1 down, 11 to go

Praise be to God, we finally sang a new song for P&W this Sunday!

We are now on our way to introducing 12 new/archived songs back into our Sunday song list.

My top 14

I love to make lists at the end of the year.

Here are my 14 favorite P&W songs. (I know as soon as I press the publish button, I'll want to change some of these.)

14. Every Praise - Hezekiah Walker

13. Holiness Take My Life - Micah Stampley

12. It Is To You - Byron Cage

11. As the Deer

10. Give Me a Clean Heart - Fred Hammond

9.  Lift Him Up - Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago

8.  Smile - Tasha Cobbs

7.  Great and Mighty - Byron Cage

6.  Rain On Us - Earnest Pugh

5. Agnus Dei (Hallelujah For the Lord God Almighty Reigns) - Michael Smith

4.  Free - Kierra Sheard

3.  To Worship You I Live - Israel

2.  Lord I Love You - Youthful Praise feat. JJ Hairston

1.  I Love You Lord and I Lift My Voice

 

What I'm thankful for

It's a miracle: we had 2 rehearsals over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend! Everyone was on time. Everyone was on one accord.

We rehearsed 3 of our "archived" songs. 1 of which we'll sing for the first time this Sunday. (Total Praise by Richard Smallwood). I Won't Go Back by William McDowell will need one more rehearsal to make sure we've memorized verse 2. The third song (Hosannah by Kirk Franklin) needs about 2 more rehearsals and a small miracle.

One of the things I'm learning is that we need to just do what works for us. There are some places where 3 part harmony exactly like the original artists is too difficult for us. I'm learning to accept it and just keep going. No need to ditch the entire song because we couldn't get one or 2 lines just right.

Well boys and girls, I'm simply elated that we're on the right track. In the words of my mom when she was younger "Hallelujah pound the glory" (what she was singing instead of the real words hallelujah thine the glory). Or in the words of India Arie, there's hope!

Blessings

P.S. - Where is India Arie?

Recap of tonight's iLead escape with Pastor William Murphy

I am too pumped up that I remembered the iLead escape frontliners call 2 months in a row!

Tonight, Pastor William Murphy was the guest speaker and dropped so much knowledge it was crazy. Here's a recap of what was discussed in case you missed it.

P.S. - Pastor Tasha, you really need to record these calls so people can listen after the initial run. Please and thank you! :)

Acts 3:19

• God is sending a refreshing! (Glorayyyy! - my words, not his.)
• God wants us to update or refresh our old "pages." He wants to do something new, but we need to be open to the new and not continue in the old thing that he established for a previous time or season.
• I have the grace on me to create a tangible, living, abiding presence of God. (#putapraiseonit right there! - my words again.)

Exodus 25:10-22 (the meat of the call)
If you're going to create a tangible, living, abiding presence of God...

• you must be pure inside and out (v. 11)
• this doesn't mean sinless, but rather your spirit has to be pure
• everyone in leadership has great struggles or challenges, but that doesn't mean your spirit subcumbs to every sin.
• you cannot be one-sided (v. 12)
• your worship has to be well rounded, multicultural - not just gospel, not just top 40
• you cannot get in front of God (v.14)
• you going to have to carry it (v. 14)
• Don't be lazy! You have to invest time. (spend time researching new songs, artists, etc.)
• It's going to be inconvenient, it will challenge you.
• you have to be tested because you have to have a real testimony (v. 16)
• you need a personal experience
• you're going to have to be shaped by God (v.18)
• shaped meaning hammered or beaten by God to form you
• you have to guard your ministry relationship (v.19)
• you cannot separate the worshipers from the mercy seat
• you have to be able to face one another
• you have to make the mercy seat a priority (v.21)
• being "right" or "wrong" isn't what's most important
• the visuals or the uniforms are not what's most important
• you have to have God's mind (v.22)

OMGoodness y'all this really encouraged me tonight! Even the Q&A was good!

The points that resonated with me were about having a multicultural sound, investing time to better our P&W, and having a personal testimony. More posts about the latter to come.

I'm truly looking forward to the iLead escape in 2015!

Blessings

Hope for harvest

If you're in Charlotte or the surrounding area, Hope for Harvest should be a good concert for a great cause. All they had to say was VaShawn Mitchell and Anita Wilson for my interest to pique. Others on the lineup include Mali Music, Travis Green Joshua Rogers, and a special, surprise guest. Enjoy!

No excuses

Not to be Debbie Downer, but I'm kind of bummed that we will not be singing any new P&W songs for Thanksgiving! I had it all worked out in my head that we'd have had 2 rehearsals by now and would be on our way to learning those 12 new songs I hoped to add to our arsenal. Wouldn't you know it, but we haven't had 1 rehearsal nor can we agree to a date.

Well, I better tell my team to get it all out now because we're coming up in 2015. No more excuses. Not even a good excuse. None of us work 24/7 so we're going to have to determine a time where we can rehearse.

We're going to learn some new songs! We're going to be on one accord! We're going to be the bomb.com! In Jesus name!
 

The thrill is gone

Remember when I posted that I was so excited to get going on the right track with my P&W team even though it wasn't the new year. Yeahhhhh, about that...

After making 2 attempts to set 2 different dates for rehearsal, my enthusiasm is waning. Everyone is picking up extra or longer hours for work and I can't seem to find a day or time that accommodates our small group. I was hoping we could do something new for Thanksgiving, but that's out.

Perhaps 2015 will be our year.

 

P.S. I'm sticking to my guns; I'm not buy any new tracks until we sing what we already have in our arsenal. Maybe the boredom of the same songs will jump start things.

P.P.S. I can use the above image because I'm from Chicago. Go White Sox! :)