Worship Recap for February 5

Spotify Playlists

it's been a long time since we had anything posted on this blog and i'm hoping that we can get it kicked back in to some regular updates.  one of the new things we are using for letting people now what songs we're doing is a free (pay for upgrades) service called spotify.  it lets you stream pretty much any song that's out there for free.  this is great since we can then create playlists for the songs we're doing and you can listen right then and there without having to purchase anything.

you can download the desktop app HERE and you can listen directly from the catalyst facebook page each week as well.  we will post the songs each week so you can be ready to sing strong on sunday!

First blog ever, puttin' stuff out there

We all struggle at times with our faith, what we believe in, and falling short. As 2010 was coming to an end and 2011 fast approaching, I began to think and pray about things that needed change. That sounded hokie, but whatever. For the record, this is my first blog, ever. I've never really been into this but I wanted to put some stuff out there for anyone interested. I came to know Jesus fully about eight years ago. I was extremely fired up and ready to tell the world about Him. Fast forward a few years and that fire may have dimmed a bit. After some prayer and some amazing conversations with my wife, I decided that fire needs to come back on a permanent basis. I've decided to be bolder about my knowledge and love for Christ, worship outwardly, be a more effective worship leader (yes, the band members are worship leaders), and pray for ways to impact the lives of those around me daily. I am making it my life's work to improve the lives of my co-workers, love my kids better, serve my wife better and better every day, and actively seek out the heart of God. I have been wrapped up in what others think of me and afraid of being too nerdy, too legalistic, or too whatever and held back my fire for God in the process. I am working through these issues ongoing, but I can tell you that I love Jesus and am committed to seeking His will for my life. He offers a peace that no job, salary, position in society, amount of limelight, or anything else that the world offers can offer. Playing music has always been an act of worship for me and for the past few years I have intensely focused on keeping the glory off of myself while in the spotlight. This is a fine line in our kind of music. We play for an audience of One, we serve the purpose to draw God's people to a place of worship, but we use lights, effects, loud guitars, drums, and cool grooves to do it. I love modern worship music, I love playing it, and love the way our church delivers God's love to the people of our community. I am blessed and honored with this unique responsibility and look forward to God's leading and plan for us in the coming years. More than that though, I am excited to hear the voice of God leading me toward His will for my life. I do not need to operate on my own devices any longer, total dependance on a Holy God is what He calls us to. As He lays more on my heart about this stuff, I will continue to share it. Thanks for reading.

All I Need

So, I must admit... sometimes practices for me aren't very spiritually moving. Don't get me wrong, I totally enjoy hangin' with the Catalyst Worship Band peeps and we have a great time jamming and working through songs for the upcoming weeks! But in myself, I tend to focus more on playing the right notes at the right time rather than taking a look at what the songs are saying during our rehearsals.

Lately, we've had a few expenses pop up in our household that have been unexpected... A potentially VERY expensive trip to an Urgent Care for a sinus infection, necessary van repairs, etc. and I've just felt myself becoming nervous in light of the arrival of our son in a few weeks!

Last night, the song "All I Need" was on the agenda for rehearsal. We had been playing for probably an hour or so... things were going well... and then it was time to run-through this song... and *smack*! The words of this song seemed to jump right off of the chord chart and take hold of me:

You have made me You have called me
You have covered me with love
You have saved me walked beside me
You have made me beautiful

Though I've fallen again
Though I'm broken within
You see me right where I am
and run to me You run to me

Abba Father, Living Water
You are all I'll ever need
My Sustainer, my Forever
Has been right in front of me
You're all I need

You run to me You embrace me
and You claim me as your own
You remake me celebrate me
and You welcome me back home

Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, all I need
_______________________________________

I'm so thankful that He reminds us in soft, gentle ways that He is all we need. And no matter WHAT happens, I pray that this would be my greatest longing, my deepest desire.

auditions are complete

we had our catalyst band auditions and they were a great success. it will be so exciting to have our first group of new folks play and sing with us in may. it's amazing how fast they were able to pick up on things. i did not go easy on them. i may have been too hard on them. but they seemed to have a great time. and they all passed with flying colors so it worked. once again the quality of the players that God continues to bring us raises the bar for the future.

i can't wait for you to be introduced to three new members: scott martin on bass, john hewitt on drums and rachel hiebert on vocals.

welcome to the team guys.

here is love

this is a great hymn of the church. unfamiliar to most americans because it is an old english song. here are some facts of its origination:

words: william rees (1802-1883), vers­es 1-2 (dyma gar­iad fel y mor­oedd); will­iam will­iams pos­sib­ly wrote vers­es 3-4; trans­lat­ed from welsh to eng­lish by wil­liam ed­wards in the bap­tist book of praise, 1900.

music: ro­bert low­ry, 1876

it was contemporized by matt redman for the passion cd, passion hymns: ancient and modern. he added a short bridge that really allows us to just worship God because of His great love. take a look at these lyrics (all 4 verses) and may it remind us of how much our God loves us.

here is love vast as the ocean

here is love vast as the ocean
loving kindness as the flood
when the Prince of life, our ransom
shed for us His precious blood
who His love will not remember?
who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten
throughout Heaven's eternal days

on the mount of crucifixion
fountains opened deep and wide
through the floodgates of God's mercy
flowed a vast and gracious tide
grace and love, like mighty rivers
poured incessant from above
and Heaven's peace and perfect justice
kissed a guilty world in love

let us all His love accepting
love Him ever all our days
let us seek His Kingdom only
and our lives be to His praise
He alone shall be our glory
nothing in the world we see
He has cleansed and sanctified us
He Himself has set us free

in His truth He does direct me
by His Spirit through His Word
and His grace my need is meeting
as i trust in Him, my Lord
all His fullness He is pouring
in His love and power in me
without measure
full and boundless
as i yield myself to Thee

matt redman's bridge:

no love is higher, no love is wider
no love is deeper, no love is truer
no love is higher, no love is wider
no love is like Your love oh Lord

Steve Fee Rocked

This is a post from Heather....

Okay so Levi and I had our date night tonight and we went to hear Steve Fee, Meredith Andrews, and Phil Wickham. We actually went because of Phil Wickham. Steve Fee rocked the stinkin' house. He was awesome. His spirit and passion and level of intensity was so cool. It really was awesome just to be there and get to worship with a totally different group of believers. I got tickled when he played, "We Shine." Fusion played his song, "We Shine" at camp. We did the fist pump and everything. I thought Jonathan came up with that but apparently, it's a Steve Fee thing because he was rocking the pump. Levi and I had a lot of fun. We stayed for a few of Phil Wickham's songs. He was good. His voice is killer good and super clear, it's really kind of freaky how good his voice is. We're old and tired so we headed on home.