Worthy is the Lord

For the last two weeks we have been studying the little worship booklet Worship and Music Ministry from the Calvary Basic Series.

We have read and discussed chapter 1 with the first two principles for worship and music ministry; principal 1- Knowing Biblical Truth Will Cause People to Worship God... thus making worship a natural response of the effects of God's Word in our hearts. Our worship is an overflow of the joy and peace that God has brought about in our lives.

Principle 2: The Same Care Given to the Teaching of God's Word Should Also Be Given to the Worship of God...thus understanding that we take the time in each service to worship God.

I encourage you to read this section again and to look up the scriptures that go along. What makes this such a great little book is that it is plum rich with scripture.

We started chapter 2 last week and continued it this week as well. It is a long chapter and absolutely incredible with the discussion of Who we worship and how we worship Him.

Principle 3: God Alone Is Worthy of Our Worship. In our discussions we talked about worshipping God alone... and in leading worship, we don't want to distract or bring attention to ourselves. We simply want to enjoy worshipping Him and being an example that others may follow. We also discussed how we can worship other things in our lives...these are known as idols and often times can be revealed in how we spend our time and our money. It is always good to examine ourselves as we read the Word, and allow Him to speak to us about these things. He is so good!

Today we talked more about principle 3. We marveled at the thought that Jesus is fully God and that He was worshipped from a small child... the Magi.. the disciples.. the blind man... a Samaritan lepor... a repentant prostitute... the list goes on. In the Bible it often says ..."He worshipped and praised Him". I couldn't stop wondering what that might have looked like. The Bible describes moments of worship... they are detailed with words like "amazed", "in awe", "intrigued", "wondering as they pondered the Lord, bowed, filled with awe, glorified God.

It was summarized that first we worship with our thoughts, feelings and desires, which then turn into actions or deeds. Verbal expression is one of those actions. We are expressing our love to our God and Father. That is basically what it is... our love flowing to God. How awesome!! We love Him because He first loved us! So incredible! I love this! Don't You?

I think we need to discuss the rest of chapter 2 next Sunday. Pages 15-30. Let's all come prepared to discuss.

Jeff and Hedy will be leading Wednesday worship along with Jordan. I know the Lord will bless that time.

Sunday May 6 we are going to have a large group. It will be Tim, Jesse, Jeff, Hedy, Sophia, me, and Jordan. Jesse will be playing violin as a prelude and some other of the worship songs.

Please leave a comment. It would be neat if we can use this as a means to communicate, encourage and edify. Praise God!

He Has Risen!

Welcome Back Me! And You! I haven't kept up with this blog for quite some time! But its good to be getting back to a more consistent routine. It has so much been on my heart to be more available for the Lord to use me in this way. To communicate through this blog encouraging one another. We have so much to be grateful for. So much reason to worship, praise, and give thanks. He is so Worthy.

So much has happened in our fellowship since last time I blogged . But I realize that the purpose of this biog is not to keep a history record, but to encourage and edify. To spur one another on toward love and good deeds. But this much we can say. God has most certainly been glorified and He remains faithful.

So now what I am hoping for is that we all, on our worship team, and anyone else interested in participating and training for the music ministry, may contribute to this blog by contributing information, links, resources, and comments as the Lord leads.

The Easter program was a true blessing from the Lord. It was so neat to see how He orchestrated each detail in order to communicate His story to all of us.

I am looking forward to seeing how God will use each gift and talent for the next events that we prepare in the future.

In the next few months we will be reading the Word and other literature, organizing, training, and praying for His guidance for the worship team. We plan on having a workshop in the middle of June. The date will be announced soon.

For now, this blog will serve as a good communication tool to update everyone on weekly reading, practices, and schedule.

Those participating on the team tomorrow should come by 8:15 for review before service. We are having practice after church, lunch will be provided.

Praise Him All Creatures of Our God and King!

What a blessing it was to worship the Lord today, together! I could really hear more of the mens and womens parts. So neat to know that God not only hears us, but even more He sees our hearts!! This is His show, and we get to be a part of it. To give Him our best, and to remember Him in our lives. May we walk in His Spirit all week praising and worshipping Him!

Some of you may be accessing this site for the first time, and I would like to invite you to visit often, and leave your comments and suggestions. It will be a good resource for you to check and see what is coming up for the next Sunday and the next practice. Till then, may the Lord be glorified in mine and your life this week! Amen.

God is our audience!

I was just thinking about our meeting on Sunday and some of the things we talked about. I love realizing that it is God who is the audience, and that after practicing and putting forth our best, the outcome is His. The most important thing is to praise and worship God with all our hearts!

In this, I hope and pray that we can, in some small way, understand better the incredible attributes of our God and His presence in our lives. And may this bring about true worship in our hearts to God!

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

How incredible!

Thanks to Janet, Tim and Jordan and all the congregation, it was so fun gathering together praising God.

Next Sunday we plan to have open practice. Please bring your notebooks and instruments. **Remember it is Fellowship meal Sunday and we all will be eating after church, cleaning up and then practicing. Have a great rest of the week!

All Together Now!!!

Col. 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."

As we all continue to pray and prepare for this Sunday let us remember that we are a family...and we are singing "all together now" our praises to our precious God and Father. We have been preparing for this for quite some time, and now we are going to get to stand together in worship to God as we lead our brothers and sisters... and each other. I pray that it be a sweet sacrifice of praise and worship to the Lord!

Sunday practice went very well and I'm excited about this coming Sunday. A reminder... remember we are meeting at 8:30 AM for tuning, sound checks, quick run through and prayer.

We will be practicing afterwards, pizza will be served. Don't forget to bring your notebooks!!

Wonderful Time of Worship!

¡Hola! Brothers and sisters! So exciting to see what God has been doing in our little group.

As we continue practicing we are seeing God use some of you on Sunday morning as well as after church, practicing and worshiping God together. What a beautiful thing it is to see how God is using each and every one of us.

It was a joy to see Bobby with his guitar, catching a few chords... more than before, and especially hearing his voice. Tim playing the piano and singing "In Christ Alone", doing two things at once is not very easy to do. The piano was an added blessing to that song! Jesse's violin was great in "Come, Now is the Time"and his voice was an added blessing. Ashley's alto is blending with mine more and more and it is such a blessing to come together to worship the Lord! Thanks all of you for sacrificing the time and energy. And to all the parents and children that had to wait!

Next week is 2nd Sunday Fellowship meal. We will be practicing soon after eating. I am hoping that we can work on Lo, What a Glorious Sight and the whole D line-up like before. Please bring your instruments if you have been learning this lineup.

We missed quite a few people this time who had other commitments. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Roy and Janet. We hope to see you back soon!

The First Blog: Words of Encouragement!

Hola. It is late, 11:36 P.M. and I just got the inspiration to write a little something here on my new blog. I am truly excited about the opportunity that I have to communicate some things about one of my greatest passions... praise and worship to Our deserving God and Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know how many people actually read these open journals, and I hesitate some what with the idea that the pouring out of my heart may be read by a complete stranger. So with that in mind, I plan on being careful with my words, as I know that the Bible teaches that "In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise. " Proverbs 10:19. I think sometimes I end up talking too much, trying to avoid that awkward silence that I experience when around certain people. I don't know what that is, but I find myself responding by speaking "many words", then later embarrassing myself and asking myself ....why? Writing on a blog is worse because all your words are recorded!

However! My desire to encourage and build up my brothers and sisters who have a growing desire to worship God is outweighing the risk of embarrassment. The important thing is that more brothers and sisters are stepping out in faith in using and developing their talents to serve the Lord, and that is a beautiful blessing from God!

So let me be the first to start by recognizing and "building up" a few of my brothers and sisters who have just begun leading with me in worship. Sophia, you are such an encouragement! I praise God for your willingness and your example of stepping out in faith and allowing God to work in you as He wishes...through our worship and praise on Sunday, 16 of July.

Janet, it was a precious time planning and worshipping with you for and on 22 of July. I loved some of the old songs you brought back and that I had almost forgotten. I am inspired to bring some of those rich, older, worship songs because of you. I love the harmonies that you do.

Tim, worship today was a blessing! I thank God as I see you grow in the grace, love, and talent that God has given you for His glory in the Kingdom. I appreciate your ideas and musical knowledge and for setting up the Powerpoint!

Practice today went very well, despite our missing some key people. Thanks to all that were present. I know it was a little awkward not having some of the support in singing that we are used to, but I assure you that it causes much growth. In fact, in your practice, I really recommend that you try to practice only with a note guide(piano, or CD) and not with music in the background. Your voice development and control have a greater chance of improving. So, although our end product didn't sound as pleasing to our ears, have patience to know that we are growing and improving!

Thanks to all those who brought snack. Next week is another snack day, then the following will be 2nd Sunday dinner. I will be posting information...practice schedule, music, lyrics, etc. soon! Keep checking back.

Please leave comments! Use this opportunity to Praise God, Giving Glory to God and Encouraging one another! Also to leave suggestions and/or communicate. Thanks!