a new chapter

My silence the last month here at cheval glass is not reflective of a boring summer...to say the least. The last couple of months have been filled with chapters closing, new ones opening, and great opportunities for the future.

Our Lead Pastor, Jeff Cranston, and our Elders came to a unanimous decision with Todd's support about the future of the Hilton Head Island Campus. After the growth of the last four years, our financial stability on our own since May 2010, and the amazing Miracle Offering that was given in May from our Campus toward our new facility, it was announced that the Island Campus where Todd and I have been serving the past four years will become its own independent church on Sunday, September 11, 2011. I have been serving as the Worship Arts Director over both of our campuses - Bluffton and Hilton Head Island - for the past 18 months. With this transition, I will be returning to the Island and overseeing Environments and serving as the Worship Leader for the new church, Hilton Head Island Community Church.

CLICK HERE to read the amazing letter from Pastor Jeff and to hear Todd's announcement. They did such an incredible job sharing this with our church!

This morning, Todd and I led the service at our Bluffton Campus and were able to share with our "mother" congregation about the transition and to express our gratitude for their prayers, support, encouragement, and generosity these past four years.  I have loved getting to know our Bluffton Worship Arts Team over the past 18 months and they have been such a blessing to me this past year, especially in establishing our Worship Community - a.k.a. - Worship choir.  Eric Abney, who I hired in March to work alongside me, has become the new Worship Arts Director at LCC and I know he will do an AMAZING job in this role. We will continue to share resources between our teams as sister churches and we have linked our PCO accounts so we can share volunteers and resources more easily. Eric and I will also rotate leading worship between our churches periodically.

I look forward to sharing here at cheval glass about our journey in this new chapter as we see what God has for us. We are going to change the tone of 9-11 this year...it's going to be about celebrating a new day and new opportunities for the Kingdom of God on Hilton Head Island...here we go!

Sunday Recap - Roots of Freedom

Holiday Sundays can be a challenge to creatively offer something different every year. However, they are great opportunities to do something different and to connect with people that might not normally attend a worship service. On the Island, holiday weekends can be some of our largest attended services because family and friends are visiting and we do get vacationers who are looking for a worship experience on their vacation. Today was no different. We had one of our largest attendance Sundays at the Island Campus - 239 people.

Todd's message was entitled "Roots of Freedom." He shared about the spiritual roots of many (specifically three) statements in the Declaration of Independence. He talked about the civil freedom as well as the spiritual freedom that our forefathers were seeking through the Great Awakening which led to the American Revolution. On a personal note, it was cool to see my husband's Pre-Law undergrad degree come out in a Sermon!

I love doing familiar songs on holiday weekends. I don't know the background of everyone in the room, but for a vacationer or someone bringing a family member or friend to "their church", I want the experience to have moments where we can sing out! I also love to do something brand new as well as something familiar but with a twist. Ok...it sounds like mixing drinks. Let's move on - here was the setlist...

"Salvation is Here"

"Everlasting God"

Welcome/Anouncements/Greet

"God Bless America" (my arrangement)

VIDEO BUMPER: FREE ( This is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE from sermonspice.com.)

Message

"Praise the Father, Praise the Son" - (The final point of Todd's message is the we should worship the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as FREE people - no holding back. We have the freedom to worship - let's do it!)

Closing Remarks/Wrap

"Chosen Generation" - (This worked great as a closer - I had never thought of using this in regard to our freedom as Americans and as Christ-followers. It was awesome!)

I have been programming pads, organ, and some keys in Ableton the last few months and playing acoustic or electric live. This has been working REALLY well in our services. I only had three musicians this week (including me) and three singers and it was a great sound! Deb and Daniel Cort sang with me and they ALWAYS bring such beatiful artistry to our worship.

It's good to be back with the Sunday Setlist Carnival. Check out more recaps here.

Happy Birthday, America!

Miracles

  I blogged a few weeks ago about our Miracle Offering at the Island Campus and being a part of something amazing...CLICK HERE to read the update from Todd on our Island blog.

The verses that keep coming to mind as we walk this unbelieveable path of faith are ones that confirm God's promises to to provide.

"Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this." - Psalm 37:5 (NIV)

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart...in all your ways acknowledge Him and HE will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5 a,6 (NIV)

My faith as a Christ-follower has increased in ways I have never experienced. I truly believe God is guiding and leading in ways that only HE can make a way. It will not be in any human strength. His power alone...and this is a GREAT place to be!

Something Amazing

Watch this clip from one of our favorite family movies, The Incredibles.

 

There is something inside of that desires to break out of the predictable, mundane, and planned part of our existence. We long for an unexpected windfall, a suprise, even a miracle. Francis Chan, in his book Forgotten God, says this about miracles...

"Miracles are never an end in themselves;they are always a means to point to and accomplish something greater."

That is what we want...to be a part of something amazing...to say we were there when"it" happened...to play a part in something greater than ourselves and our time...to leave a legacy.

Church planting is miracle territory. As think back over the last four years that Todd and I have been on Hilton Head Island, there have been a lot of miracles...experiences and situations that fit all of those things I mentioned.  However, this Sunday at the Island Campus, we are stepping into some major miracle territory. I do not want to diminish any of the amazing things that God has done over the last four years - they are all miracles! From locating our first temporary facility to finding our first permanent facility to where we are today...embarking on purchasing our first permanent facility. These are just examples in one category!

There are the people miracles...changed lives...people who were far from God who are now in a daily relationship with Him...these are miracles.

There are personal miracles in the life of my family... a brother-in-law who is cancer free, the ability to purchase a home for our family on the Island, and financial recovery from some tough days in our past.

I long for the miraculous. I desire to see the unpredictable and the unplanned happen. I am an organized person  in my job and with my family life because it is out of necessity (trust me!). However, I feel the most alive when the unexplained becomes reality -when common sense says, "That's impossible."

Mothers are required to be realists (I think it's in a handbook somewhere.) It's my job in our home to be "the dose of reality" when it comes to our family schedule, chores, budget...you get the picture. I think it is because of that role that I play in our family, that I long for any opportunity to dream and say "Wouldn't it be great if..."  That is what I love about church planting. Yes, you have to have a dose of reality in the mix, but for the most part, this is ALL unchartered territory! You can't put a formula to every part and in fact, I think God probably gets a chuckle at all our stats, strategies, and formulas for church planting!

Maybe this whole idea of wanting something amazing paralyzes you as a person. You are ok without being a part of miracles. Maybe you have never seen one and so you don't understand what all the buzz is all about. Maybe you have seen a miracle, but you have forgotten what it felt like to experience it.  Are you afraid to dream because "God might not come through?" Read this quote from Forgotten God...

"I think the fear of God failing us leads us to "cover for God." This means we ask for less, expect less, and are satisfied with less because we are afraid to ask for or expect more. We even convince ourselves that we don't want more - that we have all the "God" we need or could want." - Francis Chan, Forgotten God, pg. 47

I want to see more, be a part of more, experience more, and be blown away by the Creator God who by very definition is creative...unpredictable, original...and wants to do something amazing in me and through me.

"I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work." God's Decree."For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think . Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed.They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them. "So you'll go out in joy, you'll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song.  All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines—Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God." - Isaiah 55:8-13 (MSG)

What I've learned from Fasting

We completed 40 days of prayer and fasting as a church on Easter Sunday. Todd and I decided to do the Daniel Fast for 21 days of that time. I had never done a structured fast like this before. I knew doing it together with Todd would help me with accountability, but I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to stick with it. Here's what I learned:

I never thought I had a food issue till I started fasting. I was shocked at how much I would think of eating or drinking something in response to a circumstance or as a diversion.

I've learned to view food as something I need and not as a hobby. I grew up in the Deep South. Food is a way of life. When you are eating lunch, you are talking about what you are having for dinner. It's just the way it is.

Our family ate more meals together and enjoyed grocery shopping like never before. Todd is an amazing cook. He loves to cook and experiment with recipes. I can cook, but it is not something that I enjoy like Todd does. It was fun to plan meals together and shop and really talk about what we were going to eat each week. My favorite thing was his sweet potato fries. The book has amazing recipes and Todd did some "tweaking" on his own!

I learned to replace my thoughts for food with prayer.  When I would had those moments of really "wanting" something in the first week, I would turn my thoughts to God. After a week on the fast, my cravings for things not on the fast went away almost 90 percent. I began to not think about food in relation to my day and I had so much more "thought energy" to focus on God and my priorities.

It brought Todd and I closer to each other. We spent more time together and encouraged each other throughout the day. Doing this together gave us the opportunity to share what we were learning through it and prompted great converstation that I don't think would have happened without the fast.

We were able to teach our kids about fasting. We had the kids do the fast with us without some of the rigidness of no dairy. However, we did eliminate sweets and we cooked the same meal at night for them that we ate. It was a great learning experience for our family.

I'm going to make parts of it a lifestyle now. I made choices as best as I could on the fast in every environment.  Not everything I had was "perfectly" in line with the fast, but I did the best I could. The Daniel Fast is not about legalism and following rules. It's about learning how to eat, making good choices, and focusing on God. I saw how I could live my life better, feel better, and have so much more of a focused lifestyle. I don't want to go back to my old way of eating and thinking about food. It changed my life and the way I think about food forever.

That's not to say I'm never going to have a cookie, candy, or dessert ever again. I just want to have the right perspective moving forward that I learned from this period of fasting.

This was a life-changing experience for me. I naturally lost some weight which was a nice bi-product, but it was never about weight loss for me. It was about surrender. It was about being willing to do something totally different in response to my desire to seek God.  If you have never tried a fast, I would encourage you to do this one. Do it with a friend or a spouse. Be ready for your eyes to be opened to new things about yourself and new truths that God will be able to speak into your life. Spiritually, it was the best thing I have done to deepen my walk with God.

Holy Week Recap

What an amazing week in the life of LowCountry this year. We began with Palm Sunday and our Worship Community. It was an unusual Sunday in that I chose a couple of specials  - one before and one after the Message that really connected to our series. Here was our setlist:

"Marvelous Light"

"Salvation is Here"

Welcome

"Because of Love" - Natalie Grant

VIDEO:MESSAGE BUMPER

"Moving Forward" - Israel Houghton

We had a Maundy Thursday service from 11 am - 1 pm at both campuses. This is a drop-in service that guides you through four stations. It takes about 20 minutes. Attached here is the guide we provided for everyone that attended.

Download MaundyThursdayservice

Easter Weekend was awesome! We had record attendance at the HHI Campus - 300! We did one giant tent outside and the weather was gorgeous! We had Brandon and Kim Smith join our team to lead worship with me. Here was our setlist:

"All Because of Jesus"

Welcome

"No One Like" - New song from Tad Tatum at Newspring - AWESOME!

"Christ is Risen" - Matt Maher

VIDEO:MESSAGE BUMPER

"Jesus Paid it All"

VIDEO: NEW LOCATION PREVIEW

"Happy Day"

As only God would do, we were able to announce the location of a new facility that we believe is the future home of LCC-Hilton Head Island. CLICK HERE to watch the announcement.

BP, our tech director, and David Warren, lighting "guru," did an AMAZING job at both campuses with an install at the Bluffton Campus of new front fills and lighting (more lights are on the way! We are waiting on a slow boat from China...seriously!) and providing ALL the production for Easter at the Island Campus. They are THE BEST!

Of course, ProPresenter decided to crash right as we were about to start on the Island. It hasn't done that like...ever! Of course, it's Easter and this is just what happens. Thankfully, we got it back up and it worked great for our service!

Eric did a terrific job leading worship for all four services in Bluffton. Here's a stage shot from Saturday night during the countdown. He is SUCH an awesome part of our team and is doing a FABULOUS job leading worship and investing in our team! We had a little over 2000 at four services in Bluffton. Praise God! We had over 80 decisions made between both campuses for Christ!

What a tremendous week! I pray your Holy Week was a spirit-filled experience!

Click HERE To read more Easter service recaps!

Sunday Recap - COLLIDE Message Series

We kicked off our Pre-Easter Message Series this week. We are looking at four people whose lives collided with Jesus while He was on this earth. We started with Pilate this week. Here was our setlist:

"Marvelous Light"

Welcome/Annoucements

"No One Like" (new song by Tad Tatum from NewSpring Church)

"Christ is Risen" - Matt Maher

VIDEO: MESSAGE BUMPER (CLICK ON IT TO WATCH IT!)

Message

"A Beautiful Collision" - Crowder

I've started leading the songs over the next few weeks that I want to do on Easter so that the Island Campus will know them really well by that Sunday morning. We are doing one service in a giant tent at the Island Campus. It's gonna be great!

Join me at the Worship Community for more Sunday Recaps...

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.

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!

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!