as we reflected on how the Lord has moved in and through our church family here in Topeka. It's pretty wild to think that I have been around for a quarter of the life of the church, too!

For the message this weekend, Joe continued in our Awakening series with a talk about why we still need the gospel, looking at the "rodents of the gospel," that gnaw away at our peace and rest: self-condemnation, self-righteousness, and selfishness. It was a great reminder of the subtle power these things can have in our lives, and to continually go back to the gospel for the truth about who we are in Christ.

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-service - "Rock of Ages" [The Northwest Collective]
"Made Alive" [Citizens & Saints]
"I Stand Amazed" [Northpoint Live version]
"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" [Chris Tomlin]
"Jesus Paid it All" [Kristian Stanfill]

It was a beautiful weekend together as we reminded one another of the truth of the gospel: that Jesus did it all, and we were undeserving of the grace, love, and mercy He has shown us. He is so good to us!

I hope you had a great weekend, as well.

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Service Recap - 09/10 - 09/11/16

This week was the first of our new series, Awakening, where we are looking at the gospel for all of life as we receive it, live it, and give it away. In this first message, Joe shared about the declarations of the gospel–what it says about God, and what it says about us. It was a beautiful reminder of how the gospel changes our relationship with God, and brings us into fellowship with Him and with each other.

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-service - "Grace Alone" [Dustin Kensrue/The Modern Post]
"It is Finished" [Dustin Kensrue/The Modern Post]
"Jesus!" [Citizens & Saints]
"Jesus Messiah" [Chris Tomlin]
"O Praise The Name (Anástasis)" [Hillsong]

It was a great start to the series. The team did a great job, and it was a very celebratory weekend with the words we were singing, as we celebrated the gospel and how Jesus came to our rescue through His death, burial, and resurrection.

I hope you have a great week!

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Service Recap - 08/20 - 08/21/16

This was our second weekend in our Storms series (I was on vacation last weekend) and the message this weekend was about Jonah, and how storms call us back to the Lord. Joe called those who have been running away to return to the Lord, and for those of us who knew people who had run away to pray for the Lord to bring them back.

Here are the songs we sang together:

Pre-Service - "Grace Alone" [Dustin Kensrue/The Modern Post]
"In Tenderness" [Citizens & Saints]
"Before the Throne" [The Modern Post, Charitie Lees Bancroft]
"I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)" [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
"Lamb of God" [Vertical Church Band]
"Lord, I Need You" [Daniel Carson, Matt Maher, Christy Nockels, Jesse Reeves, Kristian Stanfill]

We had a huge band this weekend (11 people!!!), and it was a great time serving together. We had three leaders, two acoustics, three electrics, bass, drums, keys, violin, and banjo, and it was a beautiful thing. The team did a great job serving and leading. For our singing, we focused on how the Lord sought us out to serve us and save us in His incredible grace and kindness toward us, and how we all desperately need His continued working in our lives.

I am so grateful to the Lord for what He is doing in our church and in our team!

in the Son,

Bill

FBC Service Recap - 04/23 - 04/24/16

For our fourth weekend of our Decided series, we looked at the choice to "confide or hide." Scripture calls us to confide in trustworthy brothers and sisters. With this, there are benefits in community with others – forgiveness, humility, authenticity, and vulnerability. For our singing, we focused mainly on themes of confession and the faithfulness of God to forgive us.

Here's what we sang together this weekend:

• "Made Alive" [Citizens & Saints, The Northwest Collective]
• "There Is A Fountain" [Citizens & Saints]
• "Lord I Need You" [Chris Tomlin]
• "Forever Reign" [Jason Ingram, Hillsong]
• "One Thing Remains" [Kristian Stanfill, Passion]

It was a great weekend. The team did a great job, as always, and it was great to be back celebrating the grace of God in Jesus with my church family! 

I just returned from Church conference at Watermark Community Church in Dallas, TX, and it was a refreshing time of learning and growing with some of the pastoral team. 

FBC Service Recap - 04/09 - 04/10/16

In our second week of our Decided series, we looked at the choice to forgive or avenge, from Lk. 7:41-50 and Mt. 18:21-35. For our singing, we sang songs that focus on how much we have been forgiven by God. As Joe shared in his message, when we see how much we have been forgiven, it prompts us to also forgive much.

Here's what we sang together:

• "In Tenderness" [W. Spencer Walton, Adoniram J. Gordon, Nate Garvey]
• "Before The Throne" [Charitie Lees Bancroft, Vicki Cook, arr. by The Modern Post]
• "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" [John Newton, Edwin O. Excell, Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, John P. Rees]
• "I Stand Amazed" [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
• "Son of God" [Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld, Ed Cash, Gordon Cochran]

It was a great weekend, singing some of our favorite, familiar songs together. While we are called to "sing a new song" to the Lord, there is something encouraging and inviting about singing songs that everyone knows from time to time. Also, I hadn't entirely noticed it in planning, but we sang four hymns this weekend, which was refreshing. All around it was a beautiful weekend as we reflected on the forgiveness that we have because of Jesus, and how we can pass that on in our relationships here and now.

The team, as always, did a great job serving the church together. In all, it was a very encouraging weekend. I hope it was for you, as well. 

In the Son, 

Bill

FBC Service Recap - 02/20 - 02/21/16

This weekend, Joe continued teaching from the book of Acts and focused on Chapter 16, where Luke records three specific lives that were transformed by the power of the gospel: a God-fearing woman named Lydia, a slave girl who was being exploited by her owners, and a Philippian jailer. It was a beautiful reminder of how God has rescued and transformed people from every kind of background and made us all part of His body together. 

Here are the songs that we sang together:

"Hail The King" [Zach Bolen, Brian Eichelberger]
"Blessed Be Your Name" [Matt Redman, Beth Redman]
"Your Great Name" [Michael Neale, Krissy Nordhoff]
"How Great Is Our God (chorus only)" [Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash]
"O Praise The Name (Anástasis) [Marty Sampson, Benjamin Hastings, Dean Ussher]
"God Is Able" [Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan]

We had a great weekend together. We sang some songs we hadn't sung in a while, along with introducing a new song in "O Praise The Name (Anástasis)" from the team at Hillsong. I really enjoyed singing this together. I wasn't sure how I felt about the song going in, but singing it with the church helped me to connect with the lyric more than the recorded version. We'll continue teaching it over the next few weeks, and we're planning on singing it at Easter together, which should be very fitting, as it recounts the story of the gospel–what Jesus has done and is going to do for our redemption. 

The themes in our songs this weekend were our justification by faith because of the work of Jesus, our hope being in Him alone, His worthiness of praise no matter the circumstances because He is with us always, celebrating the power of the gospel and the name of Jesus, and the sacrifice of Jesus for us. 

The team did an excellent job this weekend, and helped facilitate a great time of worshiping together with the church. I'm so thankful for our volunteers and all that they put in to make our times together rich and meaningful. Above all, I'm grateful the that the Lord uses us and moves in and through us in our times together (often in spite of ourselves!). 

All of our hope is in Jesus! 

Have a great week! 

In the Son, 

Bill

FBC Service Recap - 01/30 - 01/31/16

As we continued in our Mission Possible series through the book of Acts, Joe shared this weekend about the three people we need in our lives, from looking at the life of Paul: Jesus, the person who leads us to Jesus (Ananias), and the person who comes alongside us to encourage us in our walk with Christ (Barnabas).

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-Service - "In Exile" [Thrice]
"Hosanna (Praise is Rising)" [Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown]
"I Stand Amazed" [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
"Man of Sorrows (In My Place)" [Philip Paul Bliss, arr. w/ additional chorus by Bill Horn]
"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" [John Newton, Edwin O. Excell, Chris Tomlin, John P. Rees, Louie Giglio]
"This is Amazing Grace" [Phil Wickham, Josh Farro, Jeremy Riddle]
 

Our team did a great job and it was a really enjoyable weekend of worship together. I'm so grateful for our team and our church!

I hope you have a great wee!

in the Son,

Bill

Service Recap - 12/05 - 12/06/15 - Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend, we celebrated the start of our Advent series with a message about Christ the Missionary, looking at how Christ came to proclaim the good news of redemption to us. With that, we also held a Global Outreach Weekend, celebrating what God is doing through our church around the world. We had special guests Brett Durbin and Russell West from Trash Mountain Project here, as well. It was a great weekend.

Here are our songs from this weekend:

"I Will Go" [Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld, Allen Salmon]
"Joy to the World" [George Frederic Handel, Isaac Watts, arr. by Bill Horn]
"Jesus Messiah" [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves]
"Son of God" [Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld, Gordon Cochran, Ed Cash]

Service Recap - 11/21 - 11/22/15 - Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend, I was off, and Harper Compton and Kip Kraisinger did a fantastic job leading in my place for the fifth week of our Rebuild series, where Joe taught about our responsibility in making a difference in our community.

Here are our songs from this weekend:

"Sweetness of Freedom" [Zach Bolen, Brian Eichelberger]
"Rejoice" [Dustin Kensrue, Stuart Townend]
"Made Alive" [Zach Bolen, Brian Eichelberger]
"Our God" [Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin, Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves]

I hope you had a great weekend of worship, and that you have a great Thanksgiving this week!

in the Son,

Bill

Songs We Sing - 07/11 - 07/12/15 - Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend, we continued in our "Grounded" series through 1 Corinthians, and Pastor Joe focused on chapter 14 and discussed the subject of gifts in the Church.

Here are our songs from this weekend:

"Jesus" [Zach Bolen, Brian Eichelberger, Citizens & Saints]
"Before the Throne" [Charitie Lees Bancroft, Dustin Kensrue, The Modern Post]
"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" [Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, John Newton, Edwin O. Excell, John P. Rees]
"Great Are You Lord" [Jason Ingram, Leslie Jordan, Brian Leonard, All Sons & Daughters]
"Forever Reign" [Reuben Morgan, Jason Ingram]

For our singing this weekend, we focused on Jesus being the center of our attention, and how every gift we have is both from Him and for Him. We are weak and flawed, but He gives us strength and equips us for serving our various roles within the body of Christ for His glory and His purposes. All eyes must be on Him as we serve, and our goal ought to be to draw attention to Him and not ourselves.

We introduced "Great Are You Lord" by All Sons & Daughters, which is a song I've been looking forward to singing together with our congregation. It is a simple song of praise that sings of how even the very breath we have to sing comes from the Lord, and ought to be returned to Him in praise. We cannot even worship Him without what He has first given us, which is a profound thought. It's connection with the message is that our gifts and abilities come from the Lord, and they are not something that we've given to ourselves. Therefore, the only fitting response is, just like our very breath, to use those gifts for the glory of Jesus and the service of His Church. Next weekend, we'll probably bring it down a step to make it a little more singable for everyone. 

Overall, we had a great weekend of worship together! I hope you did, too!

In the Son,

Bill

Songs We Sing - 05/07 - 05/08/15 - Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend, we continued in our second week of or series through 1 Corinthians, Grounded. Joe shared a challenging message about the pursuing the wisdom of God from 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16. 

Here are our songs from this weekend:

Pre-Service - "Search My Heart" [Matt Crocker, Joel Houston - Hillsong]
"Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)" [Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown]
"Made Alive" [Zach Bolen, Brian Eichelberger - Citizens & Saints]
"Lamb of God" [Andi Rozier, Jason Ingram, Meredith Andrews]
"Son of God" [Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld, Gordon Cochran, Ed Cash - Starfield]
"Jesus Messiah" [Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash]

Our team did a great job leading, and we had a great weekend of worship together. We introduced Hillsong's "Search My Heart" in the pre-service slot, which is a song that I have wanted to incorporate since I first heard it. We also continued teaching Vertical Church's "Lamb of God," which is a fantastic song about the cross. I love it, and it has been beautiful to hear the church take hold of it over the past few weeks.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were!

If you want to hear more of the songs that we sing with our church, you can find a Spotify playlist of our favorites here.

Also, you can watch our entire service here.

Have a great week!

- Bill

Songs We Sing - 05/02 - 05/03/15 - Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend, we began our message series through 1 Corinthians - "Grounded." Joe began by looking at the idea of unity within the Church, based on the Word of Christ, the cross of Christ, and the Lordship of Christ.

Here are our songs from this weekend:

Pre-Service - "Those Who Trust" [Don Chaffer - Waterdeep]
"O Worship The King" [Robert Grant, Johann Michael Haydn, Chris Tomlin]
"Lamb of God" [Jason Ingram, Andi Rozier, Meredith Andrews - Vertical Church Band]
"Lord of All" [Kristian Stanfill]
"Jesus!" [Zach Bolen, Brian Eichelberger - Citizens & Saints]

We had a great weekend of worship together! "Those Who Trust" is always a favorite, and we hadn't sung it for a while, so it was fun to bring it back. Tomlin's modern arrangement of "O Worship The King" is one of my favorite hymn rewrites. It preserves the original melody and adds a fitting chorus that I really enjoy singing. "Lamb of God" is a new one that we first introduced at our Good Friday services. This is a beautiful and moving song about Christ's work on the cross for our atonement, and I am really looking forward to continuing to sing it together. "Lord of All" remains a staple for our church, and for good reason: it's a GREAT song that is all about the Lord! Citizens & Saints' "Jesus!" is a powerful declaration of the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ of all worship and honor and glory from Philippians 2. One thing I love about Citizens & Saints is how they incorporate Scripture so well into their songs. I believe this helps with how well their songs resonate with the Church.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. I hope you had the opportunity to worship Jesus together with a local body of believers this weekend!

-bh

Worship Gatherings, 10/11 - 10/12/14 - Fellowship Bible Church

I know this is a week late, but here here are the songs we sang two weekends ago:

"Unchanging" (G) [Chris Tomlin]
"Hallelujah To My King" (C) {Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown]
"Forever Reign" (A) [Reuben Morgan, Jason Ingram]
"Lord of All" (A) [Kristian Stanfill]
"Everlasting God" (A) [Brenton Brown, Ken Riley]

It was a good weekend together as we wrapped up our series on 1 ThessaloniansW!

Songs We Sing, 08/16 - 08/17/14 - Fellowship Bible Church

Here is our set from this weekend:

Pre-Service - "Love Is Not A Fight" (A) [Warren Barfield]
"You Brought Me Back To Live" (Bb) [Zach Bolen, Brian Eichelberger]
"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" (D) [Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, John P. Rees, John Newton, Edwin O. Excell]
"I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)" (D) [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
"In Tenderness" (G) [Nate Garvey, Adoniram Judson Gordon, W. Spencer Walton]

It was a great weekend. Pastor Joe shared a powerful message about grace and forgiveness vs. revenge in our relationships. Our team did a great job, and we all really enjoyed teaching the new song, "You Brought Me Back To Life." It's been stuck in my head all week, and the lyric of this song is exactly the kind of thing I want stuck in my head–and the head of every person in our congregation–during the week!

I am so thankful for our team and for our incredible church.

Sola Christus!

Set from our Worship Night - 08/03/14

Here's our plan from our Worship Night at FBC last night:

"Words in the Water" [Thrice]
"In Tenderness" [Citizens]
"This is Amazing Grace" [Phil Wickham]
"One Thing Remains" [Bethel Worship]
"Your Great Name" [Michael Neale, Krissy Nordhoff]
"How Deep The Father's Love For Us" [Stuart Townend]
"Carried to the Table" [Leeland]
"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" [Chris Tomlin, et al]
"In Christ Alone" [Keith Getty, Stuart Townend, personal arrangement]
"I Am Set Free" [All Sons & Daughters]
"It Is Well" [Todd Fields]
"You Have Overcome" [Bill Horn, Erik Oldberg]
"Forever (We Sing Hallelujah]" [Bethel Worship/Kari Jobe]
"Before the Throne" [The Modern Post]

It was an incredible night of worship together. I realized last night that I have desired to plan a night like this for nearly eight years, but it has been hindered by various things during that span. It was a beautiful thing to see it all come together, and to see a dream realized, in a sense. My intern, Chandler Klamm, contributed to every part of the process, and I think it was cool for him to see it all come together, too. I'm so grateful for our incredible team that made it all happen!