Zoe’s Love | brianotte.com

Gabe and I led an acoustic set this week. We were trying to think of a good nickname and since “Shane and Shane” was taken I think the top suggestion was “Two Dudes with Guitars.” And so we saw a bright start for “TDwG.”

It was a great time of worship this week. When you only need two guitars and two microphones all of the usual tech issues seem to no be a problem. Personally acoustic weeks are my favorite weeks to lead because you can really hear people singing along.We stayed with a very familiar song set to try to make people more comfortable participating despite the lack of usual stage volume. Here’s what we ended up with:

Worship Set #1

Salvation is Here (A)

Your Grace is Enough (A)

Worship Set #2

Holy is the Lord (G)

Let My Words Be Few (G)

Closer

How Great is Our God (B) cut for time

Salvation is here works really well with two acoustic guitars and was a lot of fun to play, but the highlight of the week was listening to the crowd sing along with Holy is the Lord with almost every hand in the room raised. I know true worship doesn’t REQUIRE physical expression, but as a worship leader it is such a tangible sign of a worshiping congregation that just lifts me up every time. How Great is Our God had to be cut for time at the last minute, but the transition out of the sermon and into the dismissal was seamless. Pastor Scott and I are finally getting used to reading each other during service.

Next week is “Bring a Friend” Sunday at Mayfield. We had 135 people this week in our 9:30 service. That means that my prayer all week is that we will have 270 people this coming Sunday. I know that is a big dream, but if our church family embraces this call for simple evangelism there is no reason it can’t happen. Our God is a God who can take big dreams and make even bigger realities.

I’ve been at Mayfield Church for 3 years now. You would think in that amount of time setting up my guitar and microphone would be second nature. The problem is I have this horrible habit of getting the two cables mixed up and then another horrible habit of becoming confused when I can’t figure out why my vocals aren’t coming through the system while my guitar is about to make the monitors explode. You would think that at the very minimum after 3 years of making mistake number 1, mistake number 2 would be a simple diagnosis. Sadly not true. On the bright side about 20 people who showed up early got to watch me be completely perplexed for a few minutes. I think I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. You’ve got to be willing to laugh at yourself. Other than that the set when pretty great.

Set #1

When I Think About the Lord (A)

Not to Us (A)

Set #2

Everlasting God (B)

How He Loves (B) > This song has some low lows and some high highs for any singer with any range in any key, but we’ve decided it’s worth it to push through because it’s got some cool lyrics. We use the Crowder lyrics, the Walker instrumentation, and the Kirkland arrangement. Of course the song is written by McMillan making the whole thing quite confusing. There’s versions with banjo and even one recorded in 4/4 time. The point is that this song is attracting a lot of attention, and rightfully so.

Closer

He is Able (C) > This was a special closer that had a specific tie to the message and was requested by Pastor Scott. I love it when the closing song transitions directly from the sermon. It makes for a powerful end to service and always seems to make the song easier to lead and encourage involvement.

It was a great week with a nice balance of old and new, familiar and unfamiliar. The highlight for me was “He is Able” because I got to lead from the piano. This doesn’t happen very often so I enjoy any chance I get.

Here’s the video from Worship Set #2. This set directly follows announcements, includes the offering, and leads right into the message.

To see what other churches are singing check out Sunday Set Lists.