BabuLife

IGNITE Recap: 2/4/09

Had an awesome time worshiping with my Grace family this past Wednesday.  It was our first IGNITE of 2009.  It was pretty amazing to see where some folks were coming from.  I met a family who doesn't attend Grace but drove 40 minutes to come....and it was their 5th IGNITE!  We had a blast and hope all who attended did as well.  We also broadcast it online at our Mogulus channel.  Check it out at the bottom of the post.  Here's our setlist:

• Let it Rise (F#)Big Daddy Weave
• Sing, Sing, Sing (E) Chris Tomlin
• Foreverandever Etc. (Bb) David Crowder
• God with Us (B) MercyMe
• True Love (C) Phil Wickham
• King (D) Tree63
• Be Lifted (Em) David Crowder
• Point of Difference (B) Hillsong United
• Glorious One (G) Fee
• Enough (G) Chirs Tomlin
• Reign in Us (C) Starfield

You can watch the entire service online below. Enjoy! Next IGNITE is March 4 at 7pm CST. Tune in next month on the Mogulus channel and worship with us at Grace from wherever you are right here.

Worship Recap: 7/6/08

This was a pretty big Sunday.  Kicking off the 3 week series "Reach" with my Dad was a thrill for me.  After the first service a few folks grabbed me and Dad asking "What about that one part of your story" or "Why didn't you talk more about your service in Fatah?"  With such a limited amount of time (30 minutes) my dad elected to run with the portion of his story that reflected the theme of the new series.  He shared the story of how one man took time to reach out to my Dad and after 19 years, was able to lead him to Christ.  Between services, my Dad modified...and delivered.

To those of you in the first service, you may want to listen to the audio file we uploaded.  You can listen to it on the podcast feed here.

Worship music was quite "exhilarating" today.  With no rehearsal this past week, we crammed this morning during audio checks...and as usual the band pulled it off well.  Lynnora was back from her short term mission trip to play the fiddle with us.  She filled in a lot of space missing with the lack of keys. Great job team!  And to Video Doog who pulled another great video bump using U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name"...awesome job!  Maybe he'll post the video with all the great pics?

Funny story - Addie (my wife) said a visitor mentioned to her (apparently someone who plays guitar) that I played the same six chords during each song.  The wonders of a capo. :)  Just so you know...I never claim to be a guitar aficionado...but I can sure change my capo really well.

Here's our worship setlist. Don't forget, you can purchase the songs on iTunes by clicking the titles:

• Yesterday, Today and Forever (E) by Vicki Beeching
• Salvation is Here (B) by Hillsong United
• Son of God (G) by Starfield
• Mighty to Save (A) by Hillsong United
• Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) (E) by Chris Tomlin

Thanks to all who came.  It was pretty nifty seeing some of you who read BabuLife and are not a part of Grace visiting us this morning.  I hope you enjoyed it and left encouraged to reach your neighbors for Christ.

-Babu

Worship Recap: 6/29/08

This was "Summer Breakout Sunday" which means all the kids who participated in this week's VBS at Grace were invited to be a part of the worship services.  We played the three main tunes with the kidlets and played Video Doog's video recap.  It was pretty tight up there on the stage.

Tim capped off the VBS with a special message to the adults using the same theme and points their kids learned during the week.  I don't know if it's unique for the pastor to teach the same content brought up (or down) to an "adult-level", but it really seems to be something that parents appreciate.  We had 6 professions of faith Sunday...AWESOME!!!  Check out Tim's "Web Bonus" here.

Capped off the message with me on the acoustic playing Chris Tomlin's "Mighty is the Power of the Cross". One of my favorite tunes.  With a message geared to communicate who Christ was, this song wraps it all up perfectly.  "What can take a dying man, raise him up to life again...Mighty is the power of the cross".

Check out a post from Rebekah at Happy Mom Blog, a volunteer at this week's Summer Breakout at Grace here.  You'll see a video rehearsal we had with the kids on Friday.

-Babu

Worship Confessional: 6/22/08

"Don't Forget the Lyrics" series comes to an end.  Thanks to all who participated in the game portion of the series.  The winner of the iPod Nano drawing was John Doughty.  He nailed the lyrics last week to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2. This week we played the tune "Help!" by the Beatles.  Both ladies finished off the lyric "Get my feet back on the ground"....great job!  It was a fun run these past three weeks.  Hope you Gracers enjoyed it!

This series on Psalm 119 was a refreshing look for me at the importance of having a daily time with God through the Bible.  A great end to one of the most compelling passages in the Bible.  Check out Tim's notes on yesterday here.

Here's the worship setlist:

• Filled with Your Glory (G) by Starfield
• Salvation is Here (B) by United
• Friend of God (D) by Michael Gungor
• Glorious (D) by Chris Tomlin
• Holding on to You (E) by Paul Colman

Next week Tim wraps up this week's Summer Breakout (Grace's Vacation Bible School) with a message to us adults based on what the kids of Grace have been learning all week called "Mythbusters".  Smashing myths about Jesus.  Presumptions, assumptions, myths and stereotypes will be addressed and demolished this weekend. :)

See you Sunday!

-Babu

Worship Confessional: 6/8/08

New series kicked off this morning.  Three weeks of "Don't Forget the Lyrics"...yes that's right...from the TV game show.  A series on passages from Psalm 119.  Tim's walking through various aspects of the importance of the Bible in the life of a Christ follower.  Too often we tend to forget that God's word plays a HUGE role in our spiritual growth and many times we don't spend time reading it, applying it and living it.  This'll be a fun three weeks.

At the conclusion of the praise time at the start of the worship service, Video Doog played a little game intro and Tim came out to intro the little game we played.  In line with the actual TV show, we wanted someone to come up on stage and finish the lyric to a song.  This week's tune was "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor.  This is the tune from Rocky III.  So Tim found a volunteer in both services to play the game...and they both nailed it!  We had a little bet before services that no one would guess it...I really felt like surely someone out there would know the tune.  Thankfully they did.  Their winnings?  A $15 iTunes gift card, the latest Passion CD "God of This City" and their name was entered in the drawing for an iPod Nano which will be given away at the conclusion of the series.  So come next week ready to volunteer!

Great job to the entire Weekend Service Team today.  We had to arrive at 6:30 a.m. to set the stage due to a wedding Saturday.  Then finally to rehearse the "Eye of the Tiger" song since we hadn't had much time together.  Everyone did awesome!

Here's the set list:

• Made to Worship by Chris Tomlin
• No Sweeter Name by Kari Jobe
• Awesome is the Lord Most High by Chris Tomlin
• Word of God Speak by MercyMe
• Hosanna by Hillsong United

See you Sunday!

-Babu

Worship Confessional: 6/1/08

Brian Gann brought the church an awesome message.  It was a Sunday filled with 8 baby dedications which included two special ones...two newly adopted baby girls by the Gann clan and the Kelsey's.  It was so cool for our church to celebrate together these special babies after praying for these two families over the last several months.  Brian taught us about adoption while Michelle, his wife, shared the stage sharing her part of their adoption journey.  What an awesome picture of how God unconditionally loves us and "adopts" us into His family upon salvation.  Great message.  Listen to the message "Adopted" here.

After the services I had someone express their deepest gratitude for the music time during worship.  I can't express enough to people how much our team makes it all happen.  So many people who strive to offer their best to the Lord...not striving for perfection...but striving for excellence.  Thank you so much to the people on the Grace WST for their efforts.  We're really only just beginning and can't wait to see how God continues to grow our team as we continue to reach Southern Johnson County for Jesus.

Here's our songlist this week.  Don't forget, click the titles to purchase on iTunes:

• Sing to the King by Candi Pearson
• Salvation is Here by Hillsong United
• Grace Flows Down by Christy Nockels
• Mighty to Save by Hillsong United
• Son of God by Starfield

Don't forget...IGNITE this Wednesday eve from 7 - 8 p.m.  Next week we kick off a new series on Psalm 119 called "Don't forget the Lyrics"...and oh yes...we will be looking for volunteers to finish the lyrics to a song on stage.  It's going to be fun. Thanks to Michael Hildebrand for the spiffy graphic.

-Babu

Worship Confessional: 5/25/08

Memorial Day was in effect.  Lighter attendance, Jim jumped in for Tim at the preaching helm and I'm a couple of days behind on posting my confessional. 

Thursday night we didn't have the band rehearse so we slammed one in early on Sunday...I love our worship team.  They roll with stuff seamlessly.  Great job to Lisa Wilson on her first Sunday singing.  Thank you to Brian King for helping Lisa nail some of the vocal parts.

This year we took some time to remember our vets and their families during the services.  Before a Memorial Day video, I asked if there were any vets in the room and if they would stand. When they did...the entire church honored them.  It was an awesome moment.  Between services one of the vets told me he was almost ashamed to stand.  When I asked why, he said it was because he was alive and didn't feel he deserved to be honored.  I told him that any person who would be willing to put his life on the line, sacrifice their time, sacrifice being with their families for our freedoms should be honored.  That's just the kind of people vets are.  Here's a link to the video we played.  Thanks to Tom for the link!

By the way...check out this pretty funny post (Everyone is on Vacation Anything Goes Church Service) about Memorial Day services at churches around the nation.

Here's our setlist.  Don't forget you can purchase on iTunes by clicking the title:

• How Can I Keep from Singing? (Bb) Tomlin version
• Here is Our King (A) by David Crowder
• Jesus Paid it All (B) by Kristian Stanfill
• You Are Holy (G) by Michael W. Smith
• Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) (E) Tomlin version

Worship Confessional: 5/18/08

Just got back from a pastoral retreat so I'm a couple of days away from last Sunday.  What does this mean?  I can't remember some of the details.  Here's what I do recall:

• Flow between songs felt great.  We ended the last three tunes of the first part of the service in the key of C. "Everlasting God", "How Great is Our God" and "Everything Glorious".  Made for smooth transitions.
• Baptisms.We had three folks get baptized during first service.  It really is awesome to be a part of sharing that moment with people.
• Facedown. I LOVE this song.  Matt Redman has such a great way of writing lyrics that are so compelling and descriptive.  I thought this song summed up the entire series on the tabernacle quite nicely.  It's got a haunting quality to it that makes this sound unique.
• Tabernacle series ends. Wow. 8 weeks of intense study on the tabernacle.  It'd been a long time for me since I cracked that open.  Tim did an awesome job unpacking it with not just the historical facts, but taking each element and telling us how it applies to our lives today.  Just a great series.  Hope you all enjoyed it. Be sure to check out Tim's final note on the series here.

Here's our worship set list from Sunday.  Don't forget, click the song to purchase and download on iTunes:

• Holding on to You by Paul Colman
• Everlasting God (Chris Tomlin version)
• How Great is our God by Chris Tomlin
• Everything Glorious by David Crowder Band
• Facedown by Matt Redman

-Babu

Worship Confessional: 5/11/08

Great job to the team this week!  Kudos to Gina with the music.  I think I led like one and a half songs this week.  Not much to say apart from Happy Mother's Day ladies! Thanks also to Marie for locating and purchasing the nifty little bookmarks.  Here's the set list.  Don't forget, you can purchase on iTunes by clicking the titles:

• Yesterday, Today and Forever by Vicki Beeching
• No Sweeter Name by Kari Jobe
• Glorious by Chris Tomlin
• God of Wonders from City on a Hill
• Hosanna by Hillsong United

Short confessional this week.  See you!

-Babu

Worship Confessional: 5/4/08

This week our praise team was stretched to cram in a legitimate rehearsal early this morning.  Thursday during our usual practice time, we were interrupted several times throughout the evening with tornado sirens which led us to continually shut down and head to the basement.  I'm always amazed at how God always comes through with our team.  They did great.

A couple of little hiccups having to do with me occurred this morning.  Upon arriving, my AKG Guitar Bug was missing.  Never found it. This means I had to actually play with a cord plugged in my guitar. I know, crazy right? Well when you're used to having a wireless system it becomes difficult to adjust to being chained to a direct box.  The fear of stepping on the cord then ripping it out of the guitar ate at me while leading today.  Never happened, however, when the last song closing out the second service came "Glory of it All", I got to my cue, strummed the opening chord and realized the cord wasn't plugged into my guitar all the way.  Kinda messed up the intro to the song but the band just kept motoring which was awesome.  Great job team!

Here's the worship set list:

• Awesome is the Lord Most High (A) by Chris Tomlin
• Salvation is Here (B) by Hillsong United
• You Never Let Go (B) by Matt Redman
• Center (E) by Charlie Hall
• The Glory of it All (B) by David Crowder

It was cool to see the church pray for my favorite violinist in the world.  Lynnora will be leaving us for about a month to serve on a short-term missions trip.  She played with us today and at the close of the service the church prayed for her.  Awesome.  We'll miss you Lynnora!

I have to mention Kent Warden who created and ran the lights this weekend. He spent a good 8-9 hours at the church Saturday learning some of the lighting techniques.  He did some experimenting on Salvation is Here and came up with some pretty intense lighting.  Thanks Kent for your hard work!

By the way...we're looking to kick start the choir again. It's been two years since we had one join the worship onstage so if you're interested, drop me an email at [email protected] and we'll get you on the list to audition.

See you!