Hallelujah - Cohen (secular song, but has a lot of biblical nuggets in it… only did part of it and as an opening special that led into the next song)

Come to the Cross - Smith/Mooring/Bronleewe (was going to give some YouTube linkage… didn’t find a decent version… Michael W. Smith does a great job on this one… not sure if I’ve ever said those words before!)

Oh, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing - Wesley/Gläser/Crowder/Parker

At the Cross - Hudson/Carpenter - (wrote this one literally minutes before practice on Wednesday night… and this is the one song that people seemed to respond to… figures!)

Giving It All to You - Gungor

Undone - Millard/Cochran (YouTube video)

Cares Chorus - Willard

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus - Garo Christians/Clark/arr. Reynolds

A bit of a lighter set this week… I played keyboard and we had one acoustic guitar, a lead guitar, bass, piano, and drums.

Your Name - (Baloche/Packiam)

Shine On Us - (Smith/Smith)

Wonderful, Merciful Savior - (Rodgers/Wyse)

How Great Is Our God - (Tomlin/Reeves/Cash)

How Great Thou Art - (Hine/arr. Carpenter)

As the Deer - (Nystrom)

Surely the Presence of the Lord - (Wolfe)

I Surrender All - (DeVenter/Weeden/arr. Carpenter)

Lord, Reign in Me - Brown

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty - Neander/Winkworth/arr. Carpenter

Unite My Heart - Mull (this was a song written by a kid at Sterling College… came from my songwriting workshops)

Your Grace Is Enough - Maher

Grace Greater Than Our Sin - Johnston/Towner/Carpenter

Sweet, Sweet Sound - Reeves/Cash

Lay It Down - Maher/Brown

So… here is the song list from this past weekend… two services on Saturday at Venue 302 in Hutchinson, Kansas and a Sunday morning service at Venue Sterling in Sterling, Kansas.  These services were being led by evenstill:

Come Inside - (Carpenter)

To God Be the Glory (We Ascribe To You) - (Crosby/Doane/Carpenter)

Join the Song (Your Redeemed) - (Carpenter/Miears)

Indescribable - (Story)

I Stand Amazed - (Gabriel/Carpenter)

This is what I typed over at evenstill’s website this morning:

So… I was awakened from my slumber this morning at about 4:15 (I think)… in Sterling, Kansas… in a strange person’s bed (we’re staying with Brad and Pattie Nix… great friends… though Brad IS strange!)… and God told me to get my rear out of bed and pray.  I was prompted to pray for our new friends at Westbrook Baptist Church and Venue 302 in Hutchinson.  God is doing mighty things among the people in Hutchinson… smack in the middle of Kansas… who would have thunk it?!  I prayed for our upcoming morning service at Venue Sterling and for the Youth Alive service back in Hutchinson.  I prayed for each of our churches that we are away from this weekend… Highland Terrace, Trinity Baptist, Trinity Fellowship, Ridgecrest…

Then I popped onto Facebook, curious to see what other crazy folk were out there up at hours of the day that I sometimes forget exist… there was my friend, Sarah Thompson… in India… where it’s not such a crazy time of the day (it’s actually mid-afternoon).  Sarah asked me to pray for her lost friends there in India… so I did… This morning, Sarah’s burden for the lost became my burden for the lost.  I’m hoping today that my burden for the lost will become your burden for the lost… will you pray for Sarah Thompson and her friends in India… will you pray for life-changes on the campus of Sterling College… pray for the people desperately searching for hope today in the greater Hutchinson, Kansas and Greenville, Texas area… and pray for us… that we become empty vessels that long for nothing but to give God all glory and honor.

God prompted me this morning… He’s probably prompting you as well… are you snoozin’?

Kimberly, Micah, and I are in Kansas for a few days and we are enjoying the change of scenery… there’s a lot of openness around these parts!  I was invited by Dr. Brad Nix (an extremely close friend of mine) to come to Sterling College (in Sterling) as a guest artist as part of the music school’s Concert Series.  I did a songwriting workshop for a small number of students this afternoon and will do another one on Monday afternoon and then will be leading in a worship concert on Monday night with evenstill.  The band will also be leading worship twice tomorrow at Venue 302 in Hutchinson and will then lead worship at the Venue Sterling campus on Sunday morning and finish up with the Youth Alive service Sunday night with Westbrook Baptist Church (all of these services are parts of the same church).  Should be fun!

I’ve got to stop having dinner with the Bench family… somehow I always leave there feeling guilty about my ridiculously poor blogging habits!  This time, however, Joel offered up a suggestion that I may can stick to… if nothing else, I will try to post what songs we are doing every week as I lead worship at Highland Terrace in Greenville, Texas… and if I get a wild hair about me, I may even list songs that I do elsewhere… so… without further ado:

March 8, 2009:

Come Inside (Carpenter)

Majestic (Brewster)

Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble? (M. Smith)

SCRIPTURE READING - JOHN 1:1-14

We Have Seen Your Glory (Carpenter)

Blessed Assurance (Crosby/Knapp/arr. Carpenter)

Hosanna (Fraser)

From the mind and mouth of Shaun Groves:

Creative people are weird complex.  So this series is my attempt to explain us to anyone having to work or live with us.  Each statement is laid out as a contradiction.  I’m borrowing heavily from researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People but putting him in my own words.  It’s more creative that way.

Read the rest of the first part of this here and the second part here.  If these don’t help you understand creative types (read that as Jonathan), then maybe nothing will.

So… heading down to Tyler on Saturday with the rest of evenstill to visit Rosewood Studios.  I’m really excited about this visit as this is a truly top-notch studio with great engineers.  I’ll keep you all posted on developments with this and with all updates that happen with the band.