Children's church
We are doing worship for Children's church tomorrow. It will be Kevin, Meg and I, plus whatever other girls are in there that are on worship teams... either Nat or Becky & Halley.
posted by James at 7:11 AM

No worship on the 14th
I forgot that the 14th was the Fusion/Fuel Christmas party. Yeah, I know, its been announced a millon times. I just wasn't thinking about it in terms of worship. Anyway... we won't have practice or any worship time on that night, so CD Team 2 will move out to Jan 4th.
posted by James at 7:10 AM

List for the 7th
Here is the list for the 7th. Many of the same songs we did last night, because we want to be very tight and be able to concentrate on worshipping and not the music. This list may change some. I thought My Glorious was very good last night, especially how we did it a little slower and stuff. But maybe we'll leave it out. We have to pretty much stick to the 30 minutes, so this list is probably as long as it can get!

• Deeper
  
• Everybody Praise The Lord
  
• Here I am to Worship
  
• Kindness
  
• Your Love
  
• Breathe
  
• What a Friend I've Found - for alter time
  

posted by James at 5:40 AM

It ROCKED
Fusion Worship was great last night. Practice went well and we even finished a little early and then ran over Everybody Praise the Lord just for the fun of it. Ricky was still having some problems with the song - getting into it, being confident, etc. but did GREAT when we played it! We played:

• Everybody Praise the Lord
• Jesus, My Best Friend
• My Glorious
• Your Love
• Kindness
• What a Friend I've Found

Ricky really got into the first song. He always does that... has issues in practice and then goes for it when we play. Erika and Jaime were doing all the moves during pactice, but of course would never do that when we play. I thought it was pretty cool really. It put some soul/heart into the songs when everyone gets into them! :-)
It was very cool. The entire set went really good. We also had two new speakers and the sound team had redone a bunch of the wiring. So, everything sounded much better and there were no problems with mics cutting out, etc. One of the biggest places that showed was in the background singers. In fact, in one song I asked the sound team to turn them down some, because they were overpowering the lead singer! That hasn't happened before and it was great to have them blend in so well and be able to hear them!
It was Ignition and Michael and Donovan preached. They ended early so the worship team got back up there and did some of the songs from the set, plus other stuff as well. Bobby did a great job leading them and it was very cool to see them flow. About 8:00 they started jamming and I went up and played the drums, which was very fun! :-) These guys (and girls) are really starting to flow so well and be able to do whatever is needed. It is great!
posted by James at 5:34 AM

Integrity
I also talked to the youth about copying CDs and giving them to people. Yes... it is ILLEGAL. Ever heard of Napster? I know, different strokes for different folks, but I think as musicians, we have to be careful when it comes to music! It is our calling, our ministry, and we want to especially have integrity in that area. Some of these guys hope to get recording contracts with their own bands, go on to be worship leaders, etc. - you have to have integrity for that to all work! So, have integrity in your calling!

I'll probably put some more on this on the blog for the mission trip. It was amazing to me to hear from Tina about the sign-ups last night. The number of parents that wanted the notories to sign that they had seen both parents sign, when only one parent was there. Basically they were saying (even if they didn't fully realize this), "Hey, why don't we just start my child's mission trip off by breaking the law!". Yeah, that's a great way to start a work for God! Again... when you are doing something for God, do it with pure motives, do it the right way, do it with integrity. He'll bless it, you'll be blessed, and it will work so much better.
posted by James at 7:26 AM

16-Nov-2002
CD Team One did really good last night. Great set Nat. I can't put my finger on exactly what it was, but I really got into it.

The worship team had practice yesterday and worked on Lincoln Brewster's Everybody Praise The Lord. Very cool song. It really rocks. Too bad we don't have a Hammon B3 to get that '70s rock feel... But Staci did the best she could with what she has. Maybe her folks will get her a new keyboard for Christmas! :-)

(BTW: It is very cool that Lincoln Brewster puts his lyrics and music on his web site. I wish more musicians would do that, it would sure make it easier for worship bands to do their stuff!)

Scott didn't want to sing lead on it, and Bobby said that Ricky had been trying it at home. Wow... Ricky started singing it and he has a GREAT voice for this song. Now he just needs to get enough confidence AND GO FOR IT. (Right Ricky? :-)).
Steve (my brother) came and helped out some and Kevin worked with the vocalists, and it all seemed to come together pretty good. We'll probably do it next week, after practicing it some more.

I'd really like to pick a list for the 7th and do most (all?) of it next week. That way we have gone through it recently, plus then on the 7th we can just run through it and then spend some time in WORSHIP, rather than just practicing, before we lead the church in worship. I was thinking about this yesterday after I talked to the youth. Am I putting too much on the 7th? Why so much, "Hey, we need to be really good on the 7th?" Because it is for "the adults" and they are more important or something? Because we have a guest speaker? Well, it is good to do a good job when a guest is there. But I think it really ties in with what Lisa J was saying last night. The youth will bring their generation to the Lord, but they'll also bring adults as well. Their fire, their passion, their realness, will help bring people - people of all ages, into a new relationship with God. And the 7th is an oppurtunity to do that. Sure, its our church, and its our normal service time, but really this is an outreach to a whole new set of people. A new ministry oppurtunity, and we want to take all the advantage of that, that we can!
posted by James at 6:49 AM

More on last Saturday Night
Erika is right. It really gets good when you flow as a team.
posted by James at 4:32 AM

Jon Orpia
The summer before last my brother Steve mentioned that a team from YWAM Maui had come to Colorado and Steve had gotten to do worship with them and that it was a great time. This summer Steve mentioned that the team was back and that they wanted to know if we wanted them to come play at our church. We set it up for a youth service, as this would be a great experience for our youth worship team. To see another team of young people worshipping God. Steve then called to say Jonathan wanted to know if I wanted to play with them. I jumped on it. A chance to play the djembe and worship with a bunch of young people from Maui. What was there to say no to?
I only met Jon when the team came to practice. On the day there were to actually play, Jon was sick so he didn't make it, but the rest of the team did. It was a great time of worship and ministry. Abby, his wife, (and maybe Jon too - I don't remember) discussed how they were thinking of starting a YWAM base in Maui that was devoted to worship. Currently there were "on-the-road" with a worship team, doing outreaches. What an awesome thing! To take a group of youth (late teens, early twenties) out on the road, doing what they love best and what they are called to do. I thought this was an awesome vision.

About a month ago, after they returned to Maui, we got an email saying that Jon was in the hospital. Last week he died. It is hard to understand sometimes why these things happen... but I know he is up in Heaven worshipping now... and that some day I'll be up there with him. It will be cool. There is a web site set up for Jon, that has links to messages from family and friends. If you are in the Fusion Band and want to drop a note, check it out. I'm sure it will be appreciated.

I received another email saying that rather than flowers, etc. Abby was requested funds which would go towards the estabilishment of the school that she and Jon had a vision to start. What an awesome thing. His vision will live on. Not because it was just his, but because it was shared by his wife and others, and because it is God's vision. To raise up the youth in worship.

The Fusion Worship Band will be taking an offering next week to send to Abby. It may not be tons, but it will be from our hearts and it will seed from our worship team into theirs.

Jon, I know you are having more fun up there than we are down here - rock on till we can join you!
posted by James at 11:52 AM

The Ark
Went up to the Ark on Sunday. My first time there. It was pretty awesome. I went up to do some percussion as part of the worship team, with Kevin leading, and Jaime, Ashley and Dez singing along with Kevin.

It was very awesome. The place was pretty packed, with about 50 people there, counting staff, us, and the youth that were there, as well as one parent. We got to talk to the kids some before service. One asked, "How can Pastor Rick say you guys love us, when you don't even know us?". We did worship, then David shared. (We didn't have anyone planned to share, so David said he'd do it, with about 5 minutes notice. It was very cool!) After David shared, Kevin shared for a little bit and then Chaplin Pat got up and talked. While she was talking, some things she said about Jesus dying on the cross for us really struck me, along with the question Justin had asked... "How can you love us, you don't know us." One answer was "God loves you, so we love you", but his counter-point was, "Yeah, but God knows me, you don't". Anyway, Chaplin Pat was talking and I was sitting there thinking I should get up and say something... but I'm always a bit shy about doing that. So I'm sitting there thinking about whether or not I should say anything, and she gets done, turns and looks at me, and says,

"Hey Brother, get up here and share."

Wow... OK. Guess I'm supposed to. :-) In a nutshell, what I shared was a bit of my testimony and how I got saved.

Focusing on the point that when I realized that Jesus died for ME - yeah, he died for everyone, but if I was the only person to ever be saved, he would have done it just for ME anyway, I couldn't help but be saved. That if he loved me that much, and cared that much, the least I could do was say, "Yeah, I love you too. Be my Lord." And then I discussed the answer to Justin's question.

Jesus loved us, before he even knew us. Yes, he was God, but He was man too. And he has given us that unconditional love. Jamie is my daughter, and I love her unconditionally. How much more does God love me, because His is a perfect love. Because God loves you guys, I love you guys. When I hear stories about some of the things you've gone through, it just makes my heart hurt. No one your age should go through that kind of thing. So, if we can help in some way by coming up here and doing worship, holding services, praying with you guys, it is a small price to pay and something we desire to do. That is how we can love you without knowing you.

So, I shared that and it was cool. Ministering at the Arc is all about relationship. Building relationship with these youth and showing them the kind of love they've never seen before, the kind of love that our Father shows us each and ever day.

Its great that this is another ministry that Fusion, and the Fusion Worship Teams are involved in. This is what its all about, sharing the "good news", in the way in which God has called us!
posted by James at 6:41 AM

Fusion Saturday Night
The worship team did great again. The song list was:

• Deeper
  
• My Best Friend
  
• Here I am to Worship
  
• Breath
  
• Kindness
  
• I Could Sing of Your Love Forever

We worked on Here I am to Worship during practice. Like Bobby said, "It will be better tonight during worship.". It went pretty good during practice, but it was much better during worship... which is always the way. I thought Breath went very well. Meg's violia continues to add so much. Michael and Scott did great during the song and Nat had some very cool ad-libs. Nichole was doing great leading on Kindness, but some of the mic cords have been having problems lately, and she was holding the mic and it kept cutting out. We need to remember that and check the cords before service! The entire team did great. Some people commented on how well the harmonies were, etc. The band just keeps getting tighter and tighter, and always - continues to flow during service. Bobby also kicked off some alter time worship with What A Friend, which he always does very well. It is a great alter time song.
posted by James at 5:19 AM

Impact Ministries
Jim Richards (who Pastor Joe has often mentioned) will be here teaching in December. He will start his series on a Saturday night, and Pastor Joe has asked the Fusion Worship Band to lead worship! Here is a link to Jim Richard's ministry.

Because of this we'll switch the CD team that was to lead on the 1st Saturday in December with the Worship Band, and the CD team will lead the 2nd Saturday. I'll discuss this more this Saturday and with the CD team leaders.
posted by James at 11:22 AM

Bible Resource
BibleGateway is a Great bible resource. I've used it for years. I started using it when the author was still working on his master's in the early days of browsers. He has continuously expanded it since then. If you need to look something up it is great. Multiple languages, multiple versions. It also lets you add links to particular scriptures, sources, etc. from your page. Maybe I'll do that in the description or something so we have an example here. For now though, I've added a link under ::Links and maybe I'll do the other later. Tina is telling me dinner is ready. Better go!
posted by James at 5:34 PM

Erica
Added Erica's blog, IS40:31Chick to the Member's list.
posted by James at 5:30 PM

The Importance of Preparation
I think that Children's Church worship has been going really good. (See previous posts). But this Sunday didn't go so good, imo. Why?

• Maybe we are starting to take it for granted


• I don't think we were prepared


• There has been a lot going on, and we were probably all just a little short on time

Even though we could get the attitude of "We're just playing for little kids", we have to make sure we don't go there. This is a great ministry oppurtunity for us, and it has shown some great results. We have to take it seriously and treat it as such.

I think that next time we need to get there a little earlier, practice a bit, and spend some time in prayer. Then we need to go for it with all our hearts. This is such a great oppurtunity to spend some quality time with God and with those we are ministering too!

Hopefully that wasn't too harsh. I don't think it is a major deal. I just think we have to remind ourselves sometimes to do things "right", so that we honor God as he deserves!
posted by James at 5:28 PM