“Praise the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His bidding, who obey His word. Praise the Lord, all His heavenly hosts, you His servants who do His will.”
Pre-service: Had iTunes pre-service mix of upbeat songs playing with Welcome and Announcement slides playing on the left and right screens and a big Welcome graphic on the center screen. The center screen also plays an animated graphic of a cell phone that reminds people to turn their phones off. Countdown starts at 5 minutes until the service begins (9:30 and 11am).
Song One: Calling All Angels (D) – TrainWelcome/Brief Announcements: Me (Greg Atkinson) – At the end of my welcome and announcements I read from Psalm 103 (our key passage of the day). I mentioned the song we do by Matt Redmon (10,000 Reasons) and it being based from Psalm 103. I concluded the Welcome time with having everyone turn and greet one another (we don’t do this every week).Song Two: Everlasting God (B) – Lincoln BrewsterSong Three: The Stand (A) – HillsongMessage: Video message by our Lead PastorResponse: I came back up and wrapped up the message and led people in a time of prayer. I encouraged our people to sing the next two songs as a time of prayer, reflection and as a response.Song Four: Come and Listen (F) – David Crowder BandSong Five: O Praise Him (Bb) – David Crowder BandClosing: I came back up to close out the service. I gave a shout out to “old school David Crowder Band.” I mentioned that if you got here early or on time, you got to experience our band cover a Train song. I pumped up next week’s Opener, but said I was sworn to secrecy about what it is and that they didn’t want to be late next week. I mentioned that people could text in their response to our special text response cell phone. People can text their name and if they made a decision, want to be baptized or want information on membership. I then end each and every service by having us all pray and recite Ephesians 3:20-21.
- We sometimes open with cover songs. We opened with “Calling All Angels” by Train to kickoff this day focused on angels (and the supernatural).
- We rarely do old school David Crowder Band, but decided to end the service with a reflective moment (“Come and Listen”) and then intentionally sang “O Praise Him” because of the lyrics. One of the points our Lead Pastor made in his message was that “Angels are worshippers.” Here are the key lyrics from “O Praise Him”:
VERSE 1:
Turn your ear
To heaven and hear
The noise inside
The sound of angels’ awe
The sound of angels’ songs
And all this for a King
We could join and sing
All to Christ the KingVERSE 2:
Turn your gaze
To heaven and raise
A joyous noise
The sound of salvation come
The sound of rescued ones
And all this for a King
Angels join to sing
All for Christ our King