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1) We Shine (Fee):
Key Am/A. Great tune. I think at one point in the second service I actually growl/screamed the prechorus. It was rockin.

2) Your Love Is Beautiful (Hillsong):
Key Cm. We choose to drop it a step for our keyboard players (me, mainly). This is one of our favorites…but might have run its chorus. We’re adding a few new songs into the rotation this summer anyways.

3) How Great is Our God (Tomlin/Seventh Day Slumber Version):
Key B/G#m. This one rocked. The team pulled together nicely and rocked this one. A wonderfully roxed out way to take a familiar and loved song and add some GRRRRR to it. The SDS version is pretty tight.

More Sunday Setlists

So I’ve done it. I think I’ve successfully mashed up a good rock/electronic vibe with some hip hop a la Kanye/Lil Wayne (think autotune) and Adam Lambert (Ya know the falsetto screamer on American Idol). What’s so funny is I ABSOLUTELY hate the autotune sound. But I made myself use it for this. You know the challenge of trying to use something you wouldn’t normally. You’ll have to listen to hear it.

I’ve taken the text and tune from an old Public Domain hymn (Nothing But The Blood) and reworked it a bit.

All in garage band. No fancy mics or anything. And all the guitar work is just me playing my acoustic through GB amp simulators and such.

You’ll either love it or hate it.

While life continues to roll around me this week I’ve come to one conclusion:

Family is utmost.

It is the most important thing in OUR ministry life. In my life right at this very moment some big things are happening, and one thing that I am pouring my heart and soul into is “family.” I don’t have kids yet, Lydia (my wife), is my family. I love her more than anything, than everything, and I never, ever want to be guilty of putting something else in this life above her (as we center our lives around God together, of course).

Here’s a few questions to ask yourself:

• What does it profit a person to gain the world yet lose his family?
• What does it profit a person to minister to thousands yet neglect her family?
• What does it profit a person to sing like an angel but never sing with his kids?
• What does it profit a person to write a timeless novel but never write a legacy with her children?
• What does it profit a person to pastor mega-churches but never cover his family?
• What does it profit a person to mentor the masses but ignore his wife?
• What does it profit a person to counsel the hurting while hurting her husband?
• What does it profit a person to sign a record deal but never record memories with his children?
• What does it profit a person to be popular on facebook but never connect her family?
• What does it profit a person to tweet hundreds of updates a day but never talk about his day with his wife?
• What does it profit a person to wear the latest fashionable clothing but never clothe her family in righteousness?
• What does it profit a person to work 60 hours a week yet never work at building relationship with his kids?

Family is utmost. It is of uttermost importance.

If you’re a minister, consider this. God wants us to be faithful in the “small” things. By small I think He also means “basic” things. Family is basic. Yet, somehow we lose focus so easily. We seem to think that family will:

• Still be there when we’re done with service.
• Still be there when we make our fortune.
• Still be there when we’ve earned our retirement.
• Still be there when we’ve beat that video game.
• Still be there when we’ve caught up on LOST.
• Still be there when we’ve planted that church.
• Still be there when we’ve written that self-help ministry book.
• Still be there when we’ve captured that once in a lifetime photo.
• Still be there when we’ve penned that hit worship song.
• Still be there when we’ve achieved OUR goals.
• Still be there when we’ve reached OUR dreams.
• Still be there when we’ve done OUR wills.
• Still be there when we’ve gained the world…

But sadly, they won’t be. And honestly, the sadness I feel is more for the family, not for the hard working motivated “minister” who can’t see past his own two hands.

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. — I Timothy 5:8

As life rolls along around us, I wanted to pause today and ask a simple question:

WHO ARE YOU LIVING WITH?

And by living, I don’t mean shacking up with, or married to, or sharing a roof with.

I mean LIVING. Doing life.

Who do you pursue fun with?

Who do you chase after God with?

Who do you paint pictures with?

Who do you break bread with?

Who do you write songs with?

Who do you devour Scripture with?

Who do you worship our Creator with?

Who do you defend the defenseless with?

Who do you exercise with?

Who do you cook dinner with?

Who do you share the Gospel with?

Who do you share bedtime stories with?

Who do you listen to music with?

Together-ness

Who do you SHARE with?

Who do you EXPERIENCE with?

Who do you JOURNEY with?

Who do you ADVENTURE with?

WHO DO YOU LIVE WITH?

Walk-in:
Ripped a riff from Audio Adrenaline’s “I’m Not The King” and added a simple James Bond-esque counter melody on top of it. Then at key points threw in a Mission Impossible inspired rhythmic breakdown. Fun stuff.

1) One Way (Hillsong):
Key A. Funny story. My wife comments after service, “I love that new ‘That Thing You Do’ feel you guys did One Way with today.” I was like, “Thanks, babe,  but we’ve been doing it like that for almost a year…” She was like, “Oh….” Hahaha!

So, we do kind of mashup the That Thing You Do vibe with an almost western/surf feel. Works out pretty good on this tune. A great song to use some whammy bar or tremolo effects on your electric guitars.

2) O Taste & See (Johnson):
Key G. We haven’t done this one in a while, but I love it. It’s such a simple and repetitive song, but so rich! Cortni rocked it! She’s one of my go to female vocal leaders! One thing new that we kinf of improved (rehearsal) into on accident was a half-time feel towards the end. Instead of just repeating the chorus verbatim musically, we go to a drums and vocals break (chorus) with a break down kind of half-time feel. Worked well, and broke up the potential monotony of this great tune.

3) I Know Who I Am (Houghton/Tomlin):
Key A. For some reason my mind keeps thinking this song is in D every time we play it. Especially if I’m on keys, which makes for some interesting chords! I did play guitar this week, but rehearsed on keys. Weird, I know, but I forgot my guitar at home and all I had was keys for rehearsal. I should be fired.

This is a great song that goes over so well. One of our female vocal leaders, Ros, tears it up. I sing the bridge. The energy of this song is so great for group worship.

Speaking of rehearsal:
The last few weeks I’ve been utilizing a split rehearsal format. Vocals come in at 6:30 and rehears with me (on keys or acoustic) for 45 minutes. The Band comes in and has 15 minutes to set up and then we rock full team rehearsal for an hour.

Pros:

• The vocals have never been tighter. Even though they rehearse parts during the week, it’s great to be able to come in and tighten those up.
• Before a lot of times when I’d need to rehearse with the vocals the band would get to chatting or even start noodling on their respective instruments. I don’t mind that so much as far as volume, but they’d lose focus a bit. It’s always a good thing when we can just plow through our rehearsal times and not have anyone lose focus.
• I also get to spend a little bit more time interacting with the vocals in a little more intimate setting. Not that we didn’t interact before, but I’ve always found the smaller the group, the better the interaction.

Cons:

• The entire rehearsal is about 15 minutes longer give or take.

As you can see the Pros have far outweighed the cons with this.

Today’s Sunday Setlist is part of many others shared by worshipers and worship leaders from all over the world at Fred McKinnon.com