Night of Vision & Celebration Recap

About three times a year, we plan a Sunday night service at our Bluffton Campus that gives us a longer time to worship, pray, celebrate stories of life change, and hear from our Lead Pastor, Jeff. It was an AMAZING time!

At Recreate this year, I participated in a worship time led by 1211. They did their entire worship set on the main floor with all of us in a semicircle. You can see part of it by CLICKING HERE. It was such a worshipful, non-performance-like time that I wanted to try it at LCC. So we did!

We set-up in a semi-circle in the center of our Worship Center and arranged the chairs around us in a semi-circle. We used the stage for the interviews and for Pastor Jeff's portion, but all the worship was on the floor. Here was our service order...

Countdown - 2 MIN VIDEO:Worship

"Come, Now is the Time to Worship" - Vineyard

"Friend of God" - Israel Houghton

"Sing My Love" - Jesus Culture

Welcome/Prayer of Blessing/Celebration of Discipleship Stories at LCC - Pastor Bob

"Jesus is the Answer" - Andre Crouch

VIDEO: LCC STORIES

Pastor Jeff - Letters of life change/Interviews/ Vision Casting

Time of Prayer

"Inside Out" - Hillsongs

"Hosanna" - Brook Fraser

"Glory to God" - Steve Fee/Vicky Beeching

Those of us who manage the tension of multiple services, parking, and all those WONDERFUL things a thriving church faces need opportunities like this to exhale. There was no service after this one and we were not in a hurry - it lasted about 90 minutes. It was SO refreshing and our team had a wonderful time just worshipping together in a relaxed, casual atmosphere.

Pastor Jeff did a wonderful job of sharing his heart and being vunerable with us. I was inspired by his honesty and at the same time so thankful to be a part of what God is doing at LCC!

Read other Sunday recaps here.

Monopoly

  Sydney and I have been playing monopoly for about the last year. Just recently, she has really started to understand it and it has been a lot of fun.  I was thinking as we were playing this weekend how she buys property every time she lands on it until I have to tell her, she doesn't have enough money. She doesn't care about holding on to her money or if she runs out, she just loves the game. I, on the other hand, am very careful with my purchases and pretty much worry through the whole game if I am going to go bankrupt.

Now I know the point of monopoly is to OWN everything and take everything from the other players. However, watching her play and just enjoy the game, regardless if she won or lost was so refreshing. Just pure enjoyment. I was thinking about how much as I get older, I forget to just enjoy and not worry. I know that with age comes responsibility, but as I watch my children, I see so much more of how Christ wants me to respond to Him as His child. I thought about this passage in Matthew 6...

 ^30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." 9 (MSG)

Our kids teach us truths just by being kids. I'm so thankful for the monopoly lesson. So who was teaching who to play?

Sunday Recap

I had the opportunity on Sunday to lead worship with our new worship leader, Eric Abney, at the HHI Campus. We both got in on Saturday night, met with the band on Sunday, and made it happen!

We had another record attendance at the Island Campus - 205! There is such an excitement and energy on Sundays. We have a lot of new people and it's wonderful to see them connecting in small groups and in ministry.

I introduced Eric to our Island Campus and yes, I did a jig on stage! I'm so excited to have a team mate and to be able to focus my attention on so many more creative elements for LCC and my songwriting.  I'm not going to miss running back and forth between two campuses every week all by myself!

Here was our setlist:

"Your Love Never Fails" - Jesus Culture

Welcome (here is where I did the jig...)

"Awesome is the Lord Most High"  -Tomlin

"Everlasting God" - Brenton Brown

Video - Message Bumper

Message

Time of Response: Giving, Prayer, Communion

"None But Jesus" - Brooke Fraser

"Marvelous Light" - Charlie Hall

After an amazing week at Recreate in Franklin, TN, I was so refreshed to lead worship and be with my church family!

CLICK HERE for more Sunday Setlists!

Recreate 11 Recap

Every year, attending Recreate is like drinking from a fire hydrant. I feel so immersed in fresh water that I cannot drink it all at one time.  I wanted to do a daily recap like I have done in years past, but I was so enjoying the time with fellow attendees after and between sessions, I was not able to get my thoughts together during the week to even write about it! Here were the highlights for me:

1. Participating in Worship with 1211 from Gateway Church in Austin ,TX.  I look forward to re-creating this worship experience set-up at LCC very soon. It was wonderful to meet all of them and get to hear their stories of life-change. Their leader, Ramy Antoun, is an amazing musician (drummer) and an Arts Pastor at Gateway.  See a little bit of it here...

2. A live performance from Ed Kowalczyk (formerly with LIVE) and his new band. Ed shared a little about his new faith and then went into more detail in an interview with Randy on Wednesday morning. God is doing a redemptive work in his life and it was such a privilege to be a part of the concert and interact with him at the conference. CLICK HERE to read his interview with Randy Elrod. Watch some of the concert here...

3. Randy's talk on empathy, intuition, and charisma was my favorite session. I was challenged, inspired, encouraged, and comforted all at the same time! I will be dissecting a lot of his talk and writing about it here at cheval glass in the coming days, but my favorite sentence was this..." People have their best days and do their best work when they are allowed to make progress."

4. I was overwhelmed by Andrew Peterson and friends songwriting in the round and "Behold the Lamb of God." There are not really words to describe this two-hour experience on Thursday afternoon. The one word I came away with was BEAUTY. I just listened and drank in the beauty of the entire presentation as it was expressed through music, lyrics , lighting,  sound, and most of all- skilled musicians.

5. I was immersed in community. This was the single word that was resonating all week through sessions and discussions (I agree 100 percent, Mark!) I spent more time talking with old friends and new friends over the five days than any other year at Recreate.  There was such a sense of people truly desiring to connect with one another. I experienced so many meaningful conversations and life-changing discussion. I'm still processing all of it.

Charles Jones said “You are the same today that you are going to be in five years from now except for two things: the people with whom you associate and the books you read." These wonderful creatives that I have the privilege of knowing and learning from throughout year have changed my life. They continuously offer encouragement, wisdom, and accountability that I desperately need as a creative. They are my lifeline and I am more grateful for them now than I have ever been at any other point in my life.

Recreaters - you know who you are. Thank you for the listening ears, the nuggests of wisdom, the laughter, and the moments of authenticity. It is a privilege to be among you and to create with you. Thank you Randy and Chris, for your vision and your leadership. There are not words to describe my gratitude for your sacrifice to bring us altogether.

Till next year...

Recreate 11 - Day One

I was driving up today thinking about the last decade of my life and how catalystic this time every year has been in my life.  In the eleven years that Recreate has existed, I think I have attended nine times. I've made some major decisions about my ministry, my personal life, and my spiritual life here in Franklin.

I didn't grow up with a lot of traditions. However, the older I get, the more I long for a sense of rhythm and pace that allows me the opportunity to be reflective. My drive up today gave me some time to reflect and here were somethings I recognized:

• I have served at three different churches since I started attending.
• I have personally paid to attend this conference three times.
• I was one of three women the first year I attended who had a similar job to mine.
• I had no children the first year I attended - I now have a 4 year and an almost 7 year old.
• I have attended at times on the verge of quitting ministry altogether only to be encouraged and cheered on by my friends and the conference itself.
• I have attended at times afraid to return home because of what was ahead in my life that I would have to face.
• I have attended starving for some sense of belonging because I was so insecure or unsure of myself and feeling so lonely.
• I have attended with regret at lost opportunities over the previous year that I never saw come to fruition.
• I have attended with excitement when I thought about the future and the possibilities that were waiting for me after the conference.

The key here is that I come every year. This is a safe place for me. I hear things and see things from God and from others that I never hear or see any other time of year. There is a sense of familiar here that draws me in every year.  I see people that I may not talk with any other time of year and the moment we see each other, we pick up right where we left off.  I love the new faces that I see (especially all the women!) and I look forward to hearing their stories.

Recreate 11 has begun. I've already laughed, talked, listened, and learned more than I thought was possible in a few hours time and we have a whole week left.  Who would have guessed that the Worship Pastor who gave me one of my first job interviews would end up creating a conference that would impact me as much as this? Thanks, Randy and Chris...there are not words.

Sunday Recap

  We are in Week Two of our Message series "This is the Life" looking at Romans 6-8.  This week, we looked at how we should never allow sin to be our master. We should never open the door to it in our lives in the slightest way.

I chose songs that focused on abandonment to Christ - total surrender in every area. I chose songs that focused on His greatness and because of who He is, he should reign in our hearts. I ended with a song of declaration that focused on Christ as the Lamb who was slain for our sin. It was different way to end the service, but it really connected. The more we sang "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty..." it seemed the more everyone sang and really worshipped. It was quite an experience...

Here was our setlist:

"No One Higher/The Stand" - Hillsongs/Fee

"Counting on God" - NewLife Worship

Welcome/Announcements

"The Lord Reigns" - Gateway Worship

VIDEO: MESSAGE BUMPER

MESSAGE

TIME OF RESPONSE: Giving, prayer, Communion

"Take My Life" - Tomlin

"Revelation Song" - Jenny Riddle

We had 200 people last week in attendance and 190 this week. It would seem that the HHI Campus has broken through a barrier...PRAISE GOD! We have new people coming every week and three people indicated they accepted Christ today in our services. It was a wonderful day of worship with my church family. What an awesome way to start the week!

Check out some great recaps of worship today all over the world at the Worship Community!