Here’s a hypothetical situation for you, the 6 people that read this, to chew on:

Say there’s a worship leader, we’ll call him Steve, and he’s the worship leader of the college age group at his church. And lets say that his group was putting on a worship event at their church in which anyone and everyone was welcome to attend. It was a big two hour event with prayer and tons of music.

During the planning of said event Dus… I mean, Steve had this hymn that he really liked, which is something because he isn’t really a “hymn guy”. Anyway he put down the hymn in the set order, we’ll just call the hymn “How Deep.” He also added the hymn because he knew that it was one of the band member’s favorite song. And knowing that, he offered to let the band member lead How Deep.

Now the week before the event How Deep was played at the evening service at Steve’s church. This was during a time of communion so Steve was having a heart-to-heart with God at the time of the song. And during the song he realized that it wasn’t the song he thought it was and that he had added the song to the set list thinking that it was a different one. We’ll call the hymn he meant to put in “Before the Throne”.

So during communion and in the mass panic in Steve’s mind as he realized that he just inserted the wrong song into the set, but didn’t want to change the order because it was pretty set, he had a little dialogue with God. This is a rough account of what went down.

Steve: Oh crap.

God: What’s up?

Steve: I added this song for the worship night thinking it was a different one!

God: Uh oh…

Steve: You’re telling me! Is there anyway you can still work your stuff and make everything turn out good?

God: I’ll see what I can do.

Steve: What does that mean?

God: …..

Steve: Hello?

God: ….

Steve: Hey, you still there?

God’s Voicemail: Hey it’s the Alpha and Omega. I’m busy at the moment but if you leave your name, location, and reason for calling I’ll be sure to get back to you soon.

Steve: That was weird.

Communion Server: Communion is over, Steve. Go sit down.

Okay, okay, so that might not have been exactly how it went down, but that’s the spark notes version of it. Long story short, the hymn that Steve accidently put in to the set actually turned out to be probably the best song of the night and it really drew people in. Steve was grateful for what God did, and immediately added the correct song, Before the Throne, to the list of songs for the next worship night.

Steve sure lucked out on that one,
Dustin

p.s. This was all hypothetical of course.

p.s.s. No seriously, it was all hypothetical.

p.s.s.s. Okay fine. I admit it, I’m Steve, and I put How Deep the Father’s Love For Us in the set list for Heart of Worship III thinking that it was actually Before the Throne of God Above. So what? Who hasn’t had an incident in which they put the wrong song in a worship set? It happens all the time I bet.
_____________________________________________

yeah….

d

That night was such a great opportunity and God’s hand was all over what went on, not just with this song. Hopefully this is the first of many songs that will be written by this community of worshipers that will draw people into the presence of God.

Dustin

Thanks to Inga who was in town and had her camera to record all of the footage I used in this video. There’s another one that’ll be posted tomorrow or Monday that’ll have the debut of Come to Us on it.

Dustin

There were a number of things that made this one different from the previous ones. We moved the event into the sanctuary, we moved it to a Sunday night following the 5:00 service, we collaborated with Jeff to incorporate prayer stations that would engage both young people as well as adults.

It’d be too hard for me to go through chronologically, song by song, as to what happened when, but from the responses we’ve been hearing from those who attended is that this might possibly have been the best event so far.

Some of the coolest moments of the night from my perspective was singing Healer; it’s a song that’s unfamiliar to most of the adults there but the level of participation and willingness to go for it with a new song was something cool to be a part of. It Is Well With My Soul was amazing. That song is possibly my favorite hymn and from what I could hear on stage, just about everyone was BELTING that song. And probably the most personal for me, the debut of Come to Us, the song that I wrote. I was super nervous going into that song because there’s something very vulnerable about taking words that you wrote down and a melody that you put over them and using it to lead others in worship of our Saviour. It got a very good response and I’ve heard comments that that was one of the best moments of the night. And those comments are more of a confirmation that the song really was God breathed and it was His intention for that song to be born.

Sunday was a great night of people encountering their Creator. It’s such an honor to do what we get to do and I look forward to the next time we gather together to worship like that and see more of God’s kingdom come.

Darkness is fading now in the light of His name

Dustin

The actual event is tomorrow at 6:45 at Community Covenant, and as of right now my throat hurts and thus my voice is extremely-not-good. Please pray for the event as a whole, as well as for all of the band members: me, Jesse, Blaine, Jordan, and Ricky that God would just strengthen us and work through us, and that none of what goes on tomorrow would be about us but that it would be about encountering God. Pray also for the intercession for the event and for strength and protection for those who are interceding. And last, pray for the ones who will be attending, that their hearts will be softened and open and ready for what God has for them.

I hope to see you there tomorrow,

Dustin

I was able to write this song in a couple hours of writing spread out over a monthlong period. I feel that this song almost wrote itself; I think that this is because of God’s hand in the start of the process and this being a song that needed to be written. In the last week, the finishing touches were put on it as I met with Jesse to show it to him. We tweaked a couple things, changed a few words, and came up with an order that we like for it to flow and sound and feel the way that it’s intended to. I’m very pleased with how this process has worked out and with the finished product. I’ve written really bad songs before, and this isn’t like anything I’ve written before. It’s real. It’s raw.

The official debut of the song will be at the Heart of Worship event: More than Conquerers on January 18 at Community Covenant. It’ll be one piece of what is going to be an amazing night of worship and encountering God. I can’t wait to see what God does with this song, the worship night, and with this whole songwriting thing.

Thanks, Mindy, for reminding me to post this update. I hope the news was to your liking .

Dustin

It reads:

Would you like to know what one of the things I like most about being a worship leader is? I will take the fact that you are still reading as a, “Yes, Dustin, please tell me.”

I love being able to look out and see people encounter and interact with Jesus. I love looking back seeing my band totally caught up in the moment playing and singing like it’s just them worshiping alone and giving it everything they have, holding back nothing of themselves. That is what I love.

It’s one of the best things I get to experience as a worship leader. To see God coming down and touching people and people responding with all-out abandon.

Earlier tonight at the second Heart of Worship night at our church I got to see this and it moves me deeply every time. So my words to everyone who attended tonight is this: Thank you for loving God like you do. Thank you for allowing me to lead you in worship. Thank you for jumping and dancing at the start and moving into arms raised adoration and praise. And thank you for being vulnerable in stepping out in worship like you never have.

And to my band: Thank you all for allowing me to be your band leader. For allowing me the opportunity to work along side you guys (and girl) and play music that touches the very heart of God and the very heart of us. You guys are amazing.

I love what I do.

I wrote this six months ago, and when I read this, I think of all the big moments that I’ve had as a worship leader so far and how those have impacted me as a leader, worshiper, and Christian. From Unite, where hundreds of youth from the Eagle River were gathered together and singing with one voice and one heart. From the Heart of Worship series and seeing people use the time there to really break free and worship like they’ve never worshiped before. From the opportunity to lead worship at all three of our church’s services one Sunday in October. From our Jr High retreat this spring where a lot of those young people had their first real encounter with God through worship. Looking back, those worship times were some of the best I had as a worship leader. Because it was broken people encountering a holy God and being washed clean.

And one of the best parts of leading worship and being on stage in times like this is that I get to see people’s faces as they encounter Jesus. I get to see the vulnerability they show as they let go of something they’ve been holding onto for years. I get to see the joy on their face as they experience God in a powerful and real way. I get to see the tears roll down the face as the Holy Spirit just loves on them. It’s one of the best parts of the job.

And I love what I do.

Dustin

I’m looking forward to the next one!

Dustin

It’s going to be an absolutely incredible night!

Dustin

la la la…

Dustin