Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Brasil

I'm finally getting settled back in to my office and my responsibilities, after traveling to Santarem, Brasil for ten days. It's been a few weeks since the trip, but many of the weeks events are fresh on my mind, and I want to write it all down before I forget.

While we were down in the Amazon River basin, I was a part of training believers to use an evangelism tool called the "Evangecube," aka "E-cube." The church that I taught had about 500 leaders and their friends there. Seven people received Christ after I went the through the demonstration of sharing the gospel with the cube. It was awesome! Raquel, my friend who translated for me, did a fantastic job, and was very sensitive to the Spirit when it came time for the invitation. I didn't catch everything that she was saying, but she was right on, and God used the two of us in a great way that evening. I pray that the leaders of the group go out from there and continue to share the gospel with their friends, families, and co-workers. It is such an easy and functional way of sharing the gospel--anyone could do it.


Also, we did two organized basketball clinics. My new friend (and roommate for the trip), Frank Lopez, who is an NBA clinician, came along with us and led the clinics, and Steve Sloan, Aaron Sloan, and I helped "coach." He is excellent at doing what he does, and he modified his usual routine to emphasize spiritual life guidance in connection with the drills the students were performing. It was special to witness his blossoming in this new kind of ministry. At the second clinic, we had 64 students receive Christ after Frank shared his testimony and Dave McClamma shared the gospel! This was even more amazing because of the students' attitudes when we started. It felt like they were forced to be there. They were grumbling and cutting up, but Frank won them over, and by the end they were all asking for his autograph. He was swarmed, and we all left before he was done signing stuff. The clinic was a first for us in Brasil, and I hope we can continue to do these in the future, because they were so effective. Sports serve as such a universal language, and basketball is gaining popularity in Brasil, so it's a no-brainer.


On a side note, Frank has an interesting story when it comes to travel. He shares the given name (Francisco Lopez, Jr.) and birthdate with a convicted "terrorist" of sorts. See here. Therefore, everytime Frank attempts to reenter the U.S., he is detained by customs agents and interrogated. Before we left Miami for Brasil, Frank presents us with all the newspaper articles just to give us fair warning that he would be detained when he returned. Apparently, our government let the guy go, and he has committed several more crimes since, and now he is a fugitive--and they don't have a picture of the man! I'd like to say I'm surprised. Just as predicted, when we returned to Miami, the customs agent swiped Frank's passport and began typing (never a good sign). Agents came to take him to the "room," and he was questioned for a few minutes. This time was quicker than most, according to Frank. He was back with the group before we finished getting our baggage. Fun times!

I had the opportunity to lead worship for a few different events. I have learned a few songs in Portuguese, like "Poder Pra Salvar" (Mighty to Save) and "Unico Caminho" (One Way). Hillsong has had many of their songs translated into many languages, so they are a huge help in this area. Friday night was probably the most special for me, because we did a riverfront outreach event, and I was privileged to play with my friends from the Igreja da Paz worship band. They are such a talented and sincere group, it is a joy to play beside them. I led "Mighty to Save" and "God of This City," and then we did "Open the Eyes of My Heart" in both English and Portuguese, which was awesome. It's a beautiful thing to hear the praise of God in different languages, yet saying the same thing. I imagine it will be something like that when we see Jesus face-to-face.


On Thursday, we went out on the river to take food and provisions to several river villages who had been affected by the severe flooding of the Amazon this year. It is an eye opening experience, because they live in such simple and poor conditions on the river. At one stop, we took a loudspeaker and announced that we had provisions to pass out, and the people came by their canoes, dugouts, and fishing boats to our boat. We had a pastor from one of the villages there with us, and he was such a blessing and encouragement to all of us because of his faithful service to the gospel out on the river. After we shared the gospel with the people from each river, he spoke personally with the people and told them that he wants to be their pastor. He wants to serve them. It was beautiful.



To close out the trip, we took a fun day-excursion into the jungle. We did a mini-trip in April, and went into a different area of the jungle. This time, we hiked five miles up to the top of the highlands area to see the giant sequoia trees. What a truly amazing (and tiring) experience. It is a privilege to walk where most of the world will never have a chance to walk, and to see things that many people will never see. What beautiful, untouched land! The largest sequoia tree that we saw was ancient, and it required thirty people, with arms outstretched, to surround it. It was massive! I felt like a dwarf standing between its buttresses and looking up. I had heard about this tree in April from Nelus, our guide, but seeing it is another story. There were several trees that were close to this size, and it is just breathtaking. It is difficult to describe, or for the pictures to do justice to the enormity of these trees, simply because one must back up so far just to get the tree in the shot!


We hiked a total of ten miles that day, from the river to the highlands and back, and everyone was exhausted by the time we got back. It was so worth the hike. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I only wish I could do that sort of thing more often. The more I work in an office, the more I long for being out in the woods, out in the quiet of nature, without the technology and the noise of our busy world.


I love Brasil, and I cannot wait to go back and see my friends and their beautiful world in the Amazon.

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Thursday, June 4, 2009

Progressive Worship 5/31/09

I have been off of this thing for a while. It's been a little crazy around my home and church, with a trip to Brazil, numerous doctor visits, and the usual stuff. Anyway, it's time to get back at it.

This past Sunday, we had a great week where we continued to build some momentum from the previous week. There is a growing freedom in our people, as they express themselves more and go after God with more passion. It's exciting to see the breakthrough!

Our set was:
Walk-in: "Name Above All Names" (Original song)
Worship Set:
"Everlasting God" (Brenton Brown and Ken Riley)
"Let Me Sing" (Todd Fields)
"I Need You" (Kristian Stanfill)
"Lord of All" (Kristian Stanfill) w/ "How Great is Our God" (Chris Tomlin) Tag

Jay's message continued his series on the book of Revelation, "Are We Living in the Last Days." He brought it as usual, and spoke clearly about the political and religious entities that will be present in the last days.

we closed from his message with "How Great is Our God" by Chris Tomlin, which was a fitting end for the morning. "I Need You" was a new tune for us, and the people and the pastor really responded to it. It has such a strong lyric and clear point about our complete dependence on Jesus for everything! We're definitely doing that one again. "Lord of All" has become our theme for this message series, just because it is a pure worship song with many of the worshipful ideas from Revelation wrapped into it. It just connects really, really well.

God is moving, and people are worshipping, which is why I do what I do.

I'm excited and a little anxious as we head into this coming week, as we'll take a stab at "Revelation Song" by Jennie Lee Riddle from Gateway. It's a little different for our band, so we'll see what happens. I believe God is going to really use this song to show His glory to the church.


See my set list, and the set lists of many other worship leaders and team members at Sunday Set Lists by Fred McKinnon: http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/05/31/sunday-setlists-45/

Great stuff!

Blessings,
Bill

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Progressive Worship 04/05/09 Church at the Mall

This week, we had a little shorter time because of our special guest, Bailey Smith. We had a fantastic response to his message, and the Lord moved in a tremendous way. We had 88 people profess salvation, many rededications, and 23 get baptized this Sunday. It was awesome!

For the music part of the worship for this Palm Sunday, we started out with "Hosanna (Praise is Rising)" by Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown, and after the welcome, we opened back up with the pre-chorus of "Marvelous Light" by Charlie Hall, and then moved into "Salvation is Here" by Joel Houston. It was awesome moving from "Sin has lost its power/ Death has lost its sting/ From the grave You've risen/ Victoriously!" into "Salvation is Here." It had a lot of energy and was a powerful time. From that, we moved into "Jesus Paid It All" with the additional chorus by Alex Nifong. I don't think it's possible to go wrong with that song. When God's people get together and declare, "Oh praise the One who paid my debt/ and raised this life up from the dead!"

For the invitation time, we did one of my favorite hymns, "Just As I Am." It never gets old for me.

As usual, I wish we had more time, but we had to leave enough time for the response we believed would come as a result of Bailey Smith's preaching. God is faithful, and moved in a big way. I pray that God will use this week to to transform our church.


Be sure to check out my setlists along with the set lists of many other worship leaders at:

It's a fantastic resource!!

Peace and love,
Bill

Monday, March 30, 2009

Progressive Worship 03/29/09, Church at the Mall

This week was an exciting time of worship with our church. I started the service by talking about the concept of raising hands in worship, because we were starting with "Unchanging" by Chris Tomlin, which says in the chorus, "So we raise up holy hands/ to praise the Holy One/ Who was, and is, and is to come." While we sang the song, the hands went up all over the place, and I think it's just a matter of giving our people freedom to express themselves in worship.

We then had the welcome time, and moved into "Everlasting God" by Brenton Brown and Ken Riley in Bb, which is a standard for our congregation. We moved directly into "Lord of All" by Kristian Stanfill in Bb, which is another powerful praise tune. We finished the set with one of my originals, "Never Be the Same" in Bb. 

It was a good day. I wish we had more time during our worship times on Sundays. We're currently sandwiched between two other services, and we have different teams leading at those two services, so there is a buffer of time where we have to turn things around. It's frustrating, but it is what it is. We are looking at reformatting the service layout, which is exciting. I'll keep you posted.

Blessings!

Bill

Check out Fred McKinnon's "Worship Confessionals," where I and many other worship leaders and team members have discussed their set lists. It's an awesome resource!!!



Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Progressive Worship 3/22/09

This week at our 930 service, we had a short week because we had a special guest artist, Steve Green in our services. He came to support our Global Reach Foundation (our missions entity) because they were having their big fundraising auction Sunday night.

We started out with "All Because of Jesus" in C by Steve Fee, and then went directly into "Happy Day" in C by Tim Hughes. These two make an awesome one-two punch, and the energy was tangible as we started off. They work really well as a medley of sorts, and we transition into "Happy Day" seemlessly, which has a really cool effect. That was it for this morning.

Steve Green sang "Indescribable" by Laura Story and Jesse Reeves in G with a track, and then sang his rendition of "Holy, Holy, Holy" with just he and Dick Tunney on the piano. It was a great morning all in all. I just wish we had more time! God is at work!

check out Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlists Worship Confessionals at http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/03/22/sunday-setlists-35/

This is a great resource!

Blessings!

Bill

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Worship Confessional - Progressive Worship 3/15/09

This week our Pastor focused on how to surrender to the Lord and stand firm against temptation and the enemies accusations. The text was James 4:1-11, and the message was really strong. I really sensed God's presence in the service in a strong way. We didn't have any major problems--only a few "whoops!" moments, like an errant chord change at the start of the bridge by our lead player, or getting a little anxious and changing too quickly on another. Nothing hindered or threw off the Spirit in the service though, and His people responded!

We started off with "Let God Arise" by Chris Tomlin, which is one of my favorites by him. It is a strong song lyrically, coming primarily from Psalm 68, and it's a rocker! It wakes us all up. I just love the "full-tilt" feeling of the music, backing such a solid, biblical lyric.

After the welcome, we repeated "Let Me Sing" by Todd Fields. We just started teaching this to the congregation last week, but it has taken hold and our people were singing.

We moved from there directly into "Lord of All" by Kristian Stanfill. I prefaced the song a little bit, and I as usual, I felt a little awkward trying to explain my thoughts. I'm working on communicating better, and I felt that Sunday was a step forward for me in this regard. This song is always a strong one when we sing it. When we hit the chorus, "There is none so high and holy/King of kings, the one and only/You are adored, You are the Lord of all," it always seems like the place breaks loose. Hands shot up all over the place, and God's people were adoring Him because He is the Lord of all. To me, this song and these moments are the epitome of worship.

We finished up with "How Great is Our God" by Chris Tomlin, and the focus on the strength, power, and glory of God continued, and people always sing strong on this one. I've started to bring this one down to Bb to make it a little easier for the men to sing, and it seems like it's working. Still, it almost felt like a letdown after singing "Lord of All." I think we could repeat that song three times and it wouldn't get old!

For our invitation song, we sang Hillsong's "Mighty to Save," and it seemed to fit very well with Pastor Jay's message.  There were several people praying and coming forward, but not a lot. I think the weight of the message was still setting in at that time. It's times like those that I wish we had more time for response at the end of the service, but that is the trick of being sandwiched between two other services!

All-in-all, it was a fantastic morning of worship for our people and our team. God continues to move in a powerful way, and He is changing lives, which is what I live for.


check out other worship leaders set lists and worship confessionals at http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/03/15/sunday-setlists-34-worldwide-worship-recaps/

this is an awesome resource for worship leaders.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Progressive Worship 03/08/09

This week, we focused on Wisdom, for which it can be tricky to find congregational songs, but we just emphasized God's sovereignty and power. I think that fits.

We started out with "Faithful One," which is one of my newer originals, and it seems like the Lord is really using it to connect with our people. It emphasizes the immutability, uniqueness, and might of God

After the welcome, we went into "Everlasting God" by Brenton Brown and Ken Riley. It's a simple song, but I never get tired of singing, "You're the defender of the weak/You comfort those in need/You lift us up on wings like eagles." I love the fact that in declaring this about our God, we are also hearing a call for our own lives--to be defenders of the weak and comforters for those who need it.

We then introduced "Let Me Sing" by Todd Fields. I've been teaching this song in our acoustic worship time on Wednesday nights, and having that core group really helps to teach it to the larger congregation. I love the lyric of this song. We have all kinds of reasons to sing to our God, and we ought to be singing "louder than creation" for His glory.

We followed that up and finished the set with "Lord of All" by Kristian Stanfill. This is another incredible song. There is something truly life-changing and powerful about declaring the sovereignty, might, and glory of our great King.

We came back for invitation with "Center" by Charlie Hall and Co. I love the passage in Colossians from which this song comes, so it's easy to love this song. I played it with the cut capo, and my guitar was really singing on this one. It was one of those moments where everything was right, and in the quiet time of reflection for our people, I could hear the harmonics just ringing as I finger-picked the introduction to the song, and then as we came in all together, it was a beautiful moment.

It felt like a great day, especially considering that it was the Spring Forward Sunday. The people were with it, and God was at work. We'll repeat "Let Me Sing" this next week, as we continue to teach it to our people. Rehearsal last night was fantastic, so I'm really excited about this week.


1. "Faithful One" by Bill Horn (me)
2. "Everlasting God" by Brenton Brown/Ken Riley
3. "Let Me Sing" by Todd Fields
4. "Lord of All" by Kristian Stanfill
5. "Center" by Charlie Hall and Co.

Have a great week!

you can see other leaders' sunday set lists at http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/03/08/sunday-setlists-33/

check it out!

Grace and Peace,
Bill

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Progressive Worship 3/1/09

This week, we focused on forgiveness:

1. "Your Grace is Enough" Maher/Tomlin
2. "Because of Your Love" Paul Baloche/Brenton Brown
3. "Unchanging" Tomlin
4. "Jesus Paid It All" add. chorus  by Alex Nifong
5. "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" add. chorus by Chris Tomlin

This was a "tried-and-true" week for us. The people were singing, and the Lord continues to grow His people and give them more freedom to worship. We are changing the culture from spectating to worshiping!

Bill


www.billhornband.com
www.myspace.com/billhornband


Thursday, February 26, 2009

Songs from Progressive Worship 02/22/09

Here's what we did last week for our worship time at 930:

1.  "You Are" by Todd Fields
2. "Let God Arise" by Chris Tomlin
3. "Marvelous Light" by Charlie Hall
4. "Beautiful the Blood" by Steve Fee

We really focused on the holiness of God, combined with His amazing mercy. We can find comfort in knowing the Lord over all of creation gave Himself as a ransom for us. This is love.

I'm excited about this coming week. We're centering on forgiveness, and you know you can't go wrong there!

much love,
bill