Last night’s Worship Circle was amazing! Great turn out, awesome food, terrific worship time with friends. Here’s what the “worship room” in our house looked like before everyone showed up: 
And here’s what it looks like during The Worship Circle:
We hold TWC in our home once a month. We start out the evening with a big, potluck dinner. This is a lot of fun, because there is always such a FEAST!
Then after we’ve eaten and visited for a little while, we all go into the great room and have an awesome time of worship, prayer, and sharing. It’s a little different every time.
Usually, we have folders with the words to the songs we are going to sing, but this time we set up the laptop and projector and Wayne put all the songs into MediaShout, and we used that instead. I think it was a great change to make.
Wayne always plays guitar, and this time, Dillon played djembe, and Roxy played a 2nd guitar (2 of our church’s super talented youth!)
Our setlist last night was:
Give Us Clean Hands
Wonderful Maker
No Sweeter Name
Here I Am To Worship
Amazing Love (You Are My King)
Prayer/Share time (Prayer requests, praises, whatever anyone wanted to share! This is always a highlight of the evening.)
Let the Worshippers Arise
How Great Thou Art
How Great is Our God/Mighty to Save Medley
You are So Good to Me
At the end, we get in a circle and pray over the things that were shared earlier, and then we close. Everyone can stay and hang out, and they did last night! I think the last person left at 10:30.
It’s such a great priviledge to open our home for something so fun and meaningful. We’d love for you to join us for the Worship Circle in July!
Once a month, we invite friends, family, neighbors, strangers, and anyone else who we can grab, to an awesome get-together in our home, called The Worship Circle (TWC). We eat a ton of food, we fellowship and visit with each other, and then we worship together in music. 
It’s such a fun evening, and every month is different. Sometimes the house will be full, and other times it’ll be a smaller, more intimate group.
Whatever it becomes, is what God wants it to be…that’s our way of looking at it.
If you’re in Bakersfield, or anywhere close, we’d love for you to join us. This Saturday, the 20th, at 5:30pm, our place. If you need directions, comment to this post. Hope to see you at The Worship Circle!
Thursday, Wayne decided we were going to have a family swim day. He was off work that day, and I didn’t have any client meetings, so we did it. He went shopping with the kids, and they picked out lots of new pool toys and stuff for lunch.
They came home with 4 or 5 huge things that needed to be blown up.
So. After about 30 minutes, we were ready for the pool. Wayne made sandwiches for everyone, Lauren coated Gracie with sunscreen, Erynn helped throw all the new stuff in, and we were set. Here’s some pics from the day.
I ended up staying out there with them for a relaxing 4 hours, and paying for it with a painful burn all over me. I still look like a lobster. But it was fun. 
Have a day off with the family. It’s good for you. And them.
Wayne drinks decaf. I drink quite caffeinated. Every morning, if he’s off work that day, the first thing we do is make coffee, like many other households. But since we don’t drink the same thing, he has a thermos that he puts his in after he’s made his decaf, so I can make mine. I don’t like the thermos idea, so he always makes his first and gets out of the way.
Today, I came downstairs, to the smell of his coffee brewing and as it was, I got my coffee out, my cup, put my creamer in my cup – got everything ready, because I could almost taste it! His smelled so good, and it made me so anxious for that first taste of hot, creamy, Hazelnut flavored, fresh coffee! YUM!
So his finished brewing, and I said, something to the tune of, “Hey, Babe, come get your coffee outta here, so I can start mine!”. He shook his head ever so adorably and smiled. “Honey, I’ve already made mine, I’ve put it in the thermos, and I’ve made yours. It’s ready for ya.”
To top it off, he’s presently working on my new blog header as I type! Woohoo! I’m thankful for my husband. Not because he “does stuff” for me. Of course, it’s much deeper than that. But I really love how he shows his love toward me in the little, daily things.
If he shows his love toward me in these everyday things, HOW MUCH MORE does our Heavenly Father desire to lavish His love all over us?
Look for love in the little stuff.
How can YOU show love in practical ways today?
Daybreak Worship Confessional
June 7, 2009
Good Sunday afternoon! Today was a good day of worship. We had scheduled choir to sing about halfway through our setlist, but at the last minute (literally, a minute before start time), I decided to put them at the beginning. It was an upbeat song, and I felt the flow would be better if we made the switch. Turns out, it worked. Thanks to the sound/lighting/Easy Worship peeps in the back, for your flexibility!
So after the choir piece, which the church loved and really responded to, we started off with:
Love the Lord (Lincoln Brewster) We skipped the interlude that normally comes before the bridge, just to see what it’d sound like…I like the interlude, but we like to do things differently each time, just for fun.
Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone (Chris Tomlin) Is it just me, or does that chorus make you think about all the stuff God has freed you from, as you’re singing it? Even if it’s nothing like drugs or anything real dramatic…maybe it’s just the life we could’ve had, if we didn’t have a Savior! Thank you, Jesus for freeing me from a life of sin and shame!
Scripture/Prayer- Pastor
Special Music- Sarah Richards
No Sweeter Name (Kari Jobe) We added a SWEET bridge to this song that I sang alone. It was the words of the chorus, but set to the music of the “Jesus” bridge. At the end of each line, I would hold out the last word, so it would be the exact length of the the Jesus bridge. Then I continued on into singing “Jesus” two times alone, then the worship team and congregation joined me on the 3rd-8th. WLs: here’s what that segment of the song looked like to the band:
Instrumental Interlude (band getting quieter)
Am7 Dsus D Am7 Dsus D Repeat until LeAnn enters
EXTENDED BRIDGE:
Am7 Dsus D
You are the life to my heart and my soul…
Am7 Dsus D
You are the light to the darkness around me…
Am7 Dsus D
You are the hope to the hopeless and broken…
Am7 Dsus D
You are the only truth and the way…
QUIET!
Am7 Dsus D Am7 Dsus D
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
BAND BUILDING HUGE !!!
Am7 Dsus D Am7 Dsus D
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
CHORUS (2x)
Get it? HAHA
Ok, so it’s hard to explain! You kinda had to be there and hear it, to get it. But trust me, it was good! And the church just loves this song, so they really lift up their voices! It’s a beautiful sound.
Hope you all had a great day of worship!
Much Love and Singing,
LeAnn
This setlist blog is written in conjunction with Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival
Last week, Wayne and I led worship for a couples retreat up close to Yosemite. It was beautiful! And such a good time away for the two of us. It’s the first time since Gracie was born, that we’ve both been away from her for an entire weekend! And even though we missed the kids, we were so glad to have that time with each other. We were there to work, but had the chance to renew our relationship and get “back to the basics”. We realized that serving and ministering to each other had been kinda put on the back burner. We are so busy with work, kids, and ministries, that we’ve been forgetting that our first obligation is to each other. When the marriage is healthy, it will spill over into all those other areas. So, to our church family, and to my parents (for keeping Gracie), thank you for the time away! We enjoyed leading worship, but it was even more enjoyable to spend some quality time with each other.
Here’s our window…the mountain air smelled so good! 
…and here’s me and my awesome husband!
Daybreak Worship
May 24, 2009
So, here it is almost the middle of the week, and I’m just now blogging our setlist. This week has been probably the busiest week of my entire life!
So, here goes. Wayne worked on our lighting on Saturday morning, and got it looking so sweet , it stunned me. Nice work. So Sunday morning, the sanctuary looked different than it’s ever looked. And we also got a couple of worship videos from worshiphousemedia.com that added to the pre-service. So we played the videos for Trading My Sorrows (subject of the sermon) and Saviour King (’cause it’s one of our faves). Rad.
We started off the service very differently than usual. We typically have something really slammin’ to start the morning off. But with the dimmer lights and the quieter atmosphere after Saviour King, we decided to mellow out this week a little.
Opener: Hosanna (Brooke Fraser/Hillsong) with Wayne on drums
Amazed (Jared Anderson)
Wonderful Maker (Chris Tomlin)- Wayne played guitar and sang it as a solo, I added harmony on the second chorus and tag, and let him end alone at the very end. We also had a Powerpoint video that our band leader put together, of some amazing images of creation, Father/Son moments, the Cross..etc. It was awesome.
Revelation Song (Kari Jobe/Gateway) This was the best it’s ever been! And we’ve done Rev Song several times. But Wayne playing drums on this was FLAWLESS! I missed his rad harmony on it, but we had the 2nd Alto sing his part, and it was cool.
Good, good stuff.
Much Love and Singing,
~LeAnn
Check out Fred McKinnon’s Setlist Blog Carnival at:
http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/05/25/sunday-setlists-44/
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
Today was especially different for our family, as Mother’s Days go…
My husband (deepwaterwalk.com) just lost his mother, not even a month ago, and my Dad lost his mother in February. So, this Mother’s day held with it some achiness and missing of my precious Grandmother and my strong, God-praisin’ Mother in law.
Yet, we worshipped…and it was sweet.
Here’s our list from today. I had the privilege of singing Beautiful (Kari Jobe), with Wayne, and I’ll try to post that video soon.
Opener – Choir – My Savior, My God (G3 version of the great Aaron Shust song)
Hear Our Praises (Hillsong)
How Great Is Our God (Chris Tomlin, the one Wayne and I have named “The Present Day David”! The man can write music!)
Child Dedication (this is not child baptism…it is a commitment/covenant between parents and God, on behalf of their children, to raise them up in the Lord. Pastor prays over each child and family. Today we had about 12 kids.)
Medley: Above All (MWS)/It is Well (classic hymn)/You Are Good (Kari/Gateway)
Interesting combo of songs for a medley, but it was rad. Great worship! On It Is Well, we sang the first verse, then the “Bliss” verse, as I call it, then the chorus.
Beautiful- Me and Wayne VIDEO COMING SOON
Right now I’m doing this while watching/listening/praying with @loswhit (fellow worship leader and son of family friend, Fermin Whittaker) on his blog for the #prayerservice so this is taking me forever to get on the list…but here it is, and it’s part of the awesome resource that is FredMcKinnon.com Sunday Setlist .
Much love and singing!
LeAnn
I find it interesting how just when we are feeling like we are sailing, something comes along and messes with our equilibrium a little. Like, knocks us off our feet a bit. I am in a place with Wayne in our ministry right now, where God is saying, “Ok. So you can sing. You can lead a church in worship. ….Who cares?”
Um. What.
Just when I thought I was a pretty good person…I’m a faithful and supportive wife, a loving and attentive mother, a super nice person in general, with a positive attitude… but God is right this minute showing me SEVERAL areas that I need to change. Several areas that I need pruning, molding, changing, rethinking. Areas that aren’t easy. Areas that will actually HURT to change. And I don’t mean one. I mean like 5 or 6, that I can think of right now. And they aren’t small changes. They’re all freakin’ big, huge ones. It’s like God is taking a large pair of shears and He’s about to chop away at the parts of me that aren’t like Him. I’d love to share these with you, but I’m not going to. Not yet. I want to see if you can see the change. And maybe that will help me stay accountable.
And this is what I hear Him saying.
“My child. I have put you in a place of ministry, and I’m going to expect more out of you than you think I do. I’m already in your future…I know what’s there, because I’m there. And as a follower of Me, you need to be doing more than just walking with Me. There are changes that need to be made in order for Me to fulfill My will for your life. I can’t mold a clay pot that is already formed. You need to be broken.”
OUCH.
Please pray for me, as I continue to be shown things about my selfish and sinful nature that God wants to change. Pray that I’ll be moldable, and will learn. That I will become the woman He wants me to become, so that I can allow Him to be seen through me.
One of my Twitter friends, Pete Wilson, is in India to take the gospel to that corner of the Earth. What a humble and caring servant he is. His blog is interesting, entertaining, eye-opening, and worth taking the time to check out. He even has a video of a cab ride that made me a bit car sick.
So here’s a link, as well as the one over there to the left. Pray for him as he is in India now, and will be until May 2nd. If you have ever considered sponsoring a child, follow his link to Compassion, and follow God’s call. He is ministering to those children and families! Read his stories here…
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