SMT Setlist Part 2-August 25th, 2011

After a focus on God's work in the past, who we are, and who He is, I chose on the second day to pick up where we'd left off: focusing again on our need for God, praising Him, and then turning to the future and God's power to accomplish great things. That's a lot of thematic ground to cover in half an hour of total playing/singing time spread out over two days, but I didn't let that stop me :).

Worship Set:

1. "Lord, I Need You" by Chris Tomlin-(A)
2. "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" by Matt Redman-(G)
3. "Mighty to Save" by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong]-(G)


Repeating "Lord, I Need You" after singing it the previous day also was a very intentional decision so that these students would already know the song when we sang it on the first NavNite. This proved even more important than I initially thought, as I'll get to in the next post! Short story: technical hurdles lol. When teaching a new song, there's a fine line to walk between playing it enough times that people pick it up and playing it so many times that they get sick of it!

With "10,000 Reasons" also being a new song, I felt it very important to finish with a familiar song. "Mighty to Save" fit the bill perfectly, conveying the truth that I wanted to focus on while putting people in a place where they could sing the words from recall instead of having to read them.


If you haven't yet, check out both "Lord, I Need You" and "10,000 Reasons" by clicking the titles and watching the youtube videos! The entire summer I've been listening to them again and again and again-I can't get enough :)

Later this week: the setlist from our first NavNite on Monday!!

SMT Setlist Part 1-August 24th, 2011

This week was our retreat for about 25 of our students where we planned for the upcoming semester and did some training, equipping, and praying (actually a LOT of praying!). With school starting this coming Monday, we needed to get all of our ducks in a row and plan out events and outreach strategies for the first two weeks of the semester, a very crucial time for recruiting and for meeting new students!

I led a time of worship both days of the retreat and the times served to bookend our time together-the first thing we did Wednesday Morning was worship and the last thing we did Thursday before praying over the campus in the evening was also worship. In the days leading up to the retreat I couldn't help but get excited for the opportunity! It had been several months since I had worshipped with many of these folks and I also had some new songs that have really been speaking to me over the summer that I wanted to introduce.

For the first day, I chose to focus on what God has done for us in the past, who we are, and who He is. I felt it crucial to take advantage of this time to attune all of our hearts collectively to these truths so that we could operate in light of them as we looked to the future.


Worship Set:

1. "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle-(A)
2. "Lord, I Need You" by Chris Tomlin-(A)
3. "Forever Regin" by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong]-(A)


"Sweetly Broken" is a great meditation on Christ's work on the cross, "Lord I Need You" focuses on our lack and how He meets us in that lack, and "Forever Reign" is basically praising God for attribute after attribute, truth after truth.

"Lord, I Need You" is a newer song that we sang a lot in Russia as a team and I love its simplicity: we need God. Its hymn-like quality is in large part due to its inspiration, the hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour." This is a song that I intend to lead quite often at Navs :).


Tomorrow: the set from the second day!

No Other God

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
  that the mountains would tremble before you!
As when fire sets twigs ablaze
  and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
  and cause the nations to quake before you!
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
  you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
  no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
  who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
                                       ~Isaiah 64:1-4

Selah 

Just as Lost, Just not as Obvious

Today I read "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller. I was walking through the local Borders the other day, mournfully lamenting the fact that it's going out of business while simultaneously and (non-hypocritically! haha) looking for some sweet deals. I saw "The Prodigal God" on a 20% off rack-the paperback was $14. I almost got it at that point but later found a copy of the hardcover in the bargain bin for $3! I HAD to get it at that point.

Keller is an author that I've heard nothing but good things about, but also one that I'd never really gotten around to reading. I went in with a bit of a critical (in a good way) view, wanting to see if he lived up to the reputation that he'd picked up in my subconscious as some sort of 21st Century C.S. Lewis.

In "The Prodigal God," Keller more than lived up to his reputation: his communication was clear, authoritative, Biblical, and-more than anything else-convicting. As he took Jesus' familiar parable about the Prodigal Son and explained it in a way that gave equal importance to EVERY character in the story (not just the wayward son), I found myself challenged and humbled.

One of his main points that contributed to this conviction was the assertion that, while the younger son was lost in his worldliness, the older son was just as lost in his own self-righteousness. I had never quite considered it this way, but, as Keller explains:

What must we do, then, to be saved? To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but...to truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right. Pharisees only repent of their sins, but Christians repent for the very roots of their righteousness, too. We must learn how to repent of the sin UNDER all our other sins AND under all our righteousness--the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord.

Our own attempts at righteousness, when they become a substitute for Christ's grace, can be just as much a sin as the vices that we can so easily and obviously identify as sins. They are not always as easy to identify as such, though. Thanks to Mr. Keller, I now am awakened a bit to the need to watch for them more closely. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, no matter (or maybe especially because of) how familiar they think they are with the parable Keller addresses.