Being flexible is a key aspect of leading in any regards, but it was especially true of leading worship this past week at Navs. I had originally prepared to do all the songs at the beginning of the evening, but we ended up having a time of response to the message at the end of the night. The flow then changed from one five song set to two sets-one of four songs at the beginning and a single song to close. Thankfully the Spirit had led in a direction song-wise and one of the songs already worked perfectly!
Additionally, the setlist looked a LOT different originally (the only two that made the transition were "Forever Reign" and "Your Love Never Fails"), but in response to some personal and global circumstances I felt strongly led to use the time of worship to dwell on God's peace. From there the songs really just fell into place-some even the day of practicing with Rudy and Athena! It isn't always this clear every time I sit down to arrange a set, but I really felt Spirit-led in arranging it this time.
The flow of the set started with us expectantly asking of God, then dwelling on God's character and God's love for us. These songs proclaim some powerful, powerful truths about God and it was amazing to watch the Spirit move in the room and use the time to impact hearts.
1. "One Thirst" by Jeremy Riddle [Bethel]-(A)
2. "Beauty of Your Peace" by Tim Hughes-(C)
3. "Forever Reign" by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong]-(C)
4. "Your Love Never Fails" by Chris McClarney [Jesus Culture]-(G)
5. "Always" by Kristian Stanfill [Passion]-(A)
I led and played guitar, Rudy played piano, Athena sang backup vocals and played guitar, and Mr. Steven Crawford made a cameo on the drumset. One of the biggest blessings of serving with the worship team is the opportunity to serve with such quality and qualified people week in and week out!
To walk step-by-step through the "roadmap" for the evening: "One Thirst" is an amazing request and invocation of the Spirit to come and be present in our worship in addition to being a beautiful time to prepare our hearts for what's to come. I especially wanted to sing it because Rachel had introduced it the previous week and I wanted to sing it again and really let people learn it and dwell in it for a bit. "Beauty of Your Peace" is an earnest plea for God to replace everything that is the opposite of peace and fill our lives instead with Himself. "Forever Reign" just might be my favorite worship song currently, proclaiming truth after truth after truth about God's character in the verses and then moving into a chorus and bridge of our response: running to His arms. "Your Love Never Fails" is a celebratory declaration about just what it sounds like: God's unfailing love. And "Always" proclaims a simple truth: God will always be our help, our refuge, our strength. our all.
I can't say how it was in the audience, but from my standpoint on stage it couldn't have been clearer that God was speaking to those gathered during and through the time. Every aspect of leading worship is a privilege, but one of the ones that I appreciate the most is one of the best seats in the house to watch God at work, speaking and responding to His children as they cry out to Him. Gives me chills just thinking about it :).
