Ever heard (or said) any of this?
“I just dont…”
“…like the music.”
“…get anything out of that style of worship”
“…enjoy repeating words or phrases in songs so much”
“…think he/she should be leading worship”
“…want to learn new songs”
Let’s take a look and see what the Bible says about worship…
Psalm 147:1 Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God; how pleasant and fitting to praise Him!
Psalm 103:22 Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy Name.
1 Chronicles 13:8 David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals, and trumpets.
2 Samuel 22:50 Therefore I will praise You, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of Your Name.
Our purpose is PRAISE! We were made to worship. And HE is worthy!! He is our Salvation! Our reason for living. We are called to bring Him a sacrifice of praise; an offering.
So, here’s my question.
When did it begin to be about US?
Your thoughts?
My last blog entry was in August. It’s not because nothing’s happened. In fact, MUCH has happened since August. But I’ve done a lot of thinking about my blog-ness lately.
Is anyone reading it? Am I any good, or should I just stick to singing? Does it help people? Is it beneficial? I think I talk too much as it is… The things I want to say, shouldn’t be read by people who know me (I’ve had enough judgment for one lifetime). I think my posts are too lengthy. Is anyone reading it? (I know, …but seriously.)
So, see- I haven’t just put it down and ignored the idea of blogging. But something dawned on me today…and I want to share it with you. So, stay tuned. 
I was just pondering some things that I’ve been praying for for several months…different things, and how God has answered those.
That doesn’t mean He always says Yes. We ask Him for things, and sometimes His answer is No, not yet, not now, maybe not ever. And I thank Him for those too. Hmmm…reminds me of a song- except they aren’t unanswered prayers. Just answered in the way we weren’t expecting.
Anyway, there are many things that I’ve prayed for, that I knew were GOOD things, that I haven’t received. Sometimes they were NEEDS, not just wants. I’ve wondered why God wouldn’t allow me to have the things I felt I needed.
But yesterday, I took a few minutes and pondered the things that He HAS answered with a “YES”, and was thankful.
One thing I was thankful for, is the way we have been praying over our church for over a year now…we are starting to see God heal and change and grow our church family. We are seeing my Dad’s health be restored and a spring in his step
, we are seeing baptisms each week for the last few weeks-that means lives are being changed and we aren’t the cause, but we are the witnesses to it, and that’s a HUGE blessing!! We are seeing young families fill our seats, and bring their children, and the joy that it naturally brings. And Wayne and I have been the worship leaders for over a year now, and are learning, and being blessed and being humbled, which is what we know is in line with God’s plan for us.Aside from what’s happening in our church, my business has been VERY slow. Sales are that way in a bad economy. But this week I had a good week, and it was necessary for me to, because..
Thankful that God is taking me step by step into my dream of being a professional singer/worship leader (not to leave what I’m doing, but to add to it)…the steps are slow, but I believe He has a plan. Thankful that God gave me His grace. A second chance. Eternal life. A ministry that I can model for my children. So many things…
Ok, so this is more of a blog post. So I’ll copy and paste it into my blog later today. And if you’d like to leave a comment, I’d love it if you went there to leave it. Makes it look like I have blog readers!!
FAITH in the midst of personal circumstances,
HOPE in Jesus for the future, and
LOVE one for another.
Hillsong…once again…BRINGS IT! This new album is an amazing work of worshipful art. Each song carefully crafted, to magnify and lift up the Name of Jesus! As a worship leader, I look for music that the church can quickly pick up on, and is easily singable, and music that leads the church right up into the thrownroom of Almighty God. This album is chock full of music any church can add to their rotation of worship songs, so I’m very excited to start teaching it to our team!
It was an honor to be asked to write a review of the album, and my pleasure to experience it before its release to the world, on August 3, 2009. This is Hillsong’s 18th live album, and they just keep proving their incredible musicianship and collective heart for worship over and over again.
I wanted to give you a taste of each song, individually, so I’ll start at the top, with…
First and Last
“Great is Your Name, Jesus; the First and the Last…”
This is a great, medium tempo song that is perfect for the middle of a worship set, maybe right before a slower ballad.
Good for a male leader, with a nice female harmony behind it.Very worshipful!
For Your Name
“For Your Name shines in all the earth…”
This is a more upbeat, younger sounding piece, perfect for an opener. I love the chorus! It’s easily singable for a congregation, with male/female singing unison on the same octave. I could “hear” some higher harmonies that can be added, if desired.
Glow
“Let the Earth come to life in the light of Heaven’s glow…”
This is a unique song that I can really see becoming a favorite at our church!
“…with one voice we cry Hallelujah”
It’s Your Love
“For the King carried the cross; He is risen from the grave”
I can’t wait to lead this one! Nice theme on keys and guitar together at the beginning, and between the verses. The bridge repeats, building, and then there’s a section of “ohhh”…just singing and playing, no words…love the uniqueness of this part. And then, there’s an interlude that builds and the worship leader recites John 3:16, for a powerful crescendo of this freestyle worship section, and then as it ends, the instruments get quieter, and continue to play as the worship continues. I love this, because I have felt and said so many times- the song doesn’t have to end just because we’ve run out of lyrics. It’s ok to have quiet…no singing…just enjoying the presence of the Lord…beautiful.
“It’s Your love…it’s Your love…it’s Your love that has saved me”
I Will Exalt You
“My hiding place, my safe refuge, my treasure, Lord, You are. My friend and King, annointed One, most holy”
This song starts out with a long lead-in, so during that time I imagine the lights dim, and then softly coming up as the verse starts. This song is easy to learn, very worshipful, and would sound nice with either male or female leading it. Wayne and I lead as a team, so we tend to follow whatever the original artists did, as far as the vocal leadership of the song goes. But this would even sound nice with simplified instruments, maybe just acoustic guitar, and solo voice. It’s a lovely, flexible song.
“I will exalt You…I will exalt You…I will exalt You…You are my God”
Simple. Worshipful. Beautiful.
Yahweh
“We look to Yahweh, Yahweh. Forever Yahweh, Yahweh…We look to Yahweh, Yahweh. Our Hope, Yahweh, Yahweh.“
This song has awesome dynamics; of course! It’s HILLSONG! They certainly know how to keep the worship fresh all the way through a song, even if there’s a lot of repetition in the lyrics. It’s all about dynamics, and they have mastered the art.
I love how you can hear the church singing out when the instruments get quieter. This song is great for a church; it’s simple, easy to learn.
No Reason To Hide
“Nothing compares to You; nothing can separate us from this Love”
Strong, pounding drums begin this one- instantly building energy! What is so impressive is that every song, even the louder, more driving songs still are consistent with the dedication to speaking relevant, full-bodied truth in the song’s message. You won’t find shallow or “empty” lyrics with Hillsong!
“You’re alive and we are free; You are everything, everything we need!”
God One and Only
“You’re the One who saved my soul; Who gave me life, so I’ll give it back to You, my God, God – One and Only!”
This is a FUN song to open your worship set with! Looking forward to using this to start off a Sunday morning service!
The Wonder of Your Love
“The wonder of Your love will break the chains that bind us…The power of Your touch releases us to worship…”
This piece has beautiful verses and a poetic pre-chorus. Wonderful congregational song. Very much looking forward to introducing this one to my church.
“Sing out to God, sing Hallelujah. With all we are, we will worship You…”
His Glory Appears
“You gave me hope, You made me whole at the cross. You took my place, You showed me grace at the cross, where You died for me.”
This song has quite the story… When Hillsong United came to our city, some friends of mine went to see them. They came back with the most amazing things to say about this song. One described it like this: “When she started singing it, it was like the Holy Spirit moved across the crowd and everyone just KNEW the song! Everyone was singing it with her, like they knew it! We were all singing it and worshipping together as one body!” And then after, he went home, remembering it well enough to write out the music for it, and played it in our church the next Sunday morning. This song has made quite an impact, already.
It’s a beautiful song of gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice, with a captivating piano interlude in the middle. I have, on a few occasions, just listened to this song over and over again, without ever growing tired of hearing it.
“And His Glory appears like the light from the sun; age to age, He shines… Oh look to the sky, hear the angels cry, singing Holy is the Lord”
We The Redeemed
“There is nothing like Your love; no exchange for all You gave…”
I love the build into the 2nd verse. A simple yet worshipful song. It’ somewhat lengthy, but could easily be shortened to fit within a church worship set.
“This is the sound of the redeemed rising up to praise the King…”
We Will See Him
“We will see Him coming on the clouds of heaven, exalted. We will see Him, high and lifted up; He reigns in majesty…in holiness…”
This is one of my favorites on the album. Awesome harmonies, terrific melody, uplifting lyrics!
You Hold Me Now
“No weeping, no hurt or pain, no suffering… You hold me now, You hold me now…”
You can immediately hear the church singing out from the very beginning of the song. I love how the leader drops out on the first chorus. That sound of the church singing their hearts out to the Lord is such an immense blessing to any worship leader! I can’t wait to do this one in our church! What wonderful words of comfort about our Heavenly Home!
The part toward the end that says “Your kingdom come, Your will be done….” could be sung with the “No weeping” chorus quietly added by one vocalist as a background counter melody, if you wanted to get a little creative with it.
So, there is my take on each of the songs. I absolutely love Hillsong, and have enjoyed playing/singing their music for many years. They never disappoint, and their musicianship is unmatched. If you would like to purchase this album, you can go here to do so. I hope you’ve enjoyed my review, and I pray that you will let God fill your heart with Faith+Hope+Love!
Much Love and Singing,
~LeAnn
Today was my 6th wedding anniversary. Wayne had to work, so I missed him a lot. =( I have such a passion for leading worship, but I love to lead together with Wayne. It’s a real blessing to be in ministry together.
This week was different than last week. Last week had that ultra cool and laid back vibe that you find on open mic night at a coffee house. This week, I used the entire band, but still Jason is gone, so we didn’t have the strong piano leadership like we usually have, so it was a different sound. I like guitar-led. I do. But there’s something about Jason…he’s incredibly talented, he leads his band well, and they follow him. He’ll be gone one more Sunday (he’s suffering for Jesus in Austria!).
Our young band members, Roxy and Racer were UH.MAZE.ING! For the Brooke Fraser “Hosanna”, I asked them to learn it like the original, and they did. Racer’s drumming was flawless! And Roxy played her electric guitar, doing the riff that we love so much in the original, at the intro and the bridge. That was a lot of fun!
We had two baptisms at the beginning of the service, which was really exciting! Two new life decisions for Christ!
Here was our set:
My Redeemer Lives (old school Hillsong-still, our church LOVES it. I had an older lady tell me last week that it wasn’t “peppy” enough, so we gave her some “pep” this week!)
Blessed (Hillsong- love this song)
Scripture/prayer
Special Music- Jerry Hampton Will You Come to Jesus
No Sweeter Name (Gateway Worship-this has become a big favorite of our church. They sing out so nicely…love that! I remember about a year and a half ago -before we started leading- Wayne and I thought..if only our church will EVER do CFNI or Gateway music, we will have ARRIVED! HAHA Now we do it all the time.)
Hosanna (Hillsong/Brooke Fraser-one of my very favorite songs to lead)
Then, the Pastor (who happens to be my dear old dad) gave one of his best messages, in my opinion. Relevant; moving; with object lessons (he even wore 2 different kinds of shoes). I love how he preaches, with boldness for the Word. Love that.
Please comment and tell me about YOUR church services this last weekend, wudja?
This post is written as part of Fred McKinnnon’s blog carnival which exists to connect worship leaders around the world.
…that’s the phrase one of our guitarists used to describe our set yesterday. It was so much fun! Usually, we have piano, 3 guitars, drums, keyboard, and 5 or 6 vocals. Yesterday, we had 2 guitars on stage, drums, and 3 vocals, dimmer lighting, chill worship music…loved it.
It was a little different for some, but I thought it was great! And some coffee and some small round tables with biscotti and scones would’ve been nice little additions to the experience, too! It’s how we’ve wanted to do it for a while, but with so many people gone from our usual team this week, we had the chance to finally try it out.
Here’s what we played.
Holy Is the Lord
Here I Am To Worship
How Great is Our God
You Are So Good To Me
Then, for offertory, Roxy, the Rockin Guitarist (she’s like 16 and super talented!) played a beautiful acoustic guitar solo. Amazing.
It was such an intimate worship environment, and we got a lot of positive comments afterward.
Good stuff. Hope you had an unforgettable worship experience, too.
Much Love and Singing,
~LeAnn
This Sunday Setlist Recap is part of an awesome worship music community at FredMcKinnon.com .
I have been known to be cheesy. Yes, the title is supposed to sound like an old Phil Collins song- Sussudio. I still have no idea what that song means. Wikipedia’d it, but it still doesn’t make a lotta sense.
Anyway, this post is about my time at the studio this last Friday.
Here’s a couple pics of where I recorded-American Sound Recording Studio in Bakersfield, CA…isn’t it fabulous?
So, I was in there to make a demo to send off to Chris at Integrity Music, and let me just briefly tell you the story behind all o’ that!!
For many years (since I was a kid, and now I’m at the ripe old age of 36), I’ve dreamed of being a career singer, in the Christian music industry. After marriage and kids, and now in music ministry as a worship leader, I have felt the “tug” of this dream again. So, when you decide to return to your dream, it can be rather emotional. There’s a lot of passion and fire in me for this.
I started to pray over it, and ask God if He wanted me to revisit this, because above all, I wanted it to #1-glorify HIM, not ME. #2-Be driven by HIM, not ME. With those two things in mind, I prayed for God to open and close doors, as He sees fit, but I let my request and the desires of my heart be made known to God, as He invites us to do in His Word.
The name “Integrity” has been on my heart for several months. I spoke at a Womens’ Retreat in the Spring, on the subject of worship, more specifically worshiping God through the storms in life. Through that speaking experience, I learned a lot about myself and the Lord. I also met a gal who is a worship leader, and who used to work at Integrity. I told her, “Man…I would be the mailgirl in that place! Anything to get to work for Integrity Music! What a dream!”. A few months prior, a friend, Fermin Whittaker told me about how his son, Carlos (many of you know him as @loswhit) had talked to Integrity Music about working with them. So, it was a name, planted in my heart, and the dream was re-ignited, over several months’ time. I couldn’t get it outta my head. I knew that many of my favorite artists are with this label…Hillsong, Gateway Worship, Kari Jobe, Israel Houghton, etc.
So as I said, I began praying and seeking God about this, and one day in my bathroom, while I was getting ready for my day, I just stopped and really cried out to the Lord about this. I talked to Him about my passion for leading worship, and how I dream of leading many, many people to the throne through worship. How I love my office job, but that I long for the day when I can just SING. I don’t need to be a big star or anything…I just want to sing. To live out my passion. To lead many different groups in worship. To use my voice to minister to people. And I prayed specifically, that He would allow me to come in contact with the company, Integrity Music, in some way.
So I get a message from a guy via Twitter, asking me if I’d like to preview the new Hillsong album before its release. I’m like…UmLemmeThinkOkYES!! What a privilege to hear such anointed and gifted musicians and ministers, but before most people get to hear it? SURE! So we talked a little about it, he asked me to write a review on it eventually, and so forth. Then I said, “…by the way,… (haha) who are you?”
He said he was the Digital Marketing Director for Integrity Music.
<insert my jaw hitting the floor here>
We talked a little further, and well, you just KNOW when it’s a God thing. Long story short, I’m sending my demo to him this coming week! (Thanks, Chris!)
So back to Friday night…we went into the studio, my husband, my children, my mom, and a friend, Marsha, who is in the Tommy Coomes Band and travels and does a lot of recording. 
She offered to come in and coach me some, as needed, and turns out, she was a great help! What a blessing it was, to have her with me. She sat, taking notes on her iphone as I sang, listening closely to every detail, so that she could assist in the entire process. And that, she did. Thanks, my friend!
We started at 5, and were out of there at about 9. It was a great experience, and of course I’m feeling some nervousness about sending the finished product to Chris…I should’ve done that line differently…my voice didn’t have “pow” here because they compressed it…I should’ve done this ad lib, and not that ad lib…I’m not good enough to go “pro”-what am I thinking??
But then my Heavenly Father reminds me that if this is His design, He will lead me down the path of His perfect will, in His perfect timing. So, because of that, I have nothing to fear. I can trust Him, no matter the outcome, because He is trustworthy.
So, there’s the story. I’ll let you know soon, how it turns out. I hope to send it off tomorrow.
Much Love and Singing,
LeAnn
I enjoy doing some a cappella singing, for funerals, weddings, and so forth. I want to sing a song a cappella on a little amateur solo project I’m doing, but I don’t know what to choose. I’ve done old hymns and classical pieces, mostly, but I’ve also done a few contemporary ones…
So, if you were listening to a song being sung a cappella, what would you want it to be? I need your help! Thanks.
I hate the dentist. I mean I really, really hate the dentist. I’ve been burned, and now I go nowhere near that fire they call a dental office. Maybe it all started at 5 years old, with a not-so-gentle Dr. Peterson, when he told me to sit back and shut-up because the patients in the waiting room would hear me crying…maybe it’s the not knowing what they’re doing in there, not that I’d wanna know…maybe it’s someone being in my “space” for that long… all I know is, it’s a nightmare to me. I am terrified.
So. oh, about 3 years ago, I was eating frozen cookie dough (well, it’s not really frozen, it’s soft enough to eat, but there were chocolate chips in it, of course) and I bit down on a frozen choc chip, and broke my biggest molar on the bottom left. Broke it. On chocolate. (dumbtard)
So, for about 3 years now, I’ve had excruciating pain off and on, and well at this point in time it’s probably taken over my entire jaw and they might just have to replace the whole darn thing. It’s hurting so badly (and it comes in waves…as I type this, I’m fairly able to *think*, but when it’s real bad, I can’t concentrate and I’m snappy at everyone around me; it’s the all-consuming kind of pain) that I am finally ready to go to the dentist. I think.
So tomorrow, I’ll call and make an appt.I have to keep reminding myself that everyone goes to the dentist. Everyday. All the time. No biggie.
What’s your big baby story? Do you fear something that is actually quite commonplace for most folks?
This Sunday was a great time of worship, and as per our usual, we tried SOMETHING NEW! I don’t know if it’s a desire to find what works best, or just my A.D.D. and constant need for change, but we try to find something new each week to bring, to share, to surprise, to enhance, to breathe some life into what can become the same old mundane stuff. We don’t like mundane, routine services, that all sound and look the same. We are looking into making some changes to the stage set up. Right now, the entire band is on one side of the stage, but we are considering spreading them out and putting the drums in the middle, under the baptistery, at least until Choir resumes, in the fall.
Worship leaders, how do you have your stage set?
This week, our setlist looked like this:
I Am Free (Ross Parsley) This was FUN! It was a neat song to sing, the day after celebrating our country’s freedom…but everyday we can celebrate the freedom we have in Christ!
Then we did something completely different, and did a slower worship song during our beginning set:
Oceans Will Part (Hillsong) I lead this one out, singing the first verse and then the WT comes in on the chorus, then all unison on the second verse, and parts on the chorus. After the interlude, I come back in with the prechorus, WT comes in after, building into the chorus repeat, lots of great dynamicsand energy! I love this song!! One of our favorites.
Then, the guest pastor (Jerry Hampton) had a scripture/prayer time, and then we did something again, totally unexpected and did a fast song…after prayer? What are we thinking?! But it worked to mix things up a little.
Trading My Sorrows (Darrell Evans) We have a new electric guitarist. Um YES. It was fun.
Then…a HYMN MEDLEY!
Praise to the Lord, The Almighty/Come Thou Fount/It Is Well/Old Rugged Cross/Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus/Grace, Greater Than Our Sin
Then, Wayne introduced a new one (new to our church):
Healer (Hillsong) I know that most of you know the story behind this. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the creation of that song, we believe in God’s forgiveness and healing power. We pray that the writer of the song Healer is being blessed and healed, himself. What a powerful song this is, and our church just loved it! We hope to use it for a prayer time in the near future, where the leaders and deacons of the church can be at the front, and the church can come up to them for prayer for healing from physical, mental and emotional issues, as well as addictions, relationship problems..whatever it is that they need to be healed from. And we believe that this song will be used to bring about a powerful time of intimacy with our Great Physician! We are really looking forward to that.
So, as you can see, the theme to Sunday’s music (although we didn’t do this on purpose) was being free of, and receiving healing for, the things that keep us from having fullness of joy in the Lord! Great morning of worship!
This blog post is part of the awesome Worship Leader resource that is: The Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival
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