Sunday was an unusual day; we pulled the plug on the planned service on 'Prayer' to wind up our 'Awaken' series in the book of James. Instead, we responded to a nudging from the Spirit and talked about relationships and the foundation for healthy communication, particularly in marriages. As Brian stated, in the past few weeks we have seen so many relationships in crisis that we have had to sit up and take notice. We pray, because we believe it's an issue of spirtual warfare.
And we teach God's truth about relationships, because it matters.
It was a powerful message and a good day. Here's the lineup:
Awaken - Natalie Grant. We revisited this tune from the beginning of the series. Good, high energy tune.
Welcome and Comments - our associate pastor came running through the crowd with a (fake) Olympic torch while a snippet from the Olympic Fanfare played. It was funny, and it worked to promote this week's Small Group Olympics, which will close our Spiritual Growth Emphasis.
As It Is In Heaven - Matt Maher. What a great song; I've never seen our crowd catch on to something quiet so quickly. They were instantly engaged and singing along.
Sweetly Broken - Jeremy Riddle. It's nearly impossible to play and sing this song without experiencing that which we declare; "i am lost for words so/lost in love i'm/sweetly broken/wholly surrendered". Power.
Standing In the Need of Prayer - We had some fun with this, old-time swing bluegrass-y. Started out with an almost a capella turn from Andy, one of our ace guitar players who doesn't sing much - so, when he does, it's a nice surprise. We layered three parts on top of his melody line slowly, and the crowd basically went nuts. It's a rural community; what can I say?
Bound To Come Some Trouble - Rich Mullins. We closed the first part of the message with this song, solo with the piano. Amazing and poignant tune from a master songwriter.
Majesty - Delirious. We moved easily from the Mullins tune to this one to bring the audience to a time of response.
Great service that seemed to help some people and allow for an authentic, transformative experience.
Brian has been consistently following his messages with blog posts that have additional information or resources (powhatancommunitychurch.blogspot.com). In our rural community, where only about 60% of the population has access to high-speed internet, we are turning the fly-wheel on utilizing the internet for communication and connection. These follow-up posts seem to be an effective resource - at least for part of the population...
This post is part of Fred McKinnon's blog carnival; check it out!
3 comments:
When I think of Sunday's service I still have chills. The music was fantastic! Andy definately kept it hush, hush that he had a solo piece! The Green Room was so excited! Oh, funny story-we had a new friend of ours comment on the different people on stage at PCC. He wanted to know who the "piano lady is with the high leg kicks!" The Green Room is going to work on a list of "You know you're new to PCC when...." We'll include stuff like that-it's the first phase of falling in love with our church, and our church family! :)
This is probably a ridiculous question-have you heard of Charlie Hall? Yeah. He's one of my new favs. I downloaded his version of "Majesty." I love that song, and with Kevin heading it up. Wow.
Uh ohhh! Add me to the PCC crowd on your sidebar! I'd love to be with that crew! :)
What a freaky coincidence. I've been singing "Standing in the Need of Prayer" all week. I'm working on a new song, and the groove isn't quite the same, but the rhythm of the lyrics keeps reminding me of that old song. What a hoot.
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