Songs We Sing, 08/24 - 08/25/13 - Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend, our lead pastor, Joe Hishmeh, shared the the fifth and final message in our series, "Positive Identity," where he taught how we are significant in Christ. He shared how God has given us gifts and abilities for the purpose of advancing His kingdom, so we all have a part in God's mission here on earth. We grow in significance when we serve the King and His kingdom. You can listen to or watch the entire message and service here. Here's our service plan from this weekend:

"Kingdom" (A) [Kristian Stanfill] "Everlasting God" (Bb) [Brenton Brown, Ken Riley] Greeting Time/Announcements Message - "Positive Identity: Significant" [Joe Hishmeh] "Your Great Name" (Bb) [Michael Neale, Krissy Nordhoff] "How He Loves" (Bb) [John Mark McMillan] "Made Alive" (C) [Zach Bolen, Brian Eichelberger] Dismissal

Thoughts: This weekend was a great finish to a fantastic series for our church. We all need to be reminded how Jesus has changed our status. We are loved, forgiven, accepted, secure, and significant because of Jesus!

For our singing this weekend, we sang about being  a part of the mission of the Church and the love of God which gives us value and purpose in life. We opened our services with "Kingdom," which declares in the chorus "We are the kingdom of God/ We are an army of love/ We carry truth to the world/ We are the kingdom of God." It was very fitting for Joe's message this weekend, and I thought it set the tone for what we were after in each of the services. We continued with "Everlasting God," which is one of our church's favorite big-picture songs, worshiping the everlasting God for His unchanging goodness and care for us. After the message, we responded first with "Your Great Name," which sings of how God reaches all of us in different places, and gives us a new identity in Him. For all He is and all He has done for us, He is worthy of all our worship! We then went immediately into "How He Loves," where we took the opportunity to acknowledge our struggles and weaknesses and to actively receive God's unfailing love for us. After we prayed, we finished our services with "Made Alive," which was an uplifting send-off for each of our services.

It was a fantastic weekend in all. Our team did a great job and worked hard to serve the congregation well. Also, Joe's message was a great call to service and significance because Christ. I am excited to see how our church responds in serving over time in response what Joe shared. It would be a life-changing experience for the individuals and for our church.

- Bill

What were your thoughts or experiences from your worship gathering this weekend?

Songs We Sing, 05/11 - 05/12/13 - Fellowship Bible Church

This past weekend, we continued in our fifth message of our series - "Seven." Our pastor, Joe Hishmeh, shared from Philippians 2:3-4 about the importance of having healthy friendships in following Christ. The best way to have great friendships is to be a great friend--one who loves like Jesus has loved us. Joe called us to being available, building up, accepting, enduring, sharpening, and understanding in our friendships. It was a great call for us, and it was something I needed to hear this weekend. You can listen to or watch the entire message and service here. Here's our service plan from this weekend:

Welcome "Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)" (G) [Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown] "Unchanging" (G) [Chris Tomlin] Greeting Time/Announcements Message - "Seven: Friends - Philippians 2:3-4" [Joe Hishmeh] "One Thing Remains" (Bb) [Brian Johnson, Jeremy Riddle, Christa Black] "How He Loves" (Bb) [John Mark McMillan] "Everlasting God" (Bb) [Brenton Brown, Ken Riley] Dismissal

Thoughts: This weekend was a great Mothers' Day Weekend. Joe's message was very challenging, and our times of singing were really moving. It was highlight to sing "One Thing Remains" and "How He Loves" together again. I really enjoy both of those those songs because they portray the love of God for us so uniquely and powerfully.

Since Joe was talking about friendship and how our relationships ought to reflect the gospel and how Christ gave Himself up for us, you can see that we sang primarily of Christ's unfailing love and grace for us. I believe when we sing of true character of God, we are also in a sense calling ourselves to reflect that character in our own lives. What we praise, in some way we also desire to be. If we want to love like Christ, let's worship Him for His amazing love for us, which He demonstrated at the cross.

- Bill

What were your thoughts or experiences from your worship gathering this weekend?

Set List, 08/11 - 08/12/12 - Fellowship Bible Church

This week our pastor, Joe Hishmeh, shared some biblical wisdom regarding marriage, as we continued our third week in our series called "Can You Relate?". In his message, Joe called us to the example of Christ and the Church. The three challenges were to You can listen to or watch the entire message and service here. For our singing this week, we focused on the unfailing love of God. He loved us when we were unlovable, and is faithful even when we are faithless (2 Tim. 2:13).

Here's our service plan from this weekend:

"Unchanging" (G) [Chris Tomlin] Welcome/Greeting Time Call To Worship/Confession "Blessed Be Your Name" (Bb) [Matt Redman, Beth Redman] "One Thing Remains (Your Love Never Fails)" (Bb) [Brian Johnson, Jeremy Riddle, Christa Black] "How He Loves" (Bb) [John Mark McMillan] Message - "Can You Relate? - Marriage" [Joe Hishmeh] Offering "You Never Let Go" (Bb) [Matt Redman, Beth Redman] Announcements/Dismissal

"Unchanging" - This was our opening song this week, because it laid the foundation for the rest of what we sang and studied in Scripture: God's faithful, steadfast love for us. It is one that is well-known for our congregation, so we sing it well together.

"Blessed Be Your Name" - We sang this song to continue with the truth that we can trust God no matter what, and that He is always in control and worthy of praise.

"One Thing Remains (Your Love Never Fails)" - - This was a new song for much of our congregation, and it's one that I have become pretty excited about over the last week or so. It is a fairly simple song overall, repeating this line in the chorus: "Your love never fails/ It never gives up/ It never runs out on me." It has been sung and recorded by at least four groups, so look it up. This is one that we will continue to sing in the future, because it a great reminder about God's love.

"How He Loves" - this is a very familiar song through various avenues, but is one that I haven't led before with Fellowship. It really resonates with many in our congregation. I enjoy the fresh, unique lyric in the verses, and the simple pre-chorus and chorus. And yes, we sing the Crowder lyric ("unforeseen kiss"). I cannot sing "sloppy wet kiss" without laughing.

"You Never Let Go" - This was our response song this week, as it pointed us once again to the steadfast love of God. His love casts out fear and gives us rest, because He never leaves us or forsakes us. The Lord is so good to us, and we find hope in His unfailing love.

This weekend was a great weekend of worship together. The team did a fantastic job serving the congregation. One thing I was reminded of this week was that I need to leave room in my worship planning for songs that are currently and freshly moving my heart. That song this week was "One Thing Remains." It has really been encouraging me to trust God more over this past week. I still very much believe that my planning is what I need to do to lead my congregation well, but my leading feels more alive when I am finding and incorporating songs that are speaking to my heart in fresh ways. It made the weekend very special for me. I will definitely keep this tweak in mind as I plan toward the future.

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

What were your thoughts or experiences from this weekend in your church?

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