SLAM - 06.28.09

Sunday Set List:
Neverending - David Crowder Band
No One Like You - David Crowder Band
From the Inside Out - Hillsong United
You Never Let Go - Matt Redman

Matt and the band brought it this morning. Over the course of VBS week, they went from being a band that struggled to play to a click to confidently locking tempo. Their playing is at a whole new level. I'm so proud of their progress. It's also helps that they are so fun to work with. Awesome job this morning!

Last ALTAER of the semester!

Tonight was our last regular ALTAER service for our high
school students tonight. The band has come so far this year.
It's incredible to think about what is in store for next year!

(left to right) back row: Eric H./Bass, Tommy C./Tech, Kelsey A./Tech,
Jonathan N./Keys, Casey H./Vocals&Acoustic, Scottie F./Vocals & Electric,
front row: Brady F./Drums, Trevor M./chillin'

Tonight's Setlist:
Take It All - Hillsong United
I Will Go - Starfield
Solution - Hillsong United
for fun we changed it up and had
Casey lead "Solution" - sounded great!
Find A World - Jami Smith

Look up bass player in the dictionary
and this is the picture you will find:

Last epicenter service of the semester

EPICENTER BAND:

(left to right) Harrison Hinson-Keys, Matt Bryant-Drums, Jake Sumner-Vocals/Acoustic Guitar, Andrew Von Essen - Acoustic Guitar, Hannah Sumner - Vocals, Jeff Nordeman-Bass, Sam Elgin-Electric Guitar

Tonight was our final weekly epicenter service before summer starts. We will have 2 summer services June 7 and July 12th. Then, we'll kick things back up with our regular schedule beginning on August 9th. It's hard to believe that we've had 17 services since we started on January 4th. It's been an exciting journey so far and I'm excited to see where the next season will take us!

The band did an incredible job tonight. We have been working on integrating loops and clicks. Tonight was the first set that we have done entirely with clicks on every song. It really tightened us up and kept us from speeding up on several of the songs.

Set List:
Happy Day - loop
Spring of Life - loop
Salvation is Here
None But Jesus - loop
From the Inside Out
Kingdom Come - loop

The band has done amazing this semester. I'm so thankful to be working with such talented musicians and great people. They have served faithfully this semester and it has been a joy to work with them on a weekly basis. I'm glad we have a break for a few weeks but I'm really looking forward to us coming back together in the fall!

the wire / SLAM 12/14/08

The band was phenomenal this morning! Not only was the music great, everyone did a great job leading worship. Today was by far, the most fun I've had playing in a while. This morning really set the bar for how we want every week at SLAM/the wire to be.

Lineup:
Brady F. - Drums
Jake S. - Bass
Scottie F. - Electric Guitar
Jon N. - Keys
Kelsey A. - Vocals, Acoustic
Trevor M. - Vocals, Acoustic

Setlist:
I Will Go - Starfield (new song!)
Sing Sing Sing - Chris Tomlin
Consuming Fire - Tim Hughes
To Speak Your Name - Jami Smith
From the Inside Out - Hillsong United

I'm so proud of the band for learning "I Will Go" this week! For a new song, they did an incredible job and this will be one song that we will continue to use as we head into 30 Hour Famine and Mission Trips in the spring.

the wire / SLAM 12/07/08

Band Lineup:
Eric I. - Drums
Jon N. - Bass
Trevor H. - Keys
Sam E. - Electric Guitar
Brady F. - Acoustic/BGV's
Matt P. - Acoustic/Lead Vocals
Jenny P. and Hannah P. - Lead Vocals

Set List:
"Neverending" - DCB
"Happy Day" - Fee
"How He Loves" - Kim Walker
"Hosanna" - Hillsong United
"From the Inside Out" - Hillsong United

This morning was quite an adventure! As we make the transition to a completely student-led worship team, there are a few setbacks along the way. The Wire had a few rough moments but it was like there was a totally different band playing at SLAM! Everyone really pulled it together and it is amazing to see this process unfolding.

We added a new song today - "Neverending" by David Crowder Band. It turned out really well - Matt P. did a great job learning it this week along with the rest of the band. Trevor H.'s electronic key sounds were awesome. Brady F. moved from behind the drums to play acoustic guitar and sing for the first time today. Sam E.'s electric guitar parts on "Hosanna" took the song to a whole new level! Jenny P. really got everyone participating in "Happy Day". Hannah P. brought the house down with "Hosanna". Eric I. nailed the drum beats for all the songs today and made some great smooth transitions. Jonathan N. did a great job jumping in on bass and gave a great spoken intro to "Hosanna".

the wire / SLAM 11/9/08

I'm not gonna lie - today was a little rough. We did a few familiar songs but tried to change them up a little bit. Practice went a little long but we were able to cover everything.

Setlist:
Prince of Peace (You Are Holy)
Here is Our King - David Crowder Band
How He Loves - Jenny solo on acoustic/vocals (SLAM only)
How Great is Our God
Mighty to Save - Hillsong

Band lineup:
Drums - Eric I.
Bass - Jonathan N.
Keys - Trevor H.
Electric Guitar - Sam E.
Acoustic/Vocals - Jake S. and Jenny P.

I really liked the beginning of this set! "Prince of Peace" and "Here is Our King" were both in the same key and tempo so we just flowed right from one to the other. Trevor H. had a really cool electronic keyboard that announced this transition. We also changed up "Prince of Peace" by dropping back to just drums and bass for one chorus (Eric and Jonathan sounded awesome during this part!) and then building it up. In "Here is Our King" we did the first bridge down instead of really big, built up to another chorus and big bridge and then ended with an almost completely a capella. These songs flowed really well together both musically and with ideas communicated. This set was my favorite part of both services. It was a lot of fun to change things up a bit!

During SLAM - our high school service - Jenny did a solo acoustic version of "How He Loves" as people came down front and placed their offerings in a basket set on the front of the stage. This part of the service was meant to be more a performance section but I was surprised by how many people jumped right in and sang along. Jenny did a great job as usual. We don't have "special music" very often so it was cool to mix things up a little bit and give people permission to just sit and take in the lyrical content of this song. We'll have to do this sort of thing again sometime soon!

Also, in SLAM we played "How Great is Our God" before the talk. We haven't done this song in a while and it was fun to bring it back out again.

In both services, the talk went long so the post-talk set was the hardest as we were re-arranging the song on the fly. At the Wire we planed to end with 2 songs but we had "How Great is Our God." We ended both services with "Mighty to Save." Sam E. did an awesome job on the guitar parts for this song. He nailed the the intro solo and made up some really tasty parts for the instrumental sections. Everyone did a good job following but we still need to work on playing spontaneously.

Overall, it was a good day - people participated well in both services. There is room for improvement but I'm excited that our musicians are playing at this level!

ALTAER - 11/6/08

Tonight's setlist:
Solution - Hillsong United
True Love - Phil Wickham
None But Jesus - Brooke Fraser
Find a World - Jami Smith

Band Members:
Drums - Brady F.
Bass - Jonathan N.
Keys - Trevor H.
Electric Guitar - Sam E.
Acoustic Guitar / Vocals - Jake S.
Vocals - Hannah S.

Tonight's theme was missions - we're getting ready for the big parent's meeting next week. We started off upbeat with Sam's electric work on "Solution" joined by Brady's drumming. We paused for a minute as I introduced "True Love" - a new song for us. The idea of this song is simple - just a retelling of the gospel - but the imagery is great! I love the chorus of this song:
"The earth was shaking in the dark, All creation felt the Father's broken heart,
Tear's were filling heaven's eyes, the day that true love died, the day that true love died.
When blood and water hit the ground, walls we couldn't move came crashing down,
We were free and made alive, the day that true love died, the day that true love died."

Even though it was a new song, people seemed to catch on and participate. From here we made a seamless transition into "None But Jesus" thanks to Trevor's keyboard part. This song is still fairly new for us but people were ready to sing at this point and there was an intense moment of worship during this song. We made another keyboard transition into the familiar "Find a World" and people really sang out on this one.

The band played really tight. God's presence was evident. People responded. Altogether, it was a great night.

SHIFT - 11/05/08

Last night's setlist:
Beautiful One
Blessed Be Your Name

The middle schoolers were as energetic as ever last night! The challenge is channeling all that energy into an authentic worship experience. Kelsey led "Beautiful One" to start the set and everyone was participating pretty well but by the end of the song many of the students had started talking and playing around.

It took a minute to get their attention back but we stopped completely before starting the next song and I took a minute to share the backstory for "Blessed Be Your Name" about how Job responded in worship whenever he received terrible news. I challenged the students to worship like Job regardless of their situation or circumstances. This brief challenge really seemed to focus everyone for the last song.

Can't wait for next week. I'm trying to figure out how to briefly teach each week about worship in order to move the students from thinking they are at a concert watching a performance to actually participating in a worship experience.

Kelsey A. and Trevor M. were on vocals and drums this week. We also had a few student band members playing with us - Harrison B. on electric, Julia K on vocals, Chris LaMotte on keys and Michelle F on bass. The band sounded great and it is so exciting to see the new SHIFT band coming togehter. I couldn't do it without the help of the high school band members and it's been so cool to see them step up and lead!