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Second week leading at Emanuel UMC in Brunswick, GA today. Had a great time!

1) Great is Thy Faithfulness (Integrity arrangement from Praise Worship Songbook 3 1989): Key D. I love this arrangement. It takes this classic hymn/chorus and modernizes the chords a bit. At almost 20 years old, this arrangement still holds up well. It’s really a great arrangement. It’s a little old, a little new. Something for everyone.

2) Sing To The King (Foote): Key D. Pretty standard arrangement. This seems to be a popular “blended” service song, at least in my experience.

3) As The Deer (Nystrom): Key C. This was a “prayer song” – at Emanuel they use the prayer song to set up the morning prayer, which leads into the offering. I used an arrangement that I put together back when I was in college. Takes this simple song and adds a lot of color to the progressions.

The keys and piano player played the offertory.

4) Open the Eyes of My Heart (Baloche): Key D. Another one that seems to be the choice of worship bands that are moving from traditional to contemporary music even though the song itself is getting a little age on it. Still fun to sing though.

5) You Are My King (Amazing Love) (Foote): Key D. I capo’d high for this one and played in G. Gave the song some variety. We have another acoustic player, so I didn’t lose any of the mid-range by switching. One of my favorite “Passion” tunes of all time.

6) Holy & Anointed One (Barnett): Key G. Another simple arrangement of a great song. I based this arrangement on a mashup of the Sonic Flood and MercyMe arrangements. GREAT song! It’s so congregation friendly. People can’t help but sing along.

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Today I had the great privilege of leading worship at Emanuel UMC in Brunswick, GA. I’ll be leading there the next 2 weeks. They welcomed me with open arms and we had a great time rehearsing Thursday night and then service today.

1) America The Beautiful. Because.

2) The Lord Reigns (Hutto original): Key G. Also known as Psalm 93. The band picked this one up great and the congregation sang along heartily during the choruses which makes this a winner in my book!

3) Breathe (Barnett): Key G. Another good, simple song. This was for the prayer song today.

4) Trading My Sorrows (Evans): Key G. I haven’t done this one in years, but it was on their list of songs they were familiar with so I dove in head first. It went along perfectly with the message of the day.

5) Blessed Be Your Name (Redman): Key G. Great song. I don’t think I ever get tired of this one.

6) The Wondrous Cross (Tomlin Watts, etc.): Key D. Walkout song. Good tune.

Today was a wonderful day at St. Simons Community Church. We missed having Fred with us but he’s raised up a really good team of leaders who are capable of leading when he’s away!

The message series on family/relationships continued today (Worth Fighting For). It’s a great series. Today’s talk was on Fighting Unforgiveness. It was a great talk. It reminded me of some of the talks Kelly Barcol from House of Joy in Valdosta, GA gave when I was on staff there.

Kim Dixon led worship this morning. We had a full band set up but only 3 vocals, which was a slight departure from the normal 4-6 vocals on stage. I really liked having the 3. There seemed to be SO much room in the mix and it was very easy to sing my part. Those of you who know me know that is how I prefer to build teams out for Sunday worship anyways, so it felt good!

1) I Have Found (Jesus Culture version): Key G. I had never played this before. Might have heard it before, but it was VERY unfamiliar to me. So much so that I felt like a total noob trying to sing and play it this week. Even after listening to and practicing by myself at home. Something about that syncopated rhythm throws me off EVERY time in the verses. But overall it went over well and Kim led it beautifully.

2) Lord, Reign In Me (Brown): Key G. I liked this one. Real catchy. Don’t tell anyone but the rhythm I was playing on it was basically Hanson’s MmmBop. It fit well into the groove layed down by our rhythm section though.

3) Hallelujah, Your Love is Amazing (Brian Doerkson version): Key D. I capo’d up on this one and played it in G. Kim was also on an acoustic so I wanted to play “around” her. I try to never play the same chord shapes or strum patterns when there’s another acoustic on the team (unless we’re around a campfire).

4) Lead Me (Sanctus Real): Key B. A Repeat from last week. This is a GREAT song for Father’s day if you haven’t picked any out yet. Listen to it and try and not be moved. Just a well written song.

5) You Are My King (Foote): Key D. The other singer on the team this morning was one of our high school girls and she rocked it this morning. She did a wonderful job of leading this song as our closer today.

How did YOUR Sunday go?

Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15)

A good friend of mine passed away this morning. Jimmy Linville (Mr. Jimmy to most who knew him) changed his address to a heavenly PO Box this morning.

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Today I sang and played acoustic guitar. I always enjoy that arrangement because I feel like I get to move around a little more and, maybe it’s psychological, but I feel more free on guitar than on keys or piano (even though I love them).

1) [Walk-in] Glorious (Baloche): Key C. One of my favorites in the last year. Great song. To be kind of a mid-tempo song it has so much energy.

2) Say So (Houghton): Key D. We do this one with a click track. I led out on this one. It’s a great song based on Psalm 107:2. In the key of D it’s pretty high. It’s got a great groove and people connect with it. You can’t help but feel the energy of this one.

3) Oh, How I Love Jesus (Traditional): Key G. Fred brought this arrangement back from the All About Worship Retreat. It was a fun soulful, bluesy arrangement, that showcased all of the vocals. I think the older folks in our church really connected well with it.

4) Christ Is Risen (Maher): Key F#. This is another of my favorites from the last year. Great song!

5) Lead Me (Sanctus Real): Key B. This was one of the two closing songs and was perfect for the moment after the great message given by Jon Blankenship this morning. Our series is about fighting for family/relationships and this song was amazingly perfect. I led out on this one.

6) Lead Me To The Cross (Hillsong): Key Bm. Our closer. We went from asking God to lead us (to be better leaders in our families) with the previous song to a song that talks about being “led to the cross” great follow up.

I love being part of the team on Sundays! Check out other worship leaders and worship experiences from all over the web at The Worship Community.