As you can imagine, I am one proud father, as I sat and listened to my little 12-year old daughter, Elizabeth, use her talents to exalt the Lord Jesus during last Sunday's service. I am so happy I can call her my sister in Christ as well. I pray that she always devotes her life to Him.
I was thrilled to have my mother, sister, and nephew in the service this past Sunday evening. My sister, Jennifer, came in this week for my Uncle Onloe's funeral and she was able to stay a few extra days. She brought one of her sons, Luke, with her. The folks at Highland always love to hear Jennifer sing and play so she was kind enough to play for us during the service and also sing this special. I thought she did a fantastic job. Give it a listen below:
I Am Not Ashamed Of the Gospel Of ChristRead more...
(c) Byron Chesney 1995
Paul persecuted the Christians of old
He gave his consent when Stephen was stoned
But one day while he was traveling Down the road to Damascus
The Lord struck Paul down, turned his heart around and he never was the same
Oh, I am not ashamed, I am not ashamed
I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
I am not ashamed, I am not ashamed
I'll proclaim his name I'm not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ
Well the world will try to make you doubt your convictions
they'll laugh at you, call you a fool for proclaiming Jesus' name
Oh don't worry Christian cause let me tell you Brother
One day He is returning and He'll take His Church away
Repeat Chorus 2 times to end.
Tonight at church, I asked my wife, Mary, if she would mind singing with me. We sang 2 verses of the old Albert E. Brumley hymn, "If We Never Meet Again." I've always loved that song. It's on page 36 in the red back Church Hymnal. Listen to the words:
If We Never Meet AgainRead more...
Albert E. Brumley
Soon we'll come to the end of life's journey,
And perhaps we'll never meet anymore,
Till we gather in Heaven's bright city
Far away on that beautiful shore.
O so often we're parted with sorrow,
Benedictions often quicken our pain;
But we never shall sorrow in Heaven,
God be with you till we meet again.
O they say we shall meet by the river
Where no storm-clouds ever darken the sky,
And they say we'll be happy in Heaven,
In the wonderful sweet by and by.
If we never meet again this side of Heaven
As we struggle through this world and its strife,
There's another meeting place somewhere in Heaven
By the side of the river of life;
Where the charming roses bloom forever,
And where separations come no more;
If we never meet again this side of Heaven,
I will meet you on that beautiful shore.
The song, "I Thirst", has always been a favorite song of mine, as well as my late Papaw Chesney. I loved to hear George Younce of The Cathedrals sing it. I'm no George Younce but I had a request to sing it at church on Easter Sunday evening. I thought I'd share it with readers of this blog:
I sang this song Wednesday night at church. It's one of my all-time favorite hymns.
Near the Cross
Fanny Crosby 1869 (Public Domain)
Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain
Free to all, a healing stream, Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.
Refrain:
In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,love and Mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star, sheds its beams around me.
Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day, with its shadows o’er me.
Near the cross I’ll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand, just beyond the river.
Pastor Dave and Sister Carol singing, Promises, at church this morning. I absolutely love this song.
Promises
written by Dottie Rambo
He didn't promise that I would never stumble,
But He did say He'd be there if I fall
He didn't tell me He'd hear complaints I whispered,
But He did say He'd hear me if I call.
Cho:
Promises, promises, and all of them true.
He's done exactly what He said He would do.
He didn't tell me my heart would not be broken,
But He did say He'd mend it again.
He didn't promise my cross would not be heavy,
But He did say that He my load would share,
He didn't tell me He'd grant my hopes and wishes,
But He did say He'd hear my earnest prayer.
Yesterday morning we canceled church services due to all of the snow and bad driving conditions. Last night Pastor Dave decided to go ahead and have services. There was only 9 of us that showed up. We had a fairly short service but it was real sweet. There were a few folks that testified and one member that testified for the very first time!
Mary and I had been practicing some songs together so I brought my guitar along in case we decided to sing. We did end up singing one song, My House Is Full. That has always been one of my favorite songs ever since hearing the Berry Family sing it many years ago when we belonged to House Mountain Baptist. Below is an audio clip of me and Mary singing it last night at church.
We had our first Easter Cantata practice this past Sunday. I thought it went fairly well, all things considered. I chose one of Brentwood's "Easy 2-part" series for us to learn, The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference. It is a very easy arrangement if you can read music, unfortunately most of our choir can't read music. I have intended on having sight reading and shape note classes for them sometime but just haven't had time to do it. They do a great job of listening and following along with the music and always pick it up eventually. Still, it would be nice if they could read music.
Most of the songs were familiar to everyone except for, Always the Cross. It is a really beautiful song with great words but is just a little more contemporary than what we are used to. None of our youth were there for practice and I think they will probably like it the most. I think we will do alright on it and it may even become one of our favorites.
I had failed to give Barbara (our pianist) a copy of the music before our first practice so she was seeing it for the first time as well. We played the listening CD over the sound system and she played along with it. She did an outstanding job. I wish there was an accompaniment copy of the music because the books are difficult for her to turn the pages while playing. I will probably need to take a book apart, enlarge the print and place them in a notebook with plastic sleeves. We had the same problem with last year's Easter cantata too.
So, all in all it was a great start. I think once we get comfortable with it we will really enjoy it. We only have 10 more opportunities to practice!
It seems like only yesterday we were singing last year's Easter Cantata, AMEN. It was a fairly simple arrangement of songs based on 2 parts. After much careful consideration and prayer, an Easter Cantata has been chosen for this year. I placed an order for the books and listening CD today with Brentwood Music. The Cantata that has been chosen is called, "The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference." The songs in it are:
1. Opening Medley (There's Room at the Cross / Love Divine / Christ the Lord Is Risen Today)
2. Always the Cross
3. The Old Rugged Cross Made The Difference
4. There's Room At The Cross
5. Crown Him! Medley (Crown Him With Many Crowns, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, Amazing Grace)
The title song, The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference, is a song that our ladies trio already sings, so I plan to ask them if they will sing that selection by themselves.
This is another easy arrangement written for 2-parts. I don't think we will have any problems with it. I'm really excited about getting busy learning this cantata. We only have 12 Sundays available between now and Easter so we've got to get on it.
I was really proud of the choir this past Sunday when we sang, "If That Isn't Love" for our choir special. It just seemed like everyone was putting everything they had into it. The singing, the music, the Spirit, everything was just lovely. Give it a listen below:
As I mentioned in a few posts this week. I've had to select 42 different songs to use during our revival services this week. I've written before about the process of song selection and everything that goes into it. Luckily, it hasn't been too awfully bad this week but rest assured it has taken lots of prayer!
"I. Definition of Revival/Spiritual Awakening (borrowed from the handout, Theology of Revival, from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
A. Various Definitions
"God's quickening visitation of his people, touching their hearts and deepening his work of grace in their lives." J. I. Packer
"extraordinary season of religious interest." Robert Baird
"the sovereign act of God, in which He restores His own backsliding people to repentance, faith and obedience." Stephen Olford
This past Sunday morning at church, we saw a pretty significant rise in attendance. In fact, our numbers for Sunday School were the highest I have seen in the past 3 years. It was so nice looking out across the congregation and seeing so many folks. We had a wonderful Spirit filled service during our morning worship service and the choir sounded spectacular. We actually had some basses this Sunday which did my heart good. I even strayed from my regularly scheduled program to include pg. 92, Just A Little Talk With Jesus, so I could hear that wonderful bass section.
Sunday evening we had a drastic falling off. Not sure where everybody was. I know a few members went to hear Gary Barnard play piano in a concert, but the rest of them... only God knows where they were. If it hadn't been for our youth group and some visitors from Texas Valley; former pastor, Jerry Copeland and his wife Gail, along with Mary-Alice and Steve Thomas, and Randy Wallen, we wouldn't have had but a handful. But, like Jesus says in Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And, in the midst He was! Even with our low attendance, the choir loft was nearly completely full! We were a little thin in the Alto section but man, what a sound the choir put out! We have been practicing, Goodbye, World Goodbye, for a few weeks and we sang it. I can't remember ever being more proud of the choir than I was last night. I looked out at them and it seemed like everyone had the biggest smile on their face and they were rearing back and singing with all they were worth. I could even hear my little 9-year old Liz belting out that song to the top of her lungs! You can give it a listen at the bottom of this post. Make sure you listen to the ending, we really worked hard on it and Barbara does a very impressive roll down the keyboard to boot!
We may not be the largest, most musically trained, or even skillful choir, but for what we lack in those 3 departments, we make up for in heart and Spirit. I've always told the choir members that I would rather hear a handful of folks singing to the Lord from their hearts than some huge professionally trained choir full of dead-spirited ones. Sure, sometimes I get down about the low numbers but I thank God for the few, the proud, the choir!
Last night was the first night we have had choir practice in about 4 weeks. I've canceled it for several reasons, VBS, Father's Day, etc.. We haven't had the opportunity to learn anything new in a while. In our last practice we had worked on Goodbye World, Goodbye. I didn't think we did very well on it our first practice and was actually considering scratching it from the notebook. I gave it a second thought last night and we worked on it again. Boy, am I glad that we did! Believe it or not, I actually had the choir sing it in last night's service! There was only 12 people in the choir last night but they really put out some sound. I think we'll be doing this song often.
I am continually amazed at how God works. It seems like when everything is just going against me and all is hopeless, He steps in and takes over. It is like that old McKamey's song, "God On the Mountain."
Well, all of the hard work and practice leading up to the Easter Cantata is finally over. We performed "AMEN" this morning during the Easter Sunday Worship service. I am relieved, sad, and worn out now that it's over. As I placed the cantata book into my choir bag after the service, it was like I was putting away an old friend. This cantata had a special meaning to me on so many levels. I dedicated the cantata in the memory of Mrs. Dockery. I thought of her many times today while at church. I missed her terribly but I knew she was having a much better Easter than I was. She is actually with the one that we were singing about! But, I was still sad as I turned to the front page of my book and saw her name written there. This was also the first "real" cantata that I had taught our choir. Always before it was just song selections that I had picked out and threw together, stuff that they already knew on some level. AMEN was pretty difficult for a choir such as ours. I was very proud of our members and how much they worked on this and put forth such effort. They are such a great group of people.
There was a nice turnout for the choir, not so much for the entire church. Many empty seats this morning. Things just aren't like they used to be when on Easter Sunday morning the church house would be packed full. I can remember services where you were lucky to get a seat. This morning you had your choice.
The low church attendance didn't effect the effort that we put into our cantata. I believe each and every choir member put forth 100%. I thought the sound was excellent. We only had a couple of small hiccups through the entire 30-minute performance. I brought the choir in 2-beats too early on one song and Barbara accidentally turned 2-pages instead of one during one of our songs. We kept going right along and didn't miss a beat.
Our opening song was the title song, AMEN. After we finished, everyone in the church began clapping. I'm not sure if it was because it was so good or because they thought we were finished. If it was the latter, they were in for a surprise. It is a pretty long cantata. If you actually listened to the words and the spoken parts in between numbers, you will hear about the entire life of Jesus, topped off with a salute to his power and majesty. I think my very favorite number is "Why Should He Love Me So?" It is so beautiful and so true. I cry nearly every time we sing it. I'll try to get the whole thing uploaded soon and post a link to listen. Songs include:
AMEN…...........Wonderful Words Of Life............Let The Song Go Round The Earth..............Why Should He Love Me So?......Alas and Did My Savior Bleed / My Faith Looks Up To Thee.....................Crown Him / All Hail King Jesus....AMEN (Reprise)
© Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008
Back to TOP
