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weekend set list

This weekend we spent a little more time than normal in musical worship, and it's great that so many of you were really able to experience God in service this morning.  Thanks so much for all of the encouragement - it's great to get to serve each other.  Here's the set list from this weekend -

"Salvation" by Charlie Hall ("Road to One Day")
"Everything Glorious" by David Crowder Band ("Remedy")
"I Will Overcome" by Charlie Hall ("On the Road to Beautiful")
"When the Tears Fall" by Tim Hughes ("When Silence Falls")
"Mighty to Save" by Hillsong ("MIghty to Save")

"why-fi" series kickoff

Last weekend we kicked off our new "Why-Fi" series at River Valley, and it was definitely some good times.  So many people worked so hard to pull together something that would be dynamic and engaging, and it was so fulfilling to see it all become reality.  I had high hopes for this one, but in a lot of ways reality actually exceeded my expectations (especially the stage - check out the 'Staging' link to the right!).  It was also encouraging to have so many people come to worship and experience God - last weekend was our biggest as far as attendance since I've been at River Valley. 

Probably even more encouraging than the attendance numbers was the way people participated during the service.  We've been working really hard over the past year or two to make our worship experiences more interactive, and "Why-Fi" has taken that to a whole new level . . .

Song Set

Hey All.  Worship was blast to celebrate together this morning.  You know those mornings when when the whole band and building and congregation seem to pulse with a holy life of their own?  This was one of those days. 

A number of you have wanted to know about the music we did in church this morning.  Here's the set list -

"Let God Arise" - Chris Tomlin ("See the Morning" album)
"Everything Glorious" - David Crowder Band ("Remedy")
"Over My Head" - The Fray ("How to Save a Life")
"God of This City" - Passion ("God of This City")
"Revolution" - Starfield ("Starfield")

By the way, if you haven't had a chance to check out the band Starfield, you may want to give their stuff a listen.  We're beginning to use a lot of their stuff at River Valley, mostly 'cause it rocks hard enough to satisfy our peeps.  Check out "All for You" and "My Generation".  Very cool stuff.

it's alive!

It's up, it's up, it's finally up!  As many of you have pointed out (some more forcefully than others!) it's been almost two months since I've posted anything to this blog.  And I owe you an explanation . . .

For 15 months we've been working on a new website for River Valley, and as we entered what (I believed) was the "home stretch" period I vowed me a vow that I wasn't going to post anything more until I got that project finished.  Needless to say, the "home stretch" was a much longer stretch than I anticipated, but a vow is a vow . . .

The good news, the site's finally (FINALLY) up!!!  Check it out HERE.

More to come . . .

the arena of ideas

One of the things I've been wrestling with over the past couple of years is how to best to engage people seeking God, and how to engage on an artistic and intellectual level.  For a long time I had bought into the supposition that creating message series based on popular culture (movies, tv shows, ad campaigns) was the most effective way to do this.  After years of attempting to master this re-creative approach, I find I can no longer employ this approach.

While I still believe some elements can be redeemed in the context of worship gatherings, I'm not satisfied to simply imitate culture.  Pop culture is ephemeral.  As John Mayer said, we as a culture have a way to smothering the things we love by embracing them too tightly.  By the time an arts ministry can incorporate a concept into an upcoming series, the moment has passed.  Plus, by basing a series on pop culture we subtle reinforce that culture and undermine our own concepts.

My goal now is to compete in the arena of ideas, to strive for original and arresting forms of expression.  From conception to design to completion, to create series 'packaging' with enough artistic merit that it rattles around in the mind and enough depth that it resonates deeply in the heart.  It's much more difficult to complete with Hollywood and Madison Avenue that to cooperate, but to imitation never inspired true artistry.   Let alone prolonged attention.

Best of all, to compete in the arena of ideas cannot be done alone.  The weight of the task forces you beyond your limits into a world of collaboration, and artistic collaboration towards God-honoring ends is the most sublime of all experiences.

So how are those of you involved in arts ministries in your local context approaching this area?  Leave a comment below and let me know where you are on this.

gear: tools for relationships

Right now we're in the middle of a series at River Valley called "Gear: Tools for Living," and it's always interesting to me the way these things go - especially from an artistic perspective. 

When you're a part of a team, there's naturally going to be a lot of give and take - it's what makes teams so great.  But it also means that there will be times when you're a little more enthusiastic about some ideas and a little less enthusiastic about others.  What's fun is when you can grow passionate about an idea that you might not have started out being super-charged about. 

And that's really what's happening with this series.  It's not that I didn't believe in the topic - relationships are a crucial part of what God created us for, in fact (one could argue it's almost exclusively what He created it for) - it's just that I was struggling with how we were going to make the topic fresh.  As it's turning out, "Gear" has really becoming one of my favorite series of my first year here at River Valley.

We kicked it off with the flat-out coolest Mother's Day service I've ever been a part of, and in the weeks that have followed God has really used the music, the messages, the media, the programming, and even the staging to really speak into people's hearts.  (there's a drama coming up in a couple of weeks as well that I'm really excited about)  We're hearing so many stories of people who are making major life-decisions and life-changes through this series, and that's always the kind of thing that gets our whole Worship Arts team's pulse racing.

Life is good . . !

exodus, easter, then exodus

Hey Everybody!  It's been a little while since I've updated this, but so much has been going on in the last couple of weeks.  Easter at River Valley was incredible!  From the music to the drama to the staging to the media, the worship arts ministry really came together to create an unforgettable experience.  Getting to lead such an extraordinary team is a true privilege.  Special props to the staging team for creating what has to be my favorite stage I've ever seen at a church!  (click on the image to the left to see a larger image)

And as if that wasn't a big enough deal . . .  on Good Friday someone made an offer on our house.  We're finally going to be able to move to Rockford!  In three weeks!  We've made so many new friends in Rockford and it will be great to get to really plug into the community. 

What's so great is to realize is that while God has been God in the rough times, He's also the light shining through as the clouds begin to part.  It's amazing the way so many prayers, both large and small, are slowly but surely being answered in exactly, exactly the way we asked.  Sometimes in ways beyond what we dared to hope.

Thanks to all of you who have been faithfully praying for us in this time.  It's meant more to us than you can know.   

if you say go

Today was the final weekend of of "Exodus" journey, and just when I thought I had a pretty good handle on how God's going to work, He does something entirely new.
This weekend someone announced to the leadership of River Valley that God has lead them to donate this (Harley Davidson!) motorcycle to our drive to pay off the remaining debt on our building. Is that not the flat-out coolest thing you ever heard?

all's quiet on the western front

Hey everybody.  Sorry it's been so long since I updated my blog.  As those of you who know me well have probably already figured out, we've entered the 3 week period prior to Easter and that means I shift from "busy" to "psycho" for a little while. 

This year we're kicking off a series based on "24" for Easter and one of the projects we're working on is a series of short films to set up the topic each week.  I've been procrastinating for 3 or 4 months, but it's finally time for me to grit my teeth and jump feet-first into the High Definition world.  (actually, the reason I have time to write this blog is because I'm overseeing an enormous series of upgrades to my workstation computer in order to better prep it for HD)

more to come . . .

raiders of the lost Dig!

Last weekend we kicked off our new "Dig!" series at River Valley, and the response has been great.  It's been fun to see all of our different teams come together to create the 'dig site' environment, complete with scaffolding, giant maps, hieroglyph walls and even a giant bolder to chase our senior pastor down the aisle with!  I'll try to post some pictures up soon! 

The series has really forced me to 'up my game' from a media perspective as well, which was fun.  I friend of mine suggested I start up a new business inserting people inside their favorite action movies, which would probably end up being a fairly successful business model (although Spielberg might want some of the action since it's mostly his work!).

If you're in the Rockford area in the next few weeks I hope you can drop by and join us for a weekend . . .