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Yesterday was a good day. We’re in a series called “Space Invaders” – it’s about prioritizing so that we build space around the events, expenses, etc. of in our lives so that we can be generous with our finances and time.

Set list:

1. You Are Good (Houghton): Key E. CCLI Song #3383788. Females lead. Pretty standard arrangement, except at the end we go back into the “You are good, all the time, all the time, You are good” line and vamp on that some more. Then for the last 2 times the band drops out and it’s just the vocals doing that line with a 2 & 4 hi-hat click. After that the drummer brings in a bom – bom – bom – crash (downbeat) and the band hits that last note, E, while the singers do some end of song ad lib praising. Works nicely.
2. Shackles (Mary Mary): Key Em. This has become one of our go to songs when we need something soulful and easy. Although, playing a good funky groove for it is anything but easy, the chord structure is pretty easy. We kind of fuse a Mary Mary sound with a Maroon 5 (This Love) groove. Our females lead this one.
3. Revelation Song (Riddle): Key D. CCLI Song#4447960. Females lead. We have a nice intro that we rock right into some vocal “ahs” before we hit the verse. We actually do this one a lot faster than the recorded version. On the intro when the female voice is ending her lines the drums bring in a monster fill and we rock it LOUD. I know this song is usually done soft and sweet and building throughout the song, but we rock it from the get go.
4. God of This City (Tomlin Hello Love): CCLI Song#5037070. End of service song. Key A. We have a 14 year old female who tears this one up. She sings the verses and prechoruses, and I come in and lead through the choruses. This is one of those really great songs, that is kind of hard for everyone to sing at one time because of the range stretch, but we mix it up and it goes over well.

This week I got to play drums. Our regular drummers were not able to play and so I rotated myself in. I always enjoy “leading” the band from the drums. I don’t do much singing when I’m on drums, but I did rap in the middle of shackles, and help lead God of This City, as well.

Part of Sunday Setlists at Fred’s place.

So this past Sunday we kicked off a series called Space Invaders. It’s basically a 3 week series on the things that invade our lives (space) that keep us from being effective for the Kingdom. We kind of played off the old school video game feel, but basically, decided to just keep this pretty generic.

1. Week 1: What’s Invading Your Space? A message about creating margin (space) in our lives.
2. Week 2: What’s Invading Your Wallet? A message about creating margin (space) in our budgets so that we can be more generous in our giving.
3. Week 3: What’s Invading Your Time? A message about creating margin in our schedules so that we’re not maxed out. Basic message about serving our families, churches, and communities.

I wanted to share the audio “transition” – it’s what plays right after the “You may be seated” at the end of our song set. Each week the “What’s Invading Your?” question will change according to the specific message [space, wallet, time].

I threw this together in Garage Band and was trying for a pseudo-retro electronic sound. It thumps really heavy on a good system. People really enjoyed. Had one person say that it reminded them of when they used to go to the skating rink when they were a kid. Score! Take a listen.

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Today was grand.

1. He Reigns (Peter Furler/Stave Taylor): Key of D. CCLI Song #4026635. We introduced this older song last month and it was well received. We do more rocked out version than the radio version of this Newsboys song. All in all, I’d say the simple repetition of the chorus makes this a great song to sing congregationally.
2. Today Is The Day (Lincoln Brewster/Paul Baloche): Key of Bb. CCLI Song #5200924. One of our new favorites. We’ve done it 3 or 4 times. This one is a little tougher to sing congregationally, though we do it anyways, in the key of Bb, the verses and prechorus are pretty low, but since the chorus goes up pretty high you don’t have much choice if you want to invite the congregation to sing along with you during the chorus. So to create that “everyone join in on the chorus” feel, one person sings the verses by themself and then all vocals join in on the chorus.
3. Rhythm (Russ Hutto, Hey that’s me!): Key of Bm/D. We did this a while back as part of a series. It went over very well. It also worked well as a 3rd song in this week’s set, so we tightened up the arrangement and rocked it out. This is a song that I wrote with critique help from The Worship Community songwriting section. Check it out. Here’s a rough version of it recorded at practice Wednesday night [Be warned somebody just snagged it with their mp3 recorder so it's not mixed well, and the drums are killer loud, but it will give you the feel of the song].

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4. God Of This City (Andrew McCann/Boyd Aaron/Ian Jordan/Peter Comfort/Peter Kernaghan/Richard Bleakley): Key of A. CCLI Song #5037070. We rocked this at the end of the service. One of our females led the verses and prechoruses and I came in on the chorus. This is one of those GREAT songs to sing in a church setting, but at the same time has a pretty crazy range, so we split the leading duties between a male and a female. This was the first time we’ve done this at HOJ and it rocked both services. We stuck pretty closely to the Chris Tomlin Hello Love version.

Part of Sunday Setlists at Fred’s hacienda.

Great day today at HOJ.

1. All Because of Jesus (Fee): Key A. Casting Crowns arrangement infused with more rock juice. Structurally the same, but more intense then the radio friendly version.
2. I Know Who I Am (Houghton): Key A. One of our new favorites. Led by one of our females in the original Houghton key, works like a charm.
3. Blessed Be Your Name (Redman): Key G. Today was the first time in almost 2 years that I felt like we really hit the “groove” on this one. It’s such a familiar and “easy” song that it seems to lose some its oomph when we do it. But not today, we settled in very quickly and rocked it. A female leads the verses, and the males come in and take over the pre-chorus and chorus. Very nice rocked out arrangement similar to the radio version, but definitely cranked up to an 11 on the rock scale.

Check out a whole slew of other worship leaders’ set lists over at Sunday Setlist at FredMckinnon.com.

I waited until today to do my Sunday Setlist post.

Here’s the brief version of my recap.

1) One Way (Hillsong)

2) Love the Lord your God (Brewster Arrangement)

3) My Savior Lives (New Life Worship Arrangement)

What I really wanted to post was what our setlist actually looks like in action. You read each song we did. you see the key and how we arranged it. Now feast your eyes on the visual display of what it looks like when we’re rocking out these songs.

These pics are from a few months ago, but the energy, atmosphere, and good looking-ness are still the same.