Hymnology: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

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Recently, I had worked through an arrangement of “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” for worship.  A couple of the upcoming Sundays were calling for a song with this particular emphasis, but I wanted to make it palatable for all types of backgrounds.

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Here is the story behind the hymn:

Edward Perronet, the son of an Anglican vicar, originally introduced “All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name.” His family was closely associated with John Wesley of the Anglican Church. The verses written by Perronet have been called “The Coronation Hymn.” The lyrics affirm the kingship of Christ and His authority. Much of the imagery used is from the Book of Revelation and from Jeremiah. The music sounds particularly beautiful when played by a violin. One of the more famous stories surrounding “All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name” involves the use of a violin.

A missionary to India named E. P. Scott learned of a wild mountain tribe that had never been introduced to the message of Christ. Since they had never been presented with the gospel, he decided to visit that tribe. When he reached their mountain home, he discovered a group of savages on a war expedition. They took him back to camp and threatened to kill him. He closed his eyes and starting playing ” All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name” on his ever-present violin. The natives were so overcome; they dropped their spears and invited Rev. Scott to stay with them. He lived among them for over two years, converting many to Christianity.

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Why We Have Been Leading So Many Hymns Lately

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If you are a part of North Side or follow my Sunday’s set list on my blog, you might have noticed I have reintroduced some hymns lately.  While we have always sung hymns over the years, we mainly have used arrangements that others have used, but lately we have been adding some original twists on some classics.

Why might you ask?

Because I believe that Chris Tomlin and Charles Wesley are both my brothers in Christ and both have been blessed to write songs for the Church.  Too many people get stuck in a particular style of worship music that they can’t appreciate how God has gifted the entire Body of Christ over its entire life.

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Robert’s Rules of Order vs. the Holy Bible (Which Guides Your Church’s Meetings?)

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I’m still in awe of a meeting we had at church last night.  A group of 100 leaders from our church have been gathering together to pray and to plan in this One Initiative our church has been going through.  Last night, we discussed some possible changes that would affect everyone.  From the report that I get from friends, if those type of changes were being discussed in some congregations, it would have gotten ugly.

Let me give you an example.

A friend called me a couple of years ago after a church business meeting.  In tears, he retold of the ungodly things stated among the people of God.  He told me concerning personal attacks that took place.  He told me of the name-calling, the cursing, and the selfishness that pervaded the entire meeting.

He asked me what I thought went wrong.

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Derailed by Disunity

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Each week, I start out my post from Sunday talking about how great a morning it was.  This week was no different.  The services were a great outpouring of God’s goodness, but I must admit the entire day was amazing of watching the church in action.  In addition to wonderful services, I watched a volunteer team give it their all amidst great setbacks, a Spirit-led business meeting, and a group of guys pushing each other on to selflessness.

In short, I love our church!

Today, we started a new series entitled “Derailed,” where we began our study of 1 Corinthians.  While we looked at Ephesians as a church who got it, this church is the exact opposite.   In 1 Corinthians 1-2, the Corinthian church found themselves way off track from where Paul had planted them.  One particular way they had become derailed was in the area of disunity.  Their preferences of different styles of ministry kept them from unifying around Jesus.  We would be wise not to follow their example.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Book of the Week: StrengthsFinder 2.0

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This week’s book of the week is Tom Rath’s StrengthsFinder 2.0.  This book was given to me as a gift.  Within each book is a code that allows the reader to take an online survey which determines the 5 top strengths of the reader.  You then can read more concerning your personal strengths. The premise …

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Critical Listening – A Tip for Unprepared Worship Teams

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The manner in which a team member prepares for worship practice is immensely important. If members come to practice unfamiliar with the songs, the time together can easily get frustrating.

The best way to get the most out of your practice time is if you group will engage in critical listening. This is best if they do this on their own, but the process can also be done as a group.

I send out scheduling requests for our musicians at least ten days out from the Sunday they would serve. This allows ample time for preparation. In addition to getting chord sheets and lyric sheets, they also have access to listen to the songs we are going to lead.

While they have ample time to prepare, sometimes it is easy for any of us to get slack on prepartion. It is normal for any of us to resort to passive listening. Passive listening is when the music is going on in the background of the house while you are doing other things. Passive listening is when you just hear sections of the song or get distracted by one element in the song that you forget to really think about what is transpiring. Passive listening leads to unprepared musicians.

There is another way.

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Shh…Eli Has a Secret…

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I took this picture when we were getting our boys new shoes the other day.  We were on the way to do some ministry at North Greenville on Friday, so we took our time and spent some time together in Greenville.

These boys are growing up very fast.  Their abilities and speech are taking off week by week.  I feel like I have two little men around me.

One of the things we have been having fun with is whispering in each other’s ears if we have secrets.  I’ll lean into the boys and say I have a secret, and I will say, “I love you,” or “Daddy is so proud of you.”

Obie got the hang of it first and began to repeat some of my secrets back to me.

Then Eli got into it, but I wasn’t prepared for what he was going to tell me.

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Confessions of a Narrow-Focused Church Member

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I have a confession to make: I am a narrow-focused church member.  I look at all the possible changes at our church at how it would affect me and mine.  I judge the worth of programs based upon how they benefit me and my family.  If it can make me feel better, I’m all in. …

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Homes for Hope (What a Year!)

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Homes for Hope was started at North Side in 2010. After a message on orphan care in December 2009, we were overwhelmed with the response of families wanting to help out. The interest was so great that Jeff Lethco told me to figure out a way to organize this so we can help people regularly.  The mission behind Homes for Hope is to make orphan care simple. If you have ever attempted to get through the paperwork attached to orphan care, you understand that sounds like an absurd statement. We can’t make orphan care easy, but we can make it simple. Our goal as a ministry is to provide logical steps in the 5 major ways to get involved.

James 1:27 commands us to care for orphans: “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…” There are many ways to help rescue the 143,000,000 orphans in the world. Here’s how our church is assisting people:

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The Armor of God (for the Church)

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What a great day at North Side!  We concluded a 3 month tour through the Book of Ephesians today as we studied the armor of God.

While this world is full of trouble, God has not left us defenseless.  In the concluding words of Ephesians, Paul includes directions for the armor of God that is meant to defend Christians.  Covered in his protection, the Church can endure the trials of this world.

I couldn’t think of a better way to end the study than the message today.  Jeff’s words were so good and God used him immensely in my life to really think about the armor of God and how it wasn’t written to the individual but to the church as a whole.  We are to all put on that armor so we can stand firm together!

Today, we worshiped to:

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