The other night our youth director Russ Bowlin, led a discussion based on the song “Instead of a Show” by Jon Foreman. He has promised me he is going to write a post on it for FITR so I will not share reflections on that right now. During the course of the discussion, the conversation kept going to how we so often read the words, say the words, sing the songs and go through the motions without even thinking about what we are doing in church. Immediately this song called “Breathe Your Love in Me” came to mind. It is basically a song of confession and a prayer that God will revive us. I wanted to share it with you. Maybe you can use it in a worship service, maybe it is something you can play or listen to as part of your own prayer time. I am including a link to the song and to the chord sheet.

Breathe Your Love in Me mp3
Breathe Your Love in Me PDF

(You have permission to use this song for corporate or personal use. Just don’t record it and tell people it’s your own. I’d love to hear how it is being used so send me an email.)

If you have resources you would like to share please email them to me. If I post them I will give you a link back to your site and a huge thanks.

We keep our songs on a Google spreadsheet to keep track of how many times we use them etc. I was just reading though and thought I would share our list of our top used songs.

In 2007 they were:
God of Wonders
Forever
He Reigns
Let it Rise
Meet With me
Grace Like Rain
Trading My Sorrows
Lord I Lift Your Name on High
You Never Let Go
Better Than Life
It’s My Joy
Stir In Me
Bread of Life
Breathe
Communion
Crossfire
O Praise Him
People Get Ready
Christmas Eve Sarajevo
How Great is Our God
Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Your Love is Amazing
Your Love Oh Lord
Here I Am to Worship

So Far in 2008 the top songs are:
Trading My Sorrows
Meet With Me
Here I Am to Worship
Open The Eyes of my Heart
Cry Out Your Name
Every Day
God of WOnders
Forever
He Reigns
Let it Rise
Lord I Lift Your Name on High
Stir in Me
Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone
Awesome God
Jesus Paid it All
Alive Forever Amen
Audience of One
Days of Elijah
I Just Want to Celebrate
Nothing Without You
Proverbs 3:5-6
Worship You

So here is my question. What songs do you use in your worship services?

We are just now on the last full day of camp. I have been leading for the 6th and 7th graders this week and I have really enjoyed it. There are a few more things I have learned and Ideas that I have seen I’d like to pass on.

First… I was kind of worried on Sunday night because they didn’t really interact, they didn’t sing much etc. Today it was hard to get them to stop. I had to be reminded that it takes time for them to be comfortable, and in some cases remember the songs. I also found that if I do a familiar song, then an unfamiliar one, then a familiar one again.. they really sing the last one really loud. And then I’ll pick the unfamiliar one up later in the week.

Second… The deans did a great job on cabin inspections. They went around and took pictures and made a slide show for each day showing the best.. and worst.. of each cabin. The kids loved cheering and oohing depending on what they saw. It took some time and was great fun

Third… Don’t do Mail Call.. While it is fun to have your name called out and come get letters from home I was reminded today of some reasons not to do it. Today we had 10,000 letters… well not really but there were a bunch. They’ve even started receiving emails that the camp staff prints out and sends to each camp. It was chaos calling everyones name out and having them come up.
A better idea I think is to take the letters, sort them by cabin and deliver them at night. Although nothing solves the issue of a kid who doesn’t get mail. Solution…write them a letter

Well.. It’s time to run to worship… Maybe I’ll be back with some more tips later.
Oh.. coming soon.. Youth Worship Gathering.. We will have a time for youth bands to get together and learn, play, and worship with other youth bands.. look for it soon

A few weeks ago I attended a UM ARMY camp for the college students. While there I took these pictures and we ended up using some as worship backgrounds. I thought I would share some with you.

I wanted to take a moment to give some props to my friend Russ Bowlin on his recent blog post. He has spent this last week sharing with us ways that we can live up to our responsibility in the series “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” He begins with this verse:

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15

From there he gives us around 8 simple suggestions for saving energy, or recycling or other things we can do. When I first thought about posting this I though.. I usually write about worship stuff.. why post this? Then I had a profound duh moment. If worship is how we live our lives in response to God then taking care of the planet is a HUGE aspect of worship.

In fact it has gotten me to think about how we could be more planet friendly in our worship. Things like using LED lights instead of cans on the stage, making books and reusing lead sheets instead of copying them every week. Even something like using chorded microphones instead of wireless ones that use batteries, or find recyclable batteries that work in wireless mics well.

Who knows.. maybe I’ll write that one a little later… for now I redirect you back to Russ’s blog. Oh.. take a look at some of his other posts… they are cool and though provoking too.

Dear Friends,
As you may know I have just finished up a 4 song EP called “Unfailing Love.” It is currently being duplicated and will be available in June to be purchased. However you can get a sneak peek and help me out in the process right now. I have submitted the title track “Unfailing Love” to the indie heaven fan favorites chart. The more votes it gets, the higher on the chart it goes. I would be so grateful if you would visit and give a vote for the song. You can vote once per day.. but you can vote as many times as you would like.

Thank you so much, the link is below. The song you are looking for is “Unfailing Love” by Russell Martin. When you go to the site select “View All” and click on view. The song is currently at 107.
www.indieheaven.com/fanfaves

Please feel free to forward this to all your friends.
–
Russell Martin

An easy way to learn several songs with your praise team is to use songs that use the same chords and chord structure. Teach your team a basic chord pattern like G C D C. Once they can play that consistently and in time then reveal the songs that go along with that. For instance those chords can be used for Trading My Sorrows, Every Move I Make or Lord I Lift Your Name on High. As they progress you can add in the other chords that make it sound even better but this way you can get started quickly.

This is the second in the Free Song Series. Links at the bottom will take you a free mp3 file of the song to listen to, and a free PDF file of the chords to print and use.

Hey I Love Jesus is otherwise known as the vowel song because each line of the chorus starts with the sound of a different vowel.

A-Hey I Love Jesus
E-He Loves Me
I-I got to tell you
O-Oh how he set me free
U-You may be wondering
Y-Why I feel this way

At camps and concerts I generally have the youth spell out the letters with their arms and legs, kinda like the motions to YMCA. This makes for a great active icebreaker or a way to get them moving after sitting for a while.

You are free to use this song in worship or youth group. It would be great if you could let me know how it is being used and what response you had. Just respond to this blog or go follow the link at the bottom to my indie heaven page. Thanks so much.

Russell Martin

Hey I Love Jesus Mp3
Hey I Love Jesus PDF

Visit My Website

Last night was our first Church League Men’s Softball game. I was pitching for our team. Now I think they let me pitch because first of all I can get the ball over the plate 70% of the time and two because I don’t have an arm to play outfield or the quickness to play infield. I think it’s where I can do the least harm. Anyway the game started off and after the first 2 innings the score was close, like 5-3. During that time I was trying so hard to make a strike, to not walk anyone, well I was trying too hard. I ended up walking two batters.. in church slow pitch softball.

Fortunately we got out of the inning and our team came on and had a big rally and put up about 10 runs on the board. You know what happened next time I pitched? I threw 5 pitches the whole inning. I did not walk anyone, and I threw pitches right over the plate.

So what was the difference? The margin for error I had. With only one run difference.. I was trying to be so perfect I was making mistakes. With a 10 run lead I relaxed, didn’t worry so much and just played the game. It was because I allowed myself room to make mistakes that I actually did better. I did not worry about someone getting on base because I knew I had some room to work with.

How often when I am in ministry do I not allow myself room to work? When I wait until the last minute to put together a song list or to create lead sheets, then I make mistakes. When I do not communicate with people before a service, and therefore do not know who will be there, I try to make it up and be perfect and I do not worship, I worry.

What I am learning is to create margin for error, margin for interruption, space for things to happen. If I work on songlists a few weeks out then I have room to change a song when it feels right. When I create lead sheets early, I can play through them and make sure everything is fine before rehearsal. When I communicate and organize and know what is going on in a worship service, even the elements I am not directly in charge of, things flow smoother, I do not worry and I am more open to God moving into the lives of those who are gathered together.

So my question is how can we create margin?

1. Prayer- Someone wise once said, “I have so much to do today I need to spend another hour on my knees in prayer.” It is amazing what happens to your time when you pray. I find I get more done, and that distractions seem to disappear.

2. Prioritize- “Seek first the Kingdom of God” When you put God first He will help you to see what those important things are to do each day.

3. Make a list- Use a post it note, your pda, or a piece of paper and write down what you need to do for the day or even the week. I get a sense of accomplishment as I cross off things, and I can see what I have done, and what I have left to do.

4. Use your time wisely- Don’t just refrain from doing things that waste time, for example playing scrabulous or checking your facebook, (personal examples) but when you have 10 minutes here or 5 minutes there find something on your list for later in the day or week and go ahead and do it.

5. Take your time off- If you are in full time, or even part time ministry you need a day off. Just a hint… Sunday is not a day off. Find a day in the week that you can stay away from church and church conversations, emails, etc. Don’t just sit at home though, find something to do that rejuvenates you. Spend time with a friend, read a book, work on a non ministry related project or perhaps take a nap.

I was reading browsing through one of my favorite sites called plugrug.com and came across a like to a website for free graphics called creativemyk. The cool thing about the site is that it does not only include photos but also adobe files, templates etc for you to download and use. I created my own profile and have been uploading photos. Please use them, download them and let me know what you think of them. Also if you have a place you have uploaded created graphics for use in worship services please let me know and I can post them up here.