August 31, 2008 Worship Set

Call to Worship:

• Happy Day by Tim Hughes

Offering:

• Stronger by Hillsong

Worship:

• Glorious God by New Life Church
• Almighty God by Tim Hughes
• Hallelujah to my King by Hillsong

August 24, 2008

Call to Worship:

• Beautiful One by Tim Hughes

Offering:

• Song written and performed by Alex Schroeder

Worship:

• Unchanging by Chris Tomlin
• Mighty to Save by Hillsong United
• Love Came Down by Ben Cantelon

August 17, 2008 Worship Set

Call to Worship:

• Our God Saves by Paul Baloche

Offering:

• Amazed by Jared Anderson

Worship:

• Promises by New Life Worship
• How He Loves by John Mark McMillan
• How Great Is Our God by Chris Tomlin

August 10, 2008 Worship Set

Call to Worship:

• Everything to God by Paul Baloche

Offering:

• Your Name by New Life Worship

Worship:

• Endlessly by Desperation Band
• Glorified by Jared Anderson
• Til I See You by Hillsong United

August 3, 2008 Worship Set

Call to Worship:

• See His Love by Tim Hughes

Offering:

• Salvation Covers Me by Conspiracy Among Friends

Worship:

• Glorious One by Steve Fee
• Came to my Rescue by Hillsong United

Communion:

• Fire Fall Down by Hillsong United

July 27, 2008 Worship Set

Call to Worship:

• Sing, Sing, Sing by Chris Tomlin

Offering:

• Your Love Is Everything by Chris Quilala (Jesus Culture)

Worship:

• My Savior Lives by New Life Worship
• This is Our God by New Life Worship
• Worship the Lord by Al Gordon

July 20, 2008 Worship Set

Call to Worship:

• Hallelujah - Be High and Lifted Up by Ben Cantelon

Offering:

• Where You Go I'll Go by Brian and Jenn Johnson

Worship:

• Holy Is the Lord by Chris Tomlin
  
• Beautiful Jesus by Kristian Stanfill
  
• Revelation Song by Kari Jobe (Gateway Worship)
  

July 13, 2008 Worship Set

Call to Worship:

• Abba Father by the Daniel Doss Band

Offering:

• Revelation Song by Kari Jobe (Gateway Worship)
  

Worship:

• All We Need by Charlie Hall
• Awesome Is the Lord Most High by Chris Tomlin
• How He Loves by John Mark McMillan
  

July 6, 2008 Worship Set

Call to Worship:

• How He Loves by John Mark McMillan

Worship:

• Promises by New Life Worship
  
• Here In Your Presence by New Life Worship
  

Offering:

• Those Who Trust by Waterdeep
  

Communion:

• You Are My Strength by Hillsong
  

June 29, 2008 Worship Set

I must admit that this song written by John Mark McMillan has really caught on in the worship community as of late. It's called "How He Loves" and I first discovered it when Kim Walker from Jesus Culture / Bethel Church covered it on one of their albums. Then I stumbled onto John Mark McMillan's version on YouTube which is one of the most incredible stories you'll ever take in. And now there's another YouTube video making its way around the web using this song and cardboard testimonies. So it was confirmation that we needed to play this tune. It did not disappoint.

Call to Worship:

• Promises by Desperation Band

Worship:

• Not to Us by Chris Tomlin - This is an old one but a good one. We probably haven't played it in a year but the church is familiar with it so it was easy to sneak it into the worship set. They seemed to be into it.
  
• Glorified by Jared Anderson - I love this song and the church has been responding. I hope the whole Desperation Band covers it on one of their upcoming albums.
  
• Hallelujah to My King by Paul Baloche - This feels like a contemporary hymn but it's a song that warms my heart

Offering:

• How He Loves by John Mark McMillan - Raw. Emotional. Tugs at your heart. Makes you want to weep. This song says it all. Jesus loves you.

My favorite part of the service was seeing some of my friends worshipping in the back of the gym...arms and hearts raised without a care in the world.

June 22, 2008 Worship Set

I felt like bringing back some songs we've already played before as our call to worship and offering tunes. They had been blessing me lately and found myself humming them at random times.

Call to worship:

• Our God Saves by Paul Baloche

Worship:

• Everlasting God written by Brenton Brown arranged by Lincoln Brewster
• King of Majesty by Hillsong United
• Madly by Steve Fee

Offering:

• Maker of Heaven by Desperation Band

A lot of these songs by these groups are obviously written by real people, not groups. But the names escape me. I included the names of the groups since we play their arrangements and style. I really like running Everlasting God and King of Majesty into each other since they are both in the same key and relatively same beat. I am going to experiment next weekend in running Everlasting God into Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes at a worship concert.

I was starting to get burned out on Madly by Steve Fee until we played it last weekend as the recessional for a wedding. It's the perfect wedding song in so many ways!

June 15, 2008 Worship Set

Ahhhhh, Father's Day. I won't ever take this day for granted as a father of three boys. I have a huge responsibility to lead and guide these boys into men that can one day lead their families in communion with God. So it warms my heart to sing songs to the Father and to be intentional in our worship. I was very purposeful in a couple of songs to our Father.

Call to worship:

• Father Blessed Father (Newsboys) - I lead this song at a wedding and haven't been able to let go of it ever since. It's got a really cool, melodic almost moody sound to it. And it ends with some killer harmonies.

Worship:

• Endlessly by Desperation Band - I love rocking out to this song!
• Made to Worship by Chris Tomlin - This is the epitome of why God designed us they way He did and a good reminder.
• The Stand by Hillsong United - I layered this song with lots of scripture verses. I had my vocalists each read some scripture at the intro of the song and then read a bunch more before the bridge...all about standing with God.

Offering:

• Abba Father by the Daniel Doss Band - This song REALLY grew on me and I have fallen in love with it. It's a beautiful love song to God about being a great and mighty Father!
  

June 8, 2008 Worship Set

I think if you look at the worship sets we play, you'll start to see a trend: Desperation Band, Hillsong, Tim Hughes, New Life Worship... This weekend's set is no different. I have been borrowing ideas from Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, our sister/parent church. It saves me time and energy to piggyback off of their work plus they have been picking some really great songs lately.

Here's the worship set for this weekend:

Call to Worship:

• Everything to God by Desperation Band - I'm not sure who the original writer is of this tune is but I imagine it's either Glenn, Jared or Jon. Just a lucky guess. This is a great, fast-paced tune that leaves me pretty breathless by the end. You definitely feel like jumping up and down to this one.

Worship:

• "Glorious God" by New Life Worship - I really like this tune. It's got a cool guitar riff and has kind of a moody, emotional sound to it. But I love how it builds into the chorus. It's definitely a moving song.
  
• "Almighty God" by Tim Hughes - one of regular songs by the one and only Tim Hughes!
  
• "Hallelujah to my King" by Paul Baloche - We played one of Paul's other tunes "Our God Saves" a few weeks ago. This tune is slower and more reflective. It has a hymn feel to it but it's definitely modern stylistically.
  

Offering:

• "Living for your Glory" by Tim Hughes - Imagine that. I picked another Tim Hughes song. My wife really loves this song but it's entirely WAY too high for the church. It has a great message about our calling in life...to bring God the glory.
  

June 1, 2008 Worship Set

Thank goodness for shuffle on iPods. That's how I stumbled onto one of Jeremy Riddle's tunes when I was struggling to figure out what to play this weekend. I was really impressed how "Hallowed Father" came together with the band...it was pretty tight. I probably should have saved it for the week later (Father's Day) but it was meant to be played this week instead. ;)

Here's the set list for this weekend's services.

Call to Worship:

• "Hallowed Father" by Jeremy Riddle - Jeremy is a great singer/songwriter with the Vineyard Church. He's mostly famous for writing "Sweetly Broken" which is another great tune.

Worship:

• "My Savior Lives" by Jon Egan and Glenn Packiam - Desperation Band. Do I need to say much more? They are a staple of our worship music and they just simply rock!
  
• "Mighty to Save: by Rueben Morgan - there are lots of versions of this tune out there but we mostly align with the Hillsong United version. Rueben is an awesome singer/songwriter and worship leader!
  
• "Glorified" by Jared Anderson - Another Desperation Band worship leader. What's this telling you? ;) This tune is off of his new album entitled "Where Faith Comes From" which I've listened to a lot lately. It was the first time we sang it and it seemed like the church really grooved to this tune so we'll keep it around.

Offering

• "Till I See You" by Joel Houston and Jad Gillies - I'm sure I've spoken of Joel Houston before since he writes a ton of great tunes for Hillsong. Til I See You is a great worship tune that builds and has an amazing tag at the end.
  

New Albums

I couldn't contain myself. My gift certificates to Amazon.com and iTunes were burning a hole in my pocket so I picked up three really great albums last night.

Eddie Kirkland has an album out entitled "Orthodoxy" that I stumbled upon when I was looking for versions of "How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan. Eddie is a worship leader at North Point Church. And yes, his version of "How He Loves" is awesome.

After I stumbled on Eddie's album, I was perusing through the list of albums that other users purchased and stumbled onto Brett Younker whose album "This Is Life" is fantastic. He's like a US-version of Tim Hughes. In fact, he covered "Holding Nothing Back" by Huges on this project. Brett also happens to be a worship leader at North Point. Seeing a trend?

Lastly, I grabbed Al Gordon's EP entitled "Future Sound." I was familiar with most of his songs since he featured them on worshipcentral.org but he rearranged most of them and they sound much different mixed in a studio. It's another fantastic album.

I'd say all three are must-haves.

May 25, 2008 Worship Set

I was excited about this weekend's service because we were trying out a new Jared Anderson / Desperation Band song that really jumps..."Promises." It felt good and hopefully we'll keep that one around.

Here are the songs we played this week:

Call to Worship:

• "Promises" written by Jared Anderson / Desperation Band - he's a great singer/songwriter with a killer vocal range.

Worship:

• "Glorious One" by Steve Fee (AKA Fee) - great worship leader from the south
• "Worship the Lord" by Al Gordon - an undiscovered, up and coming worship leader from the UK
• "To the Ends of the Earth" written by Joel Houston / Hillsong United - kind of an oldie but a goodie. Seemed like a great fit today considering Pr Scott is leaving for Africa next week for three weeks

Offering:

• "Hallelujah to my King" by Paul Baloche - I stole this song from Lutheran Church of Hope WDM but I don't care because it's a good one. Paul's latest album is awesome.
  

May 18, 2008 Worship Set

I had to miss practice this week due to a trip to Vegas for work so I kept the set somewhat on the simpler side of things.

Here are the songs I chose for this week:

Call to Worship

• "Shine" by Matt Redman - there's something really moving about this song that I love.
  

Worship:

• "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle - while I love this song, I think we might be on the verge of exhausting it.
• "You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman - same as above
• "Came to my Rescue" by United Hillsong - I love this song and I'm not sure it will ever wear out its welcome

Offering:

• "The Highest and the Greatest" by Tim Hughes - what can I say? I am kind of a Tim Huges fan. ;)
  

May 11, 2008 Worship Set

When you think about Mother's Day, you probably don't associate it with the band Good Charlotte, do you? Me either. On my crusade to find a good Mother's Day tune I stumbled onto a Good Charlotte tune called "Thank You, Mom". The lyrics were appropriate for church and actually a bit moving and the tune itself was quite catchy. It feels like a Dispatch tune...kind of that college genre sound. So I am going to bust that out for offering this weekend.

Here are the songs for this week:

Call to Worship:

• "Our God Saves" by Paul Baloche - his latest album is pretty catchy. There are some great tunes and arrangements on this project that are great for worship
  

Worship:

• "All We Need" by Charlie Hall (no introduction needed)
  
• "Awesome Is the Lord Most High" by Chris Tomlin (see above)
  
• "Consuming Fire" by Tim Hughes (see above - note: Tim Hughes is my favorite worship leader. ;) )
  

Offering:

• "Thank You, Mom" by Good Charlotte
  

May 4, 2008 Worship Set

Today I stepped back and let one of my female vocalists run with the call to worship. Honestly, it was kind of nice to jam with the guitar, worship and dance without having to worry about singing. So I thought I would try that again this week...

Here's what we have planned for the May 4th worship set:

Call to Worship:

• "Glorified" by Jared Anderson - a great song and worship leader with New Life Church and Desperation Band

Worship:

• "Unchanging" by Chris Tomlin - the church really grooves to this tune so we keep playing it
• This Is Our God" by Glenn Packiam - another great worship leader at New Life Church and Desperation Band
• "From the Inside Out" by Joel Houston - amazing worship leader and songwriter with Hillsong United

Offering:

• "I Still Believe" by Jeremy Camp - great tune about how we trip, stumble and have our doubts, God remains faithful and loving to us

Communion:

• "Fire Fall Down" by Matt Crocker - this tune was introduced by Hillsong United and a lot of progressive worship teams are playing it. I LOVE this tune and have been dying to play it for a while. Since it's a bit on the longer side it makes for a great communion song.
  

Worship Set for April 27, 2008

This weekend should be interesting as all of my electric guitarists are going to be out of town. I am scrambling to find some replacements to help fill in the sound. As a result, I am keeping the set somewhat simple.

Call to worship:

• "Taste & See" by Brian and Jenn Johnson - amazing worship leaders at Bethel Church in Redding, CA

Worship:

• "Holy Is the Lord" by Chris Tomlin - no introduction needed for either the song or songwriter
  
• "Beautiful Jesus" by Kristian Stanfill - awesome worship leader with 722 and Passion
  
• "Love Came Down" by Ben Cantelon - mostly an undiscovered worship leader originally from Canada now living in England. I really love his style and his voice, honestly. It's raw and authentic.

Offering:

• "Shining" by Phil Wickham - this song has been around for a little while but it hasn't been played much in the church unfortunately.

The Media Equipment Hates Us

For the second week in a row, we had major media problems and the projectors went down just prior to worship. Thankfully this week, I had a "In case of emergency, break glass" worship medley up my sleeve. Prior to starting our sound check today, I handed out the medley to the band which more or less highlights choruses from recognizable tunes like Here I Am to Worship, Light of the World, How Great Is Our God, Majesty, etc.

Last week was a good reminder to be prepared for the unexpected. I'm thankful that I had this medley ready when I did so that we could transition out of an awkward situation.

April 20, 2008 Worship Set

This week we're playing...

Call to worship:

• "Come and Let Your Presence" by the Merchant Band, one of my favorite International House of Prayer (IHOP) bands

Worship:

• "Endlessly" by Desperation Band, one of my favorite worship bands from the New Life Church in Colorado, Springs
• "Glorious One" by Steve Fee, now just Fee (as in the band)
• "How Great Is Our God" by Chris Tomlin. This song is really special to me this week because it was one of my friend's favorite songs. Lori passed away suddenly last week at the age of 42 and I was able to honor her by singing this song at her funeral. The scripture reading for this week comes from Psalm 104 so this song fits perfectly.

Offering:

• "My Drink" by Charlie Hall. I've wanted to play this song for a couple of years now and stumbled onto it again this week on my iPod. Felt like a good time to bust this out and jam!
  

A Blog for the Hope NorthBranch Worship Ministry

Members of our church, Lutheran Church of Hope NorthBranch in lovely Ankeny, Iowa, have been asking me about the music we use for worship during our services. I thought it might be helpful to create a blog that recaps what songs we lead during worship as well as provide CD and concert reviews. This way I'll way an opportunity to point people to a website when they ask about the music.

Welcome to the new blog for the Hope NorthBranch Worship Ministry!