for over 48 hours now i have been married to the most amazing woman i have ever met. she makes me happier than any other person on the face of this earth ever has. she is beautiful and funny and kind. she loves God and loves me and i love her more than i can express in words.
mrs. van der meer is sitting on the couch beside me right now and doesn’t know that i am posting this…but i don’t think she will mind…she’s also really cool.
normally i would tell you how hope’s service went last sunday and what songs were played and whatnot…but i don’t know either of those things. but i am confident that it went very well.
i am so excited about the rest of this life and spending it with such an amazing woman…i am truly, truly blessed.
i love you, amy.
how do so many people keep these things updated so frequently? i don’t get it.
anyway, let’s catch up you and i, shall we?
when last we spoke, 3 weeks ago, hope had just had it’s first official service and amy and i were a month away from being married. well, since then hope’s held a couple more services (one each week…we figured we’d make it a regular thing) and the wedding is this saturday! and i am very excited. amy is awesome and beautiful and so many other great things that i can’t put into words…i cannot wait til saturday. there’s a lot of work left to be done but we’ll get it done and that day will be incredible.
as far as hope goes…the services are starting to get more fluid, eric, gerald, and i are getting to know each other better, and the band is really starting to come together. this past sunday’s worship was really intense from my perspective…we played an accidentally slower version of ‘call #1′ (me), then ‘glorious one’ (fee), ‘give us clean hands’ (hall?), and a rearranged version of ‘hallelujah (Your love makes me sing)’. it was one of those times where God caught me off guard with His presence. i pray before the service almost the same prayer every week that God will inhabit our words and actions…but when i really recognize it’s wild. i think God elicits an emotion or reaction or whatever you want to call it that is unlike anything else…it’s like you are completely contained in something wonderful and powerful and frightening…but undeniably good…actually freakin’ sweet is the term that keeps coming to mind so that is what i will call it…freakin’ sweet.
michael also led his first song at hope, ‘praise Your name’ (fields), and it went really well. michael will be putting together the set for next week as it will be amy and my 1st full day as man and wife and we’ll be staying at a nice little b&b in an undisclosed location.
michael, eric, and i are also going to start work on a record here in the near future which may or may not melt your face off with awesomeness (probably not…but that’s what we’re going for)…more details on that later.
until next time…
so we had our first service yesterday. we had a several more people attending than i had expected (thank you michael for inviting your entire family).
all-in-all it was satisfying start. while i was playing it was really neat to look out and see everybody singing. it was especially nice to look out and see my soon-to-be wife and my mom standing next to each other worshiping…really cool.
the message was was titled ‘love God’ which you would think would be pretty simple to design a music set around…i thought it would…i was wrong. i think i changed the set 3 or 4 times before getting one together that felt right…but in the end i am confident that the music was that which God wanted.
so, what songs did we play? i’m glad you asked…
we started off with the call to worship ‘call #1′…we have been starting with this song in the two previous ‘practice’ services and it’s really gone well…i think it went well this week as well.
next was ‘my glorius’ (smith, garrard)…kind of a laid back version of this song because we were down a man in the band…it’s a pretty good song chilled out.
then we went with an old crowder song, ‘cry mercy.’ really sweet song. if you don’t know it…check it out. it’s one of those songs that is so simple but so moving…just check it out.
‘everything’ (hughes) was next. then a chilled out version of lincoln brewster’s ‘love the Lord’ which is essentially matthew 22:37 (the theme verse of the message) put to music.
second part of the set started with ‘i love you Lord’ (osbourne) and it was awes so sweet. we did a few verses and then dropped out the instruments…that song acapella just felt like a massive release of energy…amazing.
and we ended with ‘madly’ (fee), and i’m thinking about ending with that song a lot. the chorus ‘let what we do in here fill the streets out there…’ is what i truly want for the church…
…let the worship out of the walls of the building…let God’s glory be shone in the streets.
sometimes i get busy and forget i have a blog.
somewhere between my job, starting services at hope, moving and planning my wedding (to be fair amy does the bulk of the work on this…she’s awesome) the whole blogging thing has fallen to the wayside.
so what’s been going on since august 24th you ask? well, let me give you the cliff’s notes version (in no particular order). two weeks ago i moved into the house where the love of my life and i will start our new life. it is beautiful here peaceful and serene and as every box gets unpacked, it feels more and more like home. amy and i have also been planning our wedding…buying things, calling people, getting really excited about the future. also hope christian church has held 2 ‘practice’ services and next week is our first official service. also i have a cat now…weird. so there’s a lot of stuff going on.
but i did want to post the set lists for my nolaworship folks…
last week (september 6) the message was about what the church is:
- call #1 – nicholas van der meer
- my glorious – martin smith, stuart garrard
- marvelous light – charlie hall
- came to my rescue – marty sampson, joel davis, dylan thomas
- the stand – joel houston
- center – matt redman, charlie hall
this week was on the mission:
- call #1 – nicholas van der meer
- i will go – tim neufield, jon neufield, allen salmon
- light so shine – erik thien
- majesty – martin smith, stuart garrard
- i will go [redux] – tim neufield, jon neufield, allen salmon
- madly – steve fee
last week’s service was pretty good especially for the first time…a few hiccups but i thought it went surprisingly smooth. and this week i felt like the band really clicked…i can really see our ’sound’ developing…and the congregation really seemed to get into ‘call #1′ and i have to say…that made me feel really good.
so, anyhoo, i will try to get back into form…i really enjoy hearing all my friends feedback on my posts and i miss talking with y’all. til next time…
this post will be short. it’s basically a piggy back off of erik thien’s post published earlier this morning. if you have time take a look at it.
my questions based off of it are:
what are the actions that constitute worship?
are there actions that constitute worship or is worship more complex or simple?
what actions constitute praise?
are praise and worship synonymous?
if they are different, do we praise or worship more often?
which is more important, praise or worship?
which is the ‘worship leader’ ultimately responsible for in leading his/her congregation?
feel free to answer all, some, or none of these…but i do appreciate your comments.
i’ve been trying to write calls to worship…new songs that are designed to help provide a separation for a time of musical worship and teaching. i am doing this one: as a personal challenge; and two: because i want to try to break myself away from starting off a set with a high-energy song for no other reason than it is a high-energy song. i want these songs to be simple, fresh, engaging, scripture-based, and easy to learn. so far i have one finished and about 3 others in various states of completion.
this is the first of i hope to be many in a series of calls to worship:
.
‘call to worship #1′
.
come let us worship the Lord
come let us worship the Lord
for he is good, he is good, he is good
.
come let us sing his praise
hearts bowed and spirits raised
for he is good, he is good, he is good
.
Lord we want to sing a song to you
one that lasts forever long
for you are good, you are good, you are good
.
i will try to get this uploaded to myspace in the next fewdays. it won’t likely be a quality recording but it’ll at least provide a feel for the song.
so what do you think?
what would a call to worship look like to you?
would it be musical?
what do you think is the best way to show a distinction for this time?
we were having a conversation in the nolaworship get together a few weeks back about transparency in leadership. what i mean is revealing one’s true self in all ways…to the point of admitting openly shortcomings and specific sin. i know this sounds like something that we all should do. but the issue that leadership (especially in churches) runs into is the loss of credibility with the congregation. the ‘if the church knows i struggle with [blank] they’ll never trust me.’
so the question i have is:
if a pastor / minister / church leader openly admitted a sin to the congregation (and when i say this i mean that he/she did this of their own accord…not because it was discovered) how grievous would that sin have to be to undermine their ministry in your eyes?
for you to call for their dismissal?
for you to leave the church?
for you to lose a friendship?
what are these sins specifically?
what makes these worse to you than others?
do you think that a pastor should admit shortcomings / sins to the entire congregation?
i posted something i called progress a few days ago and got way more responses than i could have hoped for. thank you all for reading and responding. hearing different ideas on what worship could look like is not only interesting but beneficial to me when i think of the different ways in which a service could be displayed.
yesterday my friend marc posted a cnet article on the use of technology in worship services (read it here). if you feel like it, i’d like to hear what you think about the article and what role technology should play in a worship service.
does multimedia aid or hinder worship?
is there a perceived correlation between use of technology and legitimacy / in-touchness / progressiveness?
what do you think when you walk into a service that extensively employs technology?
what do you think when you walk into a service that employs almost none?
what role would technology play in the service you would design?
so, i’m starting to really get excited about services starting up at hope christian. after only really looking for other musicians to help out with the music, already two of the most talented musicians i have ever had the privilege to play with have said that they will come on to help get us started.
you say you want info on these cats?
ok…
michael barr is a multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer from new orleans. he will be playing bass and keys. also maybe he’ll do some programming and play whatever else we put in front of him. michael also plays drums for your firelight heart.
eric ledet and i have played music together off and on for years…from funk bands to country bands to psuedo-progressive bands. he’s one of the the most gifted drummers i have ever met (and i’ve met the drummer from stryper). he is also a pretty dang good arranger/composer. he will be play drums and maybe could be convinced to do some keys (on his sweet 61-key casio) and some programming.
i’m really pumped about getting these guys together and making music. get this thing kicked off with a 3-piece is a real blessing. it’s more assurance that God wants to do something sweet through the people in new orleans.
i was thinking the other day (i do that from time to time)…if i could design a worship service from the ground up, without any preconceived notions of what previous services looked like…if i had never attended a service or heard about one but only had the knowledge of scripture and the awe of God…what would this service look like?
would that be progressive or regressive?
if you designed a service what would it look like?
what about what we call ‘church’ would you do differently?
