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

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!

Songs We Sing, 02/01 - 02/02/14 Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend we continued our series, "Obedience," and Joe shared about how we are called to follow Jesus in all situations. Whether we are experiencing crisis or success, we are to follow His leadership and submit to Him, rather than seeking out our own means for trying to save ourselves. Only Jesus can deliver us. You can listen to or watch the entire message and service here.

Here's our service plan:

Pre-Service - "Kingdom" (A) [Kristian Stanfill]
"Before The Throne" (A) [Charitie Lees Bancroft, arr. by The Modern Post]
Greeting Time
Announcements
Message - "Obedience: Calling" [Joe Hishmeh]
Communion Song - "Carried To The Table" (A) [Leeland Mooring, Marc Byrd, Steve Hindalong]
"One Thing Remains" (Bb) [Christa Black, Brian Johnson, Jeremy Riddle]
"You Never Let Go" (Bb) [Matt Redman, Beth Redman]
Dismissal

Thoughts: This was a great weekend together. Our team did a fantastic job. Trent Raines co-led with me this weekend, and he led powerfully during our communion time with "Carried to the Table," which is a perfect communion song. Also, one my guitar students, Brynn Baker, played lead guitar for the first time as part of our weekend service team, and she knocked it out of the park. She continues to step up and do a great job wherever she is serving (at 13 years of age!!! I had just picked up guitar at 13 years old, and she would play circles around an 18-year-old version of me...). Her playing was definitely a bright spot for me this weekend, especially when she nailed the lead part on "Kingdom," which is one of my favorites. "Before The Throne" continues to be a song that really resonates with our congregation. I prefaced our singing of it by reminding us that even our worship is acceptable to God only because of Jesus' finished work for us, and not because of anything we have done or can do. Jesus is everything for us! We finished our time together with two songs that called us to trust in Jesus and His faithfulness: "One Thing Remains," and "You Never Let G0." These two songs are simple declarations and powerful reminders for the Church to sing together, and it was a fitting way to respond to Joe's message this week.

At some point in the near future, I hope to take some time to write about my recent trip to the Philippines with the Trash Mountain Project. It was both challenging and inspiring, and I'm still processing much of what I saw and experienced. The Lord is doing great things there, and He is raising up some amazing leaders to advance the gospel in some of the darkest parts of the world. Please pray for them as they fight the good fight!

Your turn: what were your experiences, observations, or take-aways from this past weekend?

- Bill