It's Monday!

Good Morning Team,
You know what? Jesus loves me, this I know! It shouldn't amaze me, but it does, that God always comes through when we need it. This past week, Coleen and I faced some of our most difficult times as we processed the news of Coleen's mom's cancer battle and the search for Coleen's health problems. As I planned worship for this past Sunday, songs of faithfulness and encouragement were at the forefront. Matt Redman's "You Never Let Go" starts with the line "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Your perfect love is casting out fear." It's cool that it's OK to plagiarize the Bible in our worship songs as Matt did taking this line from Psalm 23. And then this morning, My Purpose Driven Life devotional used this exact passage to further drive home the message. I wanted to share that with you today. I'll have more "stuff" for you tomorrow. Click on "God's Purpose in Suffering" below:

	March 9, 2009 God's Purpose in Suffering

Blessings,

Dave

It's Monday!

Good Morning Team,
I was taken by surprise yesterday. This past week I spent 4 days with Bob Rutan, Wayne and Darlene Cobler and Tim French laying the ceramic tile floor for The Gathering Place.


























Our team did a great job! While my knees took a beating, it was rewarding to see what was accomplished. I went into the weekend looking forward to worship on Sunday with our great worship team leading our incredible congregation in worship to our AWESOME GOD! On Saturday, we received news that Coleen's mom has advanced pancreatic cancer. Wow! What a kick in the gut that was. I surprised myself as I was able to hold my emotions together and help Coleen deal with this terrible news. Then Sunday morning as our first service team gathered at 7:30am to warm up before church, we started singing, "When the music fades and all is stripped away, and I simply come...I'm coming back to the heart of worship..." the emotions came and I realized that nothing matters more than our relationship with Christ and that He has all that we need to heal our broken hearts. Then the love and comfort and prayers of our worship team and Pastor Dennis held me up and I was able to lead the congregation in a wonderful time of worship to our Lord. Praise God!


Then last night, I felt a breakthrough with our LittleChurch group as we shared from our hearts and opened up to each other and ministered to each other the way a small group is meant to function. What a blessing to have others who will support us and pray with us and help carry our burdens. Awesome!


We are going into this week looking for some answers for Coleen's health problems. Tests begin Tuesday. Once this is discovered, Co will be going to Florida to help her Mom and Dad. Thanks for your prayers.

Blessings,

Dave

It's Monday!

Good Monday morning Team,
It seems that I sometimes have the same message on Monday lately...Our worship team was awesome; the pastor's sermon was life changing; I'm renewed for the week! This week I want to call out Eric Olsen, our projection tech. We had a tricky section when we switched to the DVD track for the choir's beautiful presentation of "Jesu Cristo" and he nailed it. Thanks, Eric, for sharing your talents with our worship team.

THE GATHERING PLACE IS EXPLODING!

Our foyer expansion is in full swing with the addition of one of the two new chandeliers (the second is going in on Thurday) and the demolition of the the walls for the new Gathering Place is done! Check out our facebook page for more photos!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50354416009

THE NEW LIFE CELEBRATION

Here's the song list for the Saturday, April 4th Concert:

"New Hallelujah" - Owego Naz Worship Choir (ONWC)
"Love the Lord" - Everyone
"Jesus Messiah" - ONWC
"Great Is Your Glory" - ONWC
"When I Think of You" - Owego Naz Children's Choir
"Mighty to Save" - Everyone

SPECIAL GUESTS - Sweet Aroma

"Yahweh" - ONWC

SHARING - Pastor Dennis
"East to West" - Jordan Schreiner and Denise Matthewson w/ ONWC

CARDBOARD TESTIMONIES ("Surrender" Band and PT)

"At the Cross" - ONWC
"O Happy Day" - Everyone w/ ONWC

It will be a memorable night as we communicate the love of Christ and His life changing power to our community.

Have an awesome week of Sub-Mission!

Dave

It's Monday!

Good morning Team,
What an awesome day we had yesterday. First, a big welcome to Dick Stocum! Dick joined our first service team on the violin and added a great touch to our accompanist team. I was overwhelmed with Pastor Dennis' sermon on marriage. I hope you all will share with him your thoughts. It is always an encouragement to your staff to hear confirmations that our efforts touched your life in some way. Thank you to each of you for all your kind words to me.

Some of you asked to see the video we used at the close of the service. The song is "Holding Hands" by Steve Green...

THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT...
6:30 - 8:30
NEW LIFE CELEBRATION
REHEARSAL!!

We will work hard on the songs for this special Easter celebration.
CD's of the musical are in!

Don't forget to read chapter one of "Sacred Pathways" and we'll talk about it on Wednesday. If you didn't get your copy...they will be available Wed.

One last thought...
As musicians, our DNA causes us to seek appreciation for what we do. We rehearse and strive for excellence because its a part of who we are. Our challenge is to not allow our striving for perfection to become our goal. Our goal is to please God and He looks at our hearts, not our voices or our instruments. As we launch into our Easter preparations and the hard work ahead, lets be sure to keep our focus on Christ and His love for us. If we are successful in that... it's going to be an awesome New Life Celebration! I John 3:11!

Blessings,
Dave

It's Monday!

Good morning Team,
Sunshine! I love it! Even cold days are better when the sun is shining!

I was so blessed yesterday as you led God's people in worship. I read an article by Keith and Kristyn Getty about congregational worship. You'll remember them as the composer's of last year's Easter musical, "The Risen Christ." Their emphasis is on composing modern songs in a more traditional hymn setting. One of the main points they brought up is that congregational singing has diminished over the years. They look back at the times when hymns were the prevalent musical form in worship and suggest that contemporary worship lacks the participation of the past. I paid special attention this Sunday to our level of participation in both services. Here is what I noticed:

1. You sang very well this week
2. More people were singing than not singing
3. Participation increased when we sang familiar songs, regardless of whether they were hymns or contemporary songs
4. Participation was greatest on the hymn "How Great Thou Art" but was almost equaled by the contemporary worship chorus "Breathe."

My conclusion is that the familiarity of the song, not the musical style, determines the level of participation. My goal as a worship leader is to select songs that meet certain standards:

1. Is the song theologically sound?
2. Is the song easily sung by the congregation?
3. Is the vocal range of the song within the range of the normal singer?
4. Does the song fit the flow of the worship service?
5. Is the song playable by the band or accompanists?

Another challenge for worship leaders is introducing new songs. This week we introduced a new song in the second service, "You, You Are God." We started it 4 minutes before the service started and did it as a prelude with the band and praise team. I am interested in your comments about starting our second service like that. Did you like it? Dislike it? Suggestions?

This week we will rehearse the choir on Wednesday at 6:15 and the band on Saturday at 10am.

Mark your calendar...

Wednesday, Feb. 18...
2 HOUR EASTER REHEARSAL
6:30 - 8:30 PM

This rehearsal coincides with the children's special Winter Break at the same time.

Have an awesome week!

Dave

Fantasy Football

Hi Team,
I'm in a football mood today! I want to share some photos that I received from my cousin from the Super Bowl. First, check out this link to a very cool story about my uncle...
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09033/946315-155.stm

Now these pictures from Tampa will make some more sense!
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbtXDJszaNGYj

Finally...this is just too cool!

So here's the date...
September 5, 2009...
Noon...
Opening day for
Ohio State football!

Go Bucks!

Dave

It's Monday!

Good Morning Team!

What a weekend!

Coleen and I joined Pastor Dennis and Cheryl and Pastor Andy and Angela and about 1000 others on Friday night and watched several of our worship team members in the OFA presentation of "Grease." Jordan and Kyle Schreiner were in the cast with Jordan bringing the house down with "Beauty School Dropout." I must say that Kyle makes a good T-bird (the black leather jacket gang)! Kit Burdick played bass in the excellent band that did all the accompaniment music. It was a fun night!

Saturday, after a successful Upwards Basketball morning, the staff went to the District Pastor Appreciation luncheon in Syracuse. We had a wonderful meal and great fellowship with about 100 pastors and spouses from across the district.

Sunday morning was blessed by a wonderful time of praise, worship, preaching and communion. Is Jesus FIRST in your life or the CENTER? Wonderful! While we were short handed in the second service due to "Grease," Karen and Phil were wonderful. It is such a blessing to have talented musicians who can play multiple instruments. Phil's ability to play guitar and bass is so handy and Karen is fantastic on keyboard and drums! Thanks Karen and Phil for what you add to our Team!

Sunday night was Super Bowl night at our house as our LittleChurch group got together to fellowship and watch the world champion Pittsburgh Steelers win an exciting game! Cudos to the Arizona Cardinals and their stars Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald for an amazing comeback. But in the end...the team with the best defense won the game...just like always. Hmmm... a life lesson. Check out Ephesians 6: 10-18:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=56&chapter=6&version=31

Finally, Here's my favorite commercial of the night. This ad was not done by a professional ad agency, but an ordinary citizen...Wow!

THE EASTER MUSICAL IS HERE! KICKOFF ON WEDNESDAY AT 6:16PM! WHOHOO!

Blessings,

Dave