(Here’s a recap of the service and the songs we chose this past weekend at Howick Baptist Church. You can find links to the set lists of this church and many other churches each week at theworshipcommunity.com. You can also read through previous HBC service recaps here.)
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Easter Weekend is always a busy time if you’re involved in music ministry. By God’s grace we made it through three different services. Instead of starting with observations of what you may already have seen, I’m going to share about some behind-the-scene moments and thoughts:
- “He’s gone home to get the CD” – About 10 minutes before the Good Friday service was meant to commence, we got word from that Luke (our youth intern) need to rush home to grab a missing music/video file for the youth group’s drama presentation (a modified version of the Lifehouse – Everything skit). So we had to shift that item from where it was earlier in the order to after Joe’s message so that there would be enough time for Luke to get back. By God’s providence, the clear gospel presentation from Joe helped to set the framework for understanding the metaphors and the themes presented by the teens, and it all weaved together perfectly. Yes, it made for a very tense morning praying that the Lord would keep Luke safe on his last-minute dash (to Manurewa and back!)
- Guitar stops working – I was slated to play a solo of “Man of Sorrows” after all that. And as the big moment arrived, I stood in front of the congregation, I picked up my guitar… and realised it had no sound (it’s a semiacoustic). Frantic looks at the sound desk. Quick glance behind me at the mass of cables. I ended up just playing it without amplification which meant folks at the back of the church only heard vocals. But in all that God humbled me to not think too highly of my own abilities, and some people commented that without the guitar, they were able to focus more on the fantastic words. Praise the Lord!
- He is risen! he is nervous! On Easter Sunday… not really sure why, but under all the expectation I didn’t feel as relaxed as other weeks. Fluffed through the opening welcome, and even as I was describing the scene on the third day in preparation for singing the Getty’s Resurrection Hymn, I mixed up the gospel accounts and spoke of the angel rather than Jesus appearing to the women.
- I love what I do – I think it was about 2 hours into the Thursday night rehearsal, in the midst of the laughing as someone said something funny, and looking around at the team, that a thought clearly hit me: God has been so good to bless me with such wonderful ministry partners. It’s so good that I can’t think of anyone in the team that doesn’t have a heart attitude to serve the church during our gathered worship. It’s so good that I can’t think of anyone that wants to be on team for the ego trip, or for the status and prominence. It’s wonderful to see, and it makes me love serving alongside these brothers and sisters in Christ! To God be the glory!
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Here’s the songs we chose over the Easter weekend…
Order of Service (22 April 2011, Good Friday)
(worship leader: William Chong)
Welcome: Isaiah 52-53
1. How Deep the Father’s Love for Us – Stuart Townend.
2. Jesus Thank You – Pat Sczebel.
Message – The Most Tragic Death The World Has Ever Known (Joe Fleener)
180 Youth Drama Presentation
3. Man of Sorrows – Philip B Bliss, arr. David Potter. I made a recording of it here.
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Order of Service (24 April 2011, Easter Sunday)
(worship leader: William Chong)
Welcome
1. Jesus Came to Earth – Solomon Campbell, Daved Campbell, Bob Kauflin. We had the Sunday School children lead us in singing this song. Great stuff!
2. Resurrection Hymn (See What a Morning) – Pat Sczebel.
Announcements
Reading: Psalm 25
3. The Greatest of All – Pat Sczebel, Fanny Crosby.
4. How Deep the Father’s Love For Us – Stuart Townend.
Message: God’s Right-hand Man (Peter Somervell)
5. In Christ Alone – Townend/Getty.
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– William
