Sunday Set List 9/18/2011

Sunday Set List

Oh Happiness - David Crowder Band
Love Found Me - Revive
Earth is Yours - Gungor
By Faith - Keith and Kristyn Getty
Jericho - Trevor Morgan

Sunday Set List - September 11th, 2011

Hard to not think about the tragedies of ten years ago even as I simply type out the date and although we will not be focusing in on the issue we have chosen a lesson from the book of acts we feel speaks to this situation. In this lesson we find God speaking to Ananias telling him to reach out to his sworn enemy, Saul, who persecutes him and to give him aid. Crossing his path.

Heart wrenching if we apply it to our own times isn't it?

Save Me From Myself - Carpark North
I Will Follow - Chris Tomlin
What Joy (Psalm 146) - Sarah Emerson
We've a Story to Tell the Nations - Arr. Vicksburg
Send Me Out - Fee

As you probably noticed, each week is going to have at least two repeated songs and one new song until we've "broken in" most of our song list. We'll probably keep the song list compact for a while so that people feel like they can learn the music and sing along and then expand from there.

Sunday Set List 9/4/11

Not exactly our first "Sunday Set List" but it kind of feels like it. September 4th will be the first of our "Soft Launch" series in which we get to work out the "bugs" in the technology and deal with the difficulties of 4 services in the span of 4 hours. It seems weird for a church to be doing previews with a live audience but it is a lot more common than you might think. At least we won't be like Spiderman the musical which ran for 8 months of "previews" with live audiences before they officially opened.

Anyway, our plan is to essentially repeat these first 6 services when we open to the public on October 16th. Of course, if we're feeling moved by the spirit (or we realize some songs tank) then we will change things up a bit.

Set-list for Sunday, September 4th, 2011
Earth is Yours - Michael Gungor
Oh Happiness - David Crowder and Jack Parker
Save Me From Myself - Carpark North
Love Found me - Blink (Hanbury, Thompson, Tenkate, Hall and Ingram)
Beautiful Things - Lisa and Michael Gungor
I Will Follow - Chris Tomlin, Jason Ingram and Reuben Morgan

Artists Who Inspire Us

This post is dedicated to the artists who inspire us. Most of these will work their way into our "Sunday Set List" though some are either beyond our abilities or not really conducive to our gatherings and all of these artists have a strong spiritual element to their songs.


Gungor - Fronted by longtime songwriter, singer (not exactly in the mold of the singer/songwriter), guitarist, husband and band leader Michael Gungor; this band is one of our main models for what it means to be artists in this genre of music. In 2010 they were nominated for a grammy and though they were competing against two other groups on our list, including some friends of friends, we thought they should have gone home with the award. Their theology and their music are both intelligent and accessible which is a rare feat but they pull it off well. Their 2009 release Beautiful things changed the way we approach worship and music and we can't wait for their new record this fall. No other artist is more strongly represented in our repertoire than these guys.


Future of Forestry - Honestly, the fact that this band is from San Diego has nothing to do with why they are on this list. I (Juan) was turned on to them by fellow choir nerd/worship leader Jonathan Vevia and literally had one of those goose bump inducing experiences when I saw this video.

You can look for this to make it into our repertoire when the time is right.


Switchfoot - Again, we're honestly not playing hometown favorites here. Though this group puts forward what at one time was called "alternative" and now is essentially mainstream rock it is incredibly thoughtful and catchy and can speak to anyone, wherever they are on their faith journey. What more could you ask for in music? We have two cuts off of the last album in our song list and will likely add some new and some of their older stuff as time goes on.


David Crowder Band - Ok, I know our list is looking like a who's who of "contemporary christian" music but really, these guys deserve some respect. Their latest record,"Church Music" turns every expectation on it's head and although these guys are essentially alternative rockers it draws inspiration from pop/dance music. Genius and almost impossible to recreate on stage. That being said, you can expect to see some of this very soon....

Sadly their last two records will be released this Fall and then they will be disbanding though you can expect great things out of each of the members of this band.

Ok, this is where we get a little off of the beaten path.


Welcome Wagon - Highly influenced by Sufjan Stephens. Actually, it's almost like a side project of Sufjan as he acts as the produce and plays on their recordings. You'll find extensive use of real instruments, and lots of them and they aren't using autotune so it sounds even more real and natural along with what we like to call "gang vocals" meaning a bunch of people singing.


New York Hymn Project - An assortment of musicians that came together to record some of America's oldest hymns in what is both contemporary and almost timeless style. If you are a fan of the Civil Wars, Fleet Foxes or even Bon Iver you will probably find this very moving. What's more is that this record is available for free and any tips go to "Plywood People" a non-profit organization dedicated to helping homeless people.

Andy Gullahorn - If you like Glen Phillips or the singer/songwriter genre then you will love this guy.


Trevor Morgan - Another amazing singer/songwriter

We'd love to hear about the artists that inspire you, please comment below.

What's the point of Worship

What's the Point of Worship

A great article from Relevant Magazine about worship. The article quote two of our favorite worship leaders Lisa and Michael Gungor as well as the hugely successful Joel Houston of Hillsong Fame.

Set-list: Matsuri of Faith and Praise

Here is the set-list from our portion of the Matsuri of Faith and Praise in Torrance

You Won't Let Go - Israel Houghton/Gungor
Save Me From Myself - Carpark North
You Love is a Song - Switchfoot (Foreman)
Earth is Yours - Gungor
Beautiful Things - Gungor
*Say So - Gungor/Houghton

Skipped this one since we were running behind schedule.

Thank you Torrance and Faith UMC!

"Official" picture

How can a band picture be "official" with so many people missing from the photo?
For that matter, how can any picture be official with any band members missing?
Good questions, and I have one more: What is the official band anyway?

In Search of Grace is a fluid group, we change line-up and instrumentation to meet the needs of whatever event we are playing for and who is available. To accomplish this we essentially have two people at every position and may even have more down the road. This process is designed so that people don't get burned out once the band starts playing for weekly services and to have options if certain people are unavailable.

At this point I would say that there is sort of a core group that has been to the majority of events and rehearsals but even the those who have only participated once or twice or have expressed interest but haven't been able to join us yet are all equally part of the group. When we have enough people who are reliable and firmly rooted in the band we will likely split off and start multiple bands that would continue this vision.

We needed a picture that helped people understand what our band was about and now we have that, it's even possible that the next band picture would not include ANY of the people currently in the photo, and that's awesome.

Peace
Juan