What a great weekend! We left Thursday evening and drove to the in-laws in Burleson, TX. Slept in Friday morning and then decided to go see the 1:00pm showing of "Night at the Museum" #2. It was a good little flick. We ate a late lunch at a hamburger dive (very good homemade patty burgers) with "frings" (fries and rings) and then headed over to the Freestyle Skate Park in Kennedale and watched the boys skateboard and rollerblade. Tyler is getting really good on his skateboard and Austin took the dare and "dropped in" on some serious half pipes with his rollerblades! After a quick trip back to the in-laws to change sweaty clothes we went over to my Moms and hung out with her, then got some yumminess from the Marble Slab.
On Saturday we had a nice breakfast with the in-laws and then celebrated my father-in-law's birthday with a big late lunch and played some badminton in the backyard.
After driving home I had to run up to the church and take care of some last minute preparation for the Sunday service and then came back home to make a quick video for our summer mission trip.
Sunday morning turned out to be a great day. We had special guests "Shiloh" (a Phillips, Craig and Dean-sounding trio from the Dallas area), so we didn't have much to rehearse with the worship team, which made for a very relaxed "pre-service". Our Classic service sang quite a few congregational hymns, we prayed for families who had lost loved ones in the military as well as our active-duty servicemen and women. "Shiloh" then led in some great worship starting with "Favorite Song of All", an awesome rendition of the Nat'l Anthem, "Proud to be an American", and ended with "He Touched Me".
In the contemporary service we started off the service with Michael W. Smith's "A New Hallelujah", prayed for our military and then had our own prayer ministry time with Tommy Walker's "Break Through." Shiloh sang again, but changed the last couple songs to "Days of Elijah" and "I Bowed On my Knees and Cried Holy" with backup from our worship team. We ended the service with a song called "Glory" by Reuben Morgan from Hillsong.
We ate lunch with the guys from Shiloh and after seeing them off relaxed at home. Holly went to spend the night with a friend in Houston, so the boys and I headed off to our favorite boy eatery "Buffalo Wild Wings" and then came home and watched a movie.
So far Memorial Day Monday has been very quiet because the boys are still asleep and Holly isn't home yet!
About Me
- Steve Ray
- Magnolia, TX, United States
- Husband to one, father of two, son, brother, child of the KING, pastor of worship & discipleship, guitarist, lover of life. And this is my journey on staff at First Baptist Church of Magnolia, TX.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Sunday Setlist May 17
It was a good day in the Lord's House! Here's the setlist for this morning:
King of Glory (Bates)
Because of Your Love (Baloche)
Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
Choir special "Enough" (Tomlin)
The River (Doerksen)
Came to my Rescue (Hillsong)
My Faith Has Found a Resting Place (Billy Foote arr.)
King of Glory (Bates)
Because of Your Love (Baloche)
Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
Choir special "Enough" (Tomlin)
The River (Doerksen)
Came to my Rescue (Hillsong)
My Faith Has Found a Resting Place (Billy Foote arr.)
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday Setlist
After last Sunday off for a vacation, it was good to be back with the worship team and our worshipping church!
Here's the set list from our contemporary service:
Here's the set list from our contemporary service:
- Sweeter (Ratcliffe, Houghton)
- To Him be the Glory (Ray)
- Offering (Baloche)
- Come, Now is the Time to Worship (Doerksen)
- Filled with Glory (Gungor)
- Amazing Grace (Chains) - (Newton, arr. Tomlin)
- Friend of God (Houghton, Gungor)
Monday, April 27, 2009
Lessons in Worship Ministry Leadership Part 1
I've learned a few hard lessons about worship teams in my short time as a worship pastor and the last couple of weeks have brought those lessons back into focus.
Why did I ever think it was okay to allow just anyone who asked to join the worship team? I'll tell you why. Because I have been (still am to some degree) the consummate people-pleaser. In the past someone would come to me after a worship service and either ask how to get on the worship team, or ask if they could come to rehearsal and I, in order not to hurt their feelings would politely agree to let them come aboard. I even agreed on the spur of the moment one Sunday morning before the services to let someone "fill in" who then became a permanent fixture; no audition, no application, nothing. I didn't even know if they could sing. I assumed they could sing (and they could), and I assumed their character was consistent with a Christ-follower (which it was, for the most part).
I think another reason we think it's okay, is because we are desperate for band members and vocalists and we'll take the first person that says they play guitar or sang in all-state choir in high school for four years.
One scripture paraphrase from Proverbs says "Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways." Ouch. I learned and have changed my ways.
I have recently had two different people approach me about joining the worship team vocals. I no longer have difficulty saying "We have an application/audition process that you'll need to go through." It's really not that hard to say. And it gives you an out to say later "I don't think we're a good fit for your giftings." After doing a little research on the first "applicant", I discovered that they were living with someone who was not their spouse. To be honest, I find it difficult to believe that someone can claim to be a Christ-follower and hold to the belief that there's nothing wrong with living together out of wedlock (that's what they used to call it back in the day). But these are the days we're living in folks. An epidemic of biblically illiterate "believers".
Will it be difficult to tell this applicant the truth of the matter? That I have a calling and responsibility to protect the integrity of our platform with the tenacity of a bulldog? Yes, but I have learned that I would rather suffer for a moment, than regret my people-pleasing, moment-of-weakness decision for years.
The other applicant was invited to rehearsal by a current vocalist and when I talked with her about becoming a part of the team, I didn't hesitate to tell her that living "above reproach" was one of our core values for becoming a "platform personality." You're up there for the world to see and you have to ask yourself, "Is there anyone who might attend our service who, upon seeing me on the platform, could mutter under their breath 'What in the world are they doing up there? That's not right!'"
And she got that. I explained that it wasn't about anyone being "perfect", but rather living a life "so as to preclude any possibility of criticism." She agreed. And she has a beautiful voice to boot!
Why did I ever think it was okay to allow just anyone who asked to join the worship team? I'll tell you why. Because I have been (still am to some degree) the consummate people-pleaser. In the past someone would come to me after a worship service and either ask how to get on the worship team, or ask if they could come to rehearsal and I, in order not to hurt their feelings would politely agree to let them come aboard. I even agreed on the spur of the moment one Sunday morning before the services to let someone "fill in" who then became a permanent fixture; no audition, no application, nothing. I didn't even know if they could sing. I assumed they could sing (and they could), and I assumed their character was consistent with a Christ-follower (which it was, for the most part).
I think another reason we think it's okay, is because we are desperate for band members and vocalists and we'll take the first person that says they play guitar or sang in all-state choir in high school for four years.
One scripture paraphrase from Proverbs says "Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways." Ouch. I learned and have changed my ways.
I have recently had two different people approach me about joining the worship team vocals. I no longer have difficulty saying "We have an application/audition process that you'll need to go through." It's really not that hard to say. And it gives you an out to say later "I don't think we're a good fit for your giftings." After doing a little research on the first "applicant", I discovered that they were living with someone who was not their spouse. To be honest, I find it difficult to believe that someone can claim to be a Christ-follower and hold to the belief that there's nothing wrong with living together out of wedlock (that's what they used to call it back in the day). But these are the days we're living in folks. An epidemic of biblically illiterate "believers".
Will it be difficult to tell this applicant the truth of the matter? That I have a calling and responsibility to protect the integrity of our platform with the tenacity of a bulldog? Yes, but I have learned that I would rather suffer for a moment, than regret my people-pleasing, moment-of-weakness decision for years.
The other applicant was invited to rehearsal by a current vocalist and when I talked with her about becoming a part of the team, I didn't hesitate to tell her that living "above reproach" was one of our core values for becoming a "platform personality." You're up there for the world to see and you have to ask yourself, "Is there anyone who might attend our service who, upon seeing me on the platform, could mutter under their breath 'What in the world are they doing up there? That's not right!'"
And she got that. I explained that it wasn't about anyone being "perfect", but rather living a life "so as to preclude any possibility of criticism." She agreed. And she has a beautiful voice to boot!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Six weeks into the new year
Things have settled down considerably here at the beginning of '09 especially after the last couple of months of '08. Since I didn't blog much then, I'll give a brief summary.
On the homefront, the last few months of the year were filled with two boys practicing and playing football in addition to their school and church activities. Tyler was playing for a youth team in Magnolia and most of his games were in Magnolia. Austin was playing for a homeschool team that practiced in Conroe (45 min drive) 3 times a week and played ALL OVER the Houston area once a week.
On the church front, I committed our band to playing the Christmas music for our choir. Which meant we had to learn 9 songs in just about 6-7 weeks. I was also overseeing the planning for our Christmas outreach called "Miracle on 6th Street" (which included 8 scenes of the life of Christ, a hayride, food/drinks, the choir music and a children's play area). We also had a special month-long emphasis called the November Worship Experience. Which meant that I went from planning one church service to planning two services. We also changed from having 3 services (1 traditional and 2 contemporary) to having 2 services (1 traditional, 1 contemporary) and this caused some problems with our Sunday School classes. Some people who had been in a contemporary service and then a late Sunday School, now were forced to attend a traditional service. We had to do some rearranging of classes, but we got it done. All of these things converged to create the "perfect storm" for stress and I felt it. By the time our "Miracle on 6th Street" event was over the first weekend of December, I was DONE!
I took off 5 days and went to Ruidoso, NM with a couple of buddies to unwind. And then because of the way Christmas and New Years fell, the church office was closed for essentially two weeks. And I stayed at home and did NOTHING. It was glorious.
So, here we are with a new year and it has been pretty quiet, but things are about to heat up again for Easter. We just started our Spring Discipleship semester (in most places it would be the "Winter" semester, but I just can't bring myself to call it that) and we have 5 courses that our people can choose from:
The Truth Project, DivorceCare, Deep Thoughts, Catholic Connection and a Ladies Bible Study called "Lord, I Want to Know You".
This Sunday we have the African Children's Choir singing in both services. It should be exciting.
On the homefront, the last few months of the year were filled with two boys practicing and playing football in addition to their school and church activities. Tyler was playing for a youth team in Magnolia and most of his games were in Magnolia. Austin was playing for a homeschool team that practiced in Conroe (45 min drive) 3 times a week and played ALL OVER the Houston area once a week.
On the church front, I committed our band to playing the Christmas music for our choir. Which meant we had to learn 9 songs in just about 6-7 weeks. I was also overseeing the planning for our Christmas outreach called "Miracle on 6th Street" (which included 8 scenes of the life of Christ, a hayride, food/drinks, the choir music and a children's play area). We also had a special month-long emphasis called the November Worship Experience. Which meant that I went from planning one church service to planning two services. We also changed from having 3 services (1 traditional and 2 contemporary) to having 2 services (1 traditional, 1 contemporary) and this caused some problems with our Sunday School classes. Some people who had been in a contemporary service and then a late Sunday School, now were forced to attend a traditional service. We had to do some rearranging of classes, but we got it done. All of these things converged to create the "perfect storm" for stress and I felt it. By the time our "Miracle on 6th Street" event was over the first weekend of December, I was DONE!
I took off 5 days and went to Ruidoso, NM with a couple of buddies to unwind. And then because of the way Christmas and New Years fell, the church office was closed for essentially two weeks. And I stayed at home and did NOTHING. It was glorious.
So, here we are with a new year and it has been pretty quiet, but things are about to heat up again for Easter. We just started our Spring Discipleship semester (in most places it would be the "Winter" semester, but I just can't bring myself to call it that) and we have 5 courses that our people can choose from:
The Truth Project, DivorceCare, Deep Thoughts, Catholic Connection and a Ladies Bible Study called "Lord, I Want to Know You".
This Sunday we have the African Children's Choir singing in both services. It should be exciting.
Monday, September 29, 2008
September 15 - 21
Monday - Hung out with family and played "Spoons" and "Phase 10". No power until 5:00 p.m. Went into Magnolia to eat and then went to the church for air conditioning and electricity.
Tuesday - Church office wasn't open, so I worked from home and hung out with the family again.
Wednesday - No church services
Sunday - Services were back on
Tuesday - Church office wasn't open, so I worked from home and hung out with the family again.
Wednesday - No church services
Sunday - Services were back on
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
September 8 - 14
Thursday - began to panick about Hurricane Ike. Drove in to MCA at lunch and took Holly's car to get gas because lines were already forming, stores running out of ice and water. Made hotel reservation in College Station for Friday night. Went home with the family and watched Hurricane coverage on the tube. Friday - office closed to prepare for Ike. Spent the day with family watching hurricane coverage. Left about 8pm for College Station. Ate dinner, went to hotel and watched more coverage until 12:30am
Saturday - Holly and I both woke up about 6:30am (after a good sleep), looked outside (raining, wind blowing) and moved the boys from the hide-a-bed to our bed so we could watch more hurricane coverage. Started texting friends in Magnolia to see if they were okay. Neighbors sent us a pic of fallen tree in the front yard. Left at noon to go back home and survey the damage. No power, but we had water. Spent the night with windows open; very hot, dogs barking, frogs croaking and then a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. Not much sleep.
Sunday -had very brief services at the church with about 100 people in attendance (no power in the church). Spent the afternoon at home with the family and then drove to Brenham to eat dinner and find gas, ice and internet service (found 2 of 3 - no ice). Spent the night again with windows open, but it wasn't as hot and a cool front blew in during the night.
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