Something Familiar

What a great weekend we had at Calvary with 30 men singing Nothing But The Blood with great zeal! Days like last Sunday are such a joy to me. It is often difficult to turn the corner and look toward another Sunday, but here we are, looking forward to meeting together once again.

Selah is a wonderful group that has provided the church with many fresh new arrangements of long time beloved songs. This week at Calvary, we are going to use a couple of those songs to help our church worship God. We are going to open the service singing Standing On The Promises Medley. This medley is a combination of three great hymns Standing On The Promises, Leaning On The Everlasting Arms and Are You Washed In The Blood. I know that this medley will very quickly become a favorite at Calvary as it affirms God’s faithfulness with a fresh setting of familiar tunes.

After the offering we will sing Selah’s arrangement of There Is Power In The Blood. This hymn declares that our only hope for cleansing from sin both in eternity and right now is found in the blood of Christ. We will follow this by The Greatest Of All which is a Sovereign Grace song that incorporates a familiar text from Fanny Crosby. This song exults in the finished work of Christ on our behalf. Finally we will sing Wonderful Merciful Savior. This wonderful song of praise is intended to put an exclamation point on our offering of worship to God.

Pastor Paul will be continuing our Journey Through John and preach through the passage about the adulterous woman. We close the service singing I’m Forever Grateful. This chorus will help us express our thanks to Christ for His work on the cross.

As you prepare for worship this week, sing through the songs that we will be using, read through the passage in John 7:53-8:11 and ask God to meet with us as we gather on Sunday.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Trent

A New Trend and Looking Toward Sunday

I have noticed a new trend in the last few rehearsals, everyone is showing up early. This has been a huge blessing because it means we can begin on time or even early and make the best use of everyone’s time. Thank you for your diligence and faithfulness. It truly is a joy to lead our Worship Arts team.

Our Worship Arts Committee has been in the process over the past few months of developing an expectation guide for our team members. Before people commit to being involved in anything, they generally want to know what will be expected of them. Over the years we have had a lot of verbal and quite frankly unspoken expectations that did not really help our team to grow in their walk with Christ, in fellowship with the community of believers at Calvary, or in their musicianship and expertise. Our desire is that the following expectations will help all of us who participate in Worship Arts at Calvary to have a goal or target at which to aim so that we can make continuous improvements in all areas of our relationship to Christ and His church. Whether you sing, play an instrument, or work in AV these guidelines are intended to help you maximize your abilities to serve Christ at Calvary.

Calvary Worship Arts Team Expectations

     Spiritual

Model worship on Sunday mornings whether on stage or in the congregation

Spend time with God in Scripture and prayer

Support the ministries of Calvary Baptist Church

Participate in Calvary Discipleship activities when available

     Community

Attend conferences and training sessions as scheduled

Notify your team leader as soon as possible if cancellation is necessary

Respond quickly to all PCO (Planning Center Online) requests and correspondence

Be on time for rehearsals and services

     Technical/Musical

Learn songs before rehearsals, via MP3s and charts on PCO and Calvary web-site

Review songs via Calvary web-site between rehearsals and Sunday morning

Continue to grow and improve on your instrument

Master your ministry area and hone your skills as a creative, artistic contributor 

Memorize the lyrics/music/cues as much as possible to maximize congregational interaction

Now to turn our attention to this coming Sunday, Pastor Paul will continue our Journey Through John going deeper into John chapter 8. We will begin the service singing Greater Than We Can Imagine, a wonderful song of praise based upon Psalm 145. After the offering we will sing Oh The Deep, Deep Love Of Jesus, The Greatest Of All, and Come Christians Join To Sing. All three of these songs extol the mercies and love of Christ. Before the message, we will have a special Men’s Chorus singing an arrangement of the hymn Nothing But The Blood. I trust that this song will be a blessing to all. As of this writing, I am a little uncertain of our closing song. I am leaning toward You Have Been Raised but that could change before Sunday.

It is with joyful anticipation that I wait for Sunday when we gather together for corporate worship. My prayer is that you daily individual worship will be Christ centered and rich.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Trent

Jesus, Thank You

You’ll notice it as soon as you walk into the auditorium. Yes, the stage is different. We’ve moved people around and no one is playing the piano. This week we are trying something a little different; using only hand percussion, acoustic guitars and acoustic bass for our praise band this week, we are introducing Calvary unplugged. The music will be slightly more laid back and definitely quieter.

The content of our worship will focused on Christ. We will open singing the Paul Baloche song Praise Adonai. This song of praise will immediately point us to Christ as it gives vivid imagery of worship in heaven. Our place in that worship gathering is secured by the blood of Christ and we will make that declaration as we sing Matt Redman’s Nothing But The Blood. From the opening declaration until the final doxology, we will declare our absolute dependence upon Christ.

The next two songs we will sing are from Sovereign Grace Music. Oh The Deep, Deep Love is Bob Kauflin’s modern rendition of the hymn by Samuel Trevor Francis. Through wonderful descriptions, we will sing of the love of Christ as compared to the vastness of the ocean. Then we will declare our thanks to Christ with awe and wonder as we sing Jesus, Thank You. We were, as the song declares, once Your enemies, now seated at Your table. We certainly have much for which to give thanks.

As we close the service we will sing Here I Am To Worship by Tim Hughes as an offering of sacrifice and praise. You can follow the link for each song if you would like a preview of Sunday. I think it is going to be a great Sunday at Calvary and I hope to see you there.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Trent

Who Can Satisfy My Soul?

This Week at Calvary

This Sunday (October 7) we return to our Journey Through John. Pastor Paul will be preaching out of John 7, explain the significance of the Jesus’ actions at the Feast of Booths. We will also find out how Hebrews 12:3 relates to this passage. I think it is going to be a stirring message that you do not want to miss.

We will open our service declaring the goodness of God in all circumstances singing God Is Good All The Time. We will follow that up with two songs of praise, Praise Adonai and I Will Sing Of My Redeemer (You Set Me Free). These three songs will help us to focus on God’s goodness, His unique character, and the freedom we have through Christ.

We will then sing two songs have a theme of living water, All Who Are Thirsty and Who Can Satisfy My Soul. These songs relate directly to the passage from John 7. Here is a link to the song Who Can Satisfy My Soul by Dennis Jernigan. In between the two songs, we will read together the passage from Isaiah 12:1-4.

                You will say in that day:

                “I will give thanks to you, O LORD,

                                for though you were angry with me,

                your anger turned away,

                                that you might comfort me.

                “Behold, God is my salvation;

                                I will trust, and will not be afraid;

                for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,

                                and he has become my salvation.”

                With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:

                “Give thanks to the LORD,

                                call upon his name,

                make known his deeds among the peoples,

                                proclaim that his name is exalted.

(Isaiah 12:1-4 ESV)

Upcoming Events

October 21: Male Chorus Day (all men come join our special choir)

November 18: Thanksgiving Praise (we will use a full choir that day)

November 25 – December 2: Revival Summit with Life Action Ministries

December 9: Orchestra Sunday and Christmas Carols

Interesting Blog Post

One of my goals on this blog is to share with you the work of others that I find inspiring, meaningful or helpful to our ministry. Kristen Gilles along with her husband Bobby serve at Sojourn Church in the Louisville area. IN a recent blog post, Kristen walks through the Scriptures that call God’s people to worship Him. You can find the post here. Take some time to read this and consider how we call God’s people into worship.