Fellowship Bible Church - Songs from August & September 2017 Services

I took a little break from doing a weekly recap of our weekend services, partly to see how helpful or necessary it is. Perhaps a recap of what we sing month-to-month might be more valuable, to have all the songs in one place. Here's what we sang together over the months of August and September this year, along with the versions that we drew from in our preparation. 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

  • "Brokenness Aside" [All Sons & Daughters]
  • "Made Alive" [Citizens & Saints]
  • "How Can It Be" [Lauren Daigle]
  • "Lord I Need You" [Chris Tomin, Matt Maher]
  • "How Deep The Father's Love For Us" [Austin Stone Worship/Stuart Townend]
  • "In My Place" [The Village Church Worship]
  • "Jesus!" [Citizens & Saints]
  • "Grace Alone" [The Modern Post/Dustin Kensrue]
  • "I Stand Amazed" [traditional/ Chris Tomlin]
  • "I Am Set Free" [All Sons & Daughters]
  • "Before The Throne" [The Modern Post]
  • "Lamb of God" [Vertical Church Worship Band]
  • "O Come to the Altar" [Elevation Worship]
  • "By Our Love" [Christy Nockels]
  • "In Tenderness" [Citizens & Saints]
  • "God With Us" [All Sons & Daughters]
  • "Good Good Father" [Housefires II]
  • "Jesus Take All of Me" [Brenton Brown]
  • "Only a Word" [original]
  • "The Lion & The Lamb" [Leeland Mooring/Bethel Worship]
  • "Hosanna" [Hillsong]
  • "O Praise The Name (Anástasis)" [Hillsong]
  • "A Mighty Fortress" [Christy Nockels]
  • "Rejoice" [The Modern Post/Dustin Kensrue]
  • "Lord of All" [Kristian Stanfill]
  • "Your Great Name" [Michael Neale/Natalie Grant]
  • "Because of Your Love" [Phil Wickham]
  • "Jesus, You" [original]
  • "It Is Finished" [The Modern Post/Dustin Kensrue]
  • "Son of God" [Starfield]
  • "This I Believe" [Hillsong]
  • "This is Amazing Grace" [Phil Wickham/Bethel Worship]

Fellowship Bible Church - 05/06 - 05/07/2017

This weekend, we wrapped up our generosity series, The Flow of Everything, and we looked at what could be possible if all the church joined together to bless our community and our world with what we have. We also had our annual event, Sharefest, where we partnered with more than 30 churches in the city to bless area schools, the Boys & Girls Club, and the Topeka Rescue Mission by doing much-needed landscaping work and projects. It is always a beautiful picture of the church in action.

For our singing, we focused on how abundantly and graciously God has provided for our redemption through the cross. We concluded our services by celebrating communion together, remembering the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. He has done great things for us!

Here's what we sang together this weekend:

Pre-Service - "Worthy of Your Name" [Passion Worship Band]
"It Is Finished" [The Modern Post/Dustin Kensrue]
"I Stand Amazed" [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
"Lord I Need You" [Passion Worship Band]
"Jesus Paid It All" [Traditional, Alex Nifong, Passion Worship Band]

It was a great weekend together! I am excited about what the Lord is doing in the Church in Topeka, and it is awesome to be a part of it through Fellowship.

I hope you had a great weekend!

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Bible Church - 04/29 - 04/30/2017

This weekend, we continued our Flow of Everything series about living a generous life. This continues to be a challenging series as we examine how God has blessed us and how we respond to that blessing with what God has entrusted to us.

Here's what we sang together this weekend:

Pre-service - "Worthy of Your Name" [Brett Younker, Sean Curran, Passion Worship Band]
"The Solid Rock" [The Dispatch]
"Grace Alone" [The Modern Post, Dustin Kensrue]
"10,000 Reasons" [Matt Redman]
"Because of Your Love" [Phil Wickham]

We introduced a newer song this weekend, "Worthy of Your Name" which came out of Passion 2017. Several of our college students attended the event and came back talking about the song, so I have been looking forward to introducing it to our church family. There was some thought about incorporating it into our Easter services, but we didn't have enough lead time to do so effectively. It's a tricky song to find the right key for congregational singing because the original vocalist has such a high range. But, we'll keep toying with it to try to find the best key for our church. For the rest of our singing this weekend, we focused on the grace and goodness of God, and called each other (and ourselves) to respond with a life of worship to who He is and what He has done for us. It was a great weekend together!

I hope you had a great weekend of worship!

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Bible Church - 4/22 - 4/23/2017

This weekend, we began a new series about living a generous life: "The Flow of Everything." it was a great start to the series as we looked at God as the source of absolutely everything we have.

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-Service: "You Are God Alone (Not a God)" [Billy & Cindy Foote]
"Made Alive" [Citizens & Saints]
"Jesus!" [Citizens & Saints/The Northwest Collective]
"Good Good Father" [Housefires]
"Son of God" [Starfield]

We had some challenges to overcome this weekend with team members getting sick or injured (at one point there was the possibility of me leading from the drums– yikes!), but the Lord provided and brought a team together that did a great job serving and leading. 

Fellowship Bible Church - Easter - 04/15 - 04/16/2017

It's late! But here is our recap of our Easter services together last weekend, anyway!

It was our first Easter weekend together in our new worship center building, which makes it much easier for our congregation to hear one another singing. It made for a powerful time of singing, celebration, and worship together!

Here's what we sang together to celebrate the Faith, Hope, and Love that we have because of the risen Christ:

Pre-service - "Forever (We Sing Hallelujah)" [Bethel Music]
"Rejoice" [The Modern Post/Dustin Kensrue]
"Jesus!" [Citizens & Saints/The Northwest Collective]
"O Praise The Name (Anástasis)" [Hillsong Worship]
"No Longer Slaves" [Jonathan David Helser & Melissa Helser]

Fellowship Bible Church - 04/01 - 04/02/2017

This week, we concluded our Way of Life series through the Sermon on the Mount. It was a great study, and I think we all were impacted in some way by the life-changing contained in these powerful three chapters of the Gospel of Matthew.

This week, we were looking at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7:24-29, where Jesus describes the wise man who builds his house on the rock (Jesus), and the foolish man who builds his life on the sand. The first two songs that came to mind when we were looking ahead to this weekend were the great hymn "The Solid Rock" and "Two Sets of Jones'" by Big Tent Revival. I hadn't played the latter in probably close to two decades, so it was fun to break it out and share it with our congregation, many of whom were very young when it was originally released. It was a last-minute addition to the set after we had some late illness and injuries take out one of our leaders for the weekend, but I'm glad it made it in. I heard quite a few nostalgic comments, where people shared the impact that the song or the band had on their formative years in their walk with Jesus.

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-service - "Two Sets of Jones'" [Big Tent Revival]
"Grace Alone" [The Modern Post, Dustin Kensrue]
"The Solid Rock" [Edward Mote, arr. by The Dispatch]
"Jesus Take All Of Me (Just As I Am)" [Charlotte Elliott, Brenton Brown]
"Because Of Your Love" [Phil Wickham]

It was a great weekend, and a great way to conclude this series. I'm looking forward to Easter in two weeks!

Have a great week!

in the Son,

Bill

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

Worship Night - 02/26/17

Here's what we sang together for our worship night with the focus of rest - resting in the finished work of Jesus for us, as laid out in Hebrews 4.

Foundation for Rest
On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand []
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous) [Traditional]
O Come to the Altar {Elevation Worship]
Your Name [Paul Baloche]
No Longer Slaves [Bethel Worship]
Practicing Rest - Message/Communion /Prayer
Carried to the Table [Leeland]
Grace Flows Down [Passion/Christy Nockels]
Good, Good Father [Housefires]
Restless [Audrey Assad]
How Deep the Father's Love for Us [Stuart Townend]
Beautiful [Phil Wickham]
In Tenderness [The Northwest Collective/Citizens & Saints]
Celebrating our Rest
The Solid Rock [The Dispatch]
Rock of Ages {Dustin Kensrue/The Modern Post]
Before the Throne [The Modern Post]
The Lion and The Lamb [Leeland/Bethel Worship]
It is Finished [Dustin Kensrue/The Modern Post]

 

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 - 02/17 - 02/18/17

This weekend Pastor Joe looked at Matthew 5:38-48 and focused on Jesus' call to forgiveness versus revenge. It was a powerful challenge for our relationships. For our singing, we focused on songs that reminded us of the forgiveness that we have been shown by the Lord through the sacrifice of Jesus, and how Ephesians 2:14 reminds us that "He Himself is our peace." 

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-service - "How Can It Be" [Lauren Daigle]
"This Is Amazing Grace" [Phil Wickham]
"You Have Overcome" [Bill Horn]
"God With Us" [All Sons & Daughters]
"It Is Well" {North Point Community Church/Lauren Daigle]

It was another great weekend together!

Have a great week!

in the Son,

Bill

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 - 02/04 - 02/05/2017

This weekend for our Way of Life series, Pastor Joe shared Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount about adultery and lust. It was a challenging message for all, and reminded us just how much we need the grace of God and the righteousness of Christ.

Here's what we sang together this weekend:

Pre-Service - "All The Poor And Powerless" [All Sons & Daughters]
"Jesus!" [Citizens & Saints/The Northwest Collective]
"I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)" [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
"No Longer Slaves" [Bethel Music]
"O Come To The Altar" [Elevation Worship]

For our singing, we focused on themes of our own helplessness apart from Christ's work for us and in us, the salvation that only comes through Christ, the freedom that we have from sin and fear because of Christ, and the forgiveness that is available to us because of Christ.

It was a great weekend together, and the team did a fantastic job preparing and leading. It was great to be back after my trip to the Philippines, albeit a little jet-lagged! I hope to post a little about my trip at some point, but it may be a week or so before I can get to that.

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Bible Church - 01/21 - 01/22/2016

This weekend was our second in our Way of Life series, and Pastor Joe dug into Matthew 5:17-20 to highlight the difference that Christ has called us to be in our identity and impact in this world. 

Here's what we sang together:

Pre-Service - "A Mighty Fortress" [Christy Nockels]
"This is Amazing Grace" [Phil Wickham]
"Hosanna" [Hillsong]
"God With Us" [All Sons & Daughters]
"Forever Reign" [Hillsong]

It was a great weekend. Our leaders and team did a great job giving their best and helping the congregation sing together in worship. Our songs focused on the character of God, which is what He calls us into by extension. He wants our lives to reflect His glory and character to the world around us, and He is the one who makes that transformation happen as we open our lives to His influence and walk in step with the Spirit. We closed with "Forever Reign" because it highlighted the contrast between God's character and our own apart from His work in our lives. It gave us an opportunity to confess our hearts to God and call each other to run to Him and to make Him the sole recipient of our lives' devotion. I think it was a fitting response song for Joe's message this weekend.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship!

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Bible Church - 01/14 - 01/15/2016

We had an interesting week, to be sure. There were many weather-related questions concerning the weekend, with a looming ice storm that threatened to hit right in the middle of our Saturday evening services and run through the night into Sunday morning. Because of the potential storm, we pre-recorded the service on Thursday afternoon so we could share it with the congregation just in case. However, we were able to get our Saturday 5 PM service in, but we canceled the remaining services to be safe and to keep our people off the roads as much as possible to prevent accidents due to icy conditions. As it turned out, the temperature danced around the freezing point, and the ice was minimal, but when we had to make the call, there was no way to know that for sure. Hindsight...

All that considered it was a great weekend. David Hinkle's message from Matthew 5:3-12 and the Beatitudes pointed us to the truth that our blessing comes to us externally because of what Jesus has done for us. His life, His righteousness, His character–they are shared with us as we depend on Him and look to Him for our satisfaction and our identity. It was a powerful message of the grace of God and being clothed in Christ.

For our singing, we focused on dependence, on the truth that we are children of God and He is our faithful Father, and on how we desperately need Him to lead us and guide us.

Here's what we sang together this weekend:

"All The Poor & Powerless" [All Sons & Daughters]
"Rejoice" [Dustin Kensrue/The Modern Post]
"Your Great Name" [Michael Neale, Krissy Nordhoff]
"Good, Good Father" [Housefires II]
"Lord, I Need You" [Chris Tomlin]

I hope you had a great weekend, whatever weather you were experiencing!

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 Bible Church - New Year's Weekend

For New Years Eve Weekend this year, we went mainly with a simple, four-piece rock band set up, and it was a ton of fun. It felt like going back to my garage band roots from college. I loved the simplicity and the rawness of it all, and I had the opportunity to play a little electric guitar again this weekend, which I don't do enough. It was a really enjoyable time of remembering and celebrating our adoption as sons and daughters of God through the finished work of Christ for us!

"Words in the Water" [Thrice]
"Made Alive" [Citizens & Saints]
"Grace Alone" [The Modern Post/Dustin Kensrue]
"No Longer Slaves" [Bethel Music]
"O Come to the Altar" [Elevation Worship]

 

Fellowship Bible Church - Christmas Eve 2016

God is with us! This weekend, we concluded our Christmas Series – "Christmas On Purpose" with a message entitled "To Save Sinners." That is ultimately why Jesus stepped down from His throne and became flesh. He came to rescue us and to give us new life.

Here's what we sang together to celebrate the Savior's birth:

Pre-service - "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (Instrumental) [Based off of Fernando Ortega's arrangement]
"Joy to the World" [Traditional, my arrangement]
"O Come Let Us Adore Him" [Hillsong]
"O Holy Night" [Traditional, my arrangement]
"Silent Night" [Traditional]

Christmas Eve is always a beautiful and special celebration that closes with candle-lighting to remember the Light of World who stepped into the darkness to bring us out into the light.

Merry Christmas!

in the Son,

Bill 

Fellowship Bible Church - Advent Weekend Recaps

Well, in the busy-ness of vacation and holiday stuff, I have fallen way behind on posting here, so this is a catch-up post for our December weekends, along with our Christmas Worship Night! Below are the sets from the weeks that I have missed. Our Christmas message series was entitled "Christmas On Purpose" from 1 Timothy 1:15: "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." The messages broke down the phrase "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" into smaller segments to show why Christ came into the world in the incarnation.

December 3 & 4 - Identity

Pre-service - "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" [Traditional]
"Jesus" [Citizens & Saints]
"Grace Alone" [The Modern Post]
"Son of God" [Starfield]
God With Us" [All Sons & Daughters]
 

December 10 & 11 - Incarnation

Pre-service - "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" [Traditional, my arrangement]
"Angels from the Realms of Glory" [Traditional, my arrangement]
"O Come Let Us Adore Him" [Hillsong]
"What Child is This" [Bebo Norman arrangement]
"Here I Am to Worship (Chorus only)" [Chris Tomlin]
"Jesus Messiah" [Chris Tomlin]
 

December 17 & 18 - The World

"Hosanna (Praise is Rising/Emmanuel)" [Paul Baloche]
"Go Tell It on the Mountain" [Traditional, arrangement inspired by Crystal Lewis version]
"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" [Traditional, my arrangement]
"Hosanna (Chorus Only)" [Hillsong]
"Jesus Take All of Me" [Brenton Brown]
 

Christmas Worship Night - December 11

"Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" [Traditional]
"O Come All Ye Faithful" [Traditional]
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" [Traditional]
"Angels We Have Heard On High" [Traditional]
"Joy to the World" [Traditional]
"O Holy Night" [Traditional]
"What Child Is This" [Traditional]
"Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" [Traditional, arr by Fernando Ortega]
"Noel" [Lauren Daigle, Chris Tomlin]
"God With Us" [All Sons & Daughters]
"Good, Good Father" [Housefires]
"Lamb of God" [Vertical Church Band]
"Son of God" [Starfield]
"No Longer Slaves" [Bethel Music]
"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" [Chris Tomiln]
"I Am Set Free" [All Sons & Daughters]
"Jesus!" [Citizens & Saints]
"Grace Alone" [The Modern Post/Dustin Kensrue]
"My Victory" [Crowder]


I'll be posting our Christmas Eve Service Plan on that day.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our incredible Savior who came to our rescue! He is with us!

in the Son,

Bill

Fellowship Service Recap - 11/12 - 11/13/16

This weekend, we continued our Together series as Pastor Joe looked at the value of being in "Fellowship Together." He focused on Daniel 1:1-21 and how Daniel and his group of friends supported and encouraged one another in remaining faithful to the Lord, even in the face of trials and difficulty during the exile in Babylon.

For our singing together, we focused on God's faithfulness and unfailing love, and the fact that He is with us. We can be encouraged to be together in fellowship with one another because God does the same for us.

Our team did a great job, and I really enjoyed including "Grace Alone" in our actual worship set after singing it a few times in the pre-service section. I love the lyric of that song, and how it points to the Trinity in the work of saving us, from beginning to end. I hope to continue singing it together as we go. We also sang a song that we haven't sung together in quite a while: "One Thing Remains." I love that song–especially the bridge. It's a powerful declaration of God's faithfulness and the security of our salvation because of Him.

Here's what we sang together this weekend:

Pre-service - "A Mighty Fortress" [Christy Nockels]
"Grace Alone" [Dustin Kensrue/The Modern Post]
"I Stand Amazed" [Charles Hutchison Gabriel, North Point Community Church]
"God With Us" [All Sons & Daughters]
"One Thing Remains" [Kristian Stanfill/Bethel]