MBC- Prince William

You know how certain songs will bring you back to a certain memory? Certain songs that instantaneously transport you back to high school (which is not always a good thing), or to your wedding, or to college, etc. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

One of the songs from this weekend’s set does that for me. To be honest, several of them do. O Praise Him reminds me of Frontline in the Smith Center. I can see a picture of the band doing that song. Well, Mighty to Save has an even deeper association for me.

Hillsong’s Mighty to Save was the unofficial theme song for my trip to Cambodia two years ago. I hear that song and I instantly think of the girls who touched my life on that trip. I think of the girls in the restoration center who wanted to paint my fingernails. The ones who had been freed from the prison of human trafficking. I think of the poverty of the children living in slums very similar to our garbage dumps. And I think of how God is working in Cambodia through the volunteers and non-profits there. That trip really taught me about God’s hugeness and how spoiled we are in the U.S. He’s bigger than all of the issues facing Cambodia and He’s bigger than all the issues facing you. I love that a song can remind me of so many lessons I’ve learned.

As you’re getting ready for our service tomorrow, I’d encourage you to think about how big God is. He can move mountains. His light shines in the darkest of prisons. He is Mighty to Save.

Everyone needs compassion,
Love that’s never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The Hope of nations.

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King…Jesus (x2)

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

My Saviour, you can move the mountains,
You are mighty to save,
You are mighty to save.
Forever, Author of Salvation,
You rose and conquered the grave,
Yes you conquered the grave

When we think of worship, we usually think of singing some songs in church. Maybe you even think about singing along with your favorite Hillsong, Mercy Me, or Ben Lashey CD. It’s interesting to note that the first time the word “worship” is used in the Bible is in the story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:5).

To give you a little backstory, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were childless for many years, in spite of a great desire for kids. Then, when Abraham was 75, the Lord promised him a child. Naturally, Abraham and Sarah were a little stunned. Back in those days, they couldn’t walk down the street to the nearest fertility clinic. People in their 70’s didn’t tend to give birth. By their ages, they had pretty much given up on ever having children.

But the Lord is faithful and keeps His promises (Num. 23:19). Sarah did get pregnant and gave birth to Isaac.

So what does this have to do with worship? A lot. Imagine for a minute your child. If you don’t have kids, think of a child you love - or your dog - or anyone you love. Now imagine that you had prayed that God would bring you a child for more than 50 years before you gave up believing it would ever happen. Imagine how much you would love the child that God brought you.

Now imagine that God told you to sacrifice that child as a burnt offering. We often skim over what that really means. Instructions for a burnt offering can be found in Leviticus 1. (That chapter made me even more thankful of Christ’s sacrifice - there is no way I could even offer a cow as a burnt offering). Essentially, the animals were dismembered and then placed on the altar. There were a few other steps including draining the blood and washing the organs, but I’ll spare you. How would you react if God asked you to do this to your child?

Abraham amazes me. He didn’t even question God. I question God about things a lot more insignificant than offering up my child. He accepted God’s command and brought Isaac up to the mountain.

His obedience is worship. He trusted that God would provide. That God’s love for him was bigger than his love for his son. That is worship. No songs were sung and yet Abraham worshipped in a far more significant way than I have ever worshipped.

As the story continues, God provided a lamb for the sacrifice. Isaac was spared. Abraham had many descendants, including Christ. But that’s not the point of this entry. Abraham’s reverence for the Lord is true worship. And that’s the kind of attitude I want to have.

We’ve gotten a few requests to list the worship songs in the weekly program. We don’t do that for several reasons. First, because we want you worshipping, not worrying about what the next song is. =) More practically, because our copy center prints for the entire church body (all the campuses, Frontline, The Rock, The Gathering, etc), so the deadline for the weekly bulletin is actually over one week out from the weekend it will be used. We do plan ahead, but we often make adjustments in the set based on what’s happening in the other campuses, what direction Lon’s sermon makes, and what will flow best musically. Sometimes we don’t know until we’ve tried the songs together with the whole band.

So we won’t be printing the songs in the program. But, I do post the worship sets on our web site every Sunday. Here’s the link. Feel free to make it a “favorite”. If you have more questions or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!

Last Week’s Worship Set

We also have a link on this page.

Check out some pictures from our launch!

From left to right: Me (Producer, Director of Creative Arts), Alyce (Worship Leader), Mark (Campus Pastor), Denny Harris (MBC Executive Pastor), Kenny Choi (Director of Adult Ministries), Rachel (Director of Ministry Teams),Mary (Director of Kid’s Quest)… not pictured Thomas Kovas (Director of The Rock)

If you’re wondering what the third song we did in worship last weekend was, we have a resource for you!

Each week, the titles and author of the worship songs we used during Sunday’s service will be available here. On some occasions, the artist who recorded the version we used will be listed. We hope this will help you in your own private worship time.

Mark used an example this weekend comparing MBC Prince William to a space shuttle taking off. That’s exactly how I’m feeling right now. Months of preparation have come together, culminating in last weekend’s opening day service. Many of you were there for the service. I loved seeing you all there and experiencing your excitement. It’s likely you had no idea of everything that was going on behind the scenes, so here’s your backstage, all-access pass to the Producer’s view of the MBC Prince William launch.

7:36 am I walk into the auditorium to a flurry of activity. Musicians are plugging their instruments in. Choir members are chatting and getting ready. Shirley is printing sermon notes and finetuning the MediaShout slides. Craig and Aaron are busy setting up mics.

8:00 am Prayer time. The staff and volunteers gather at the stage to pray for the service and for the people coming.

8:05 am Rehearsal time. Alyce and the band run through all the songs again. Denny Harris is happy I didn’t wear a hat this morning. I remind him that I can look like a grownup when needed.

8:35 am Time to rehearse “While I’m Waiting”. Brian’s mic doesn’t work. This is pointed out by practically everyone in the room. Aaron stays calm. We swap out mics and everything is fixed.

8:40 am Theoretically, doors should be open, but we still have to run “God of this City” with the video and Tysons. Take one: Not quite. Ushers are getting impatient. Take two: Close. We’re out of time, so we open doors. Praise God for Kris Campesi and Rachel Fabian for keeping the ushers calm. Mental note: make sure to finish on time next week.

8:59 am Band enters stage. Choir gets in place. And we’re off!

9:20 am Worship is coming to a close. We are a full 3 minutes ahead of where Tysons is. This presents an issue since we need them in order to do “God of this City”. Denny is commissioning the staff. Oh wait, I need to be onstage. Please Lord, where’s the green light saying we’re okay? Denny starts praying…. and there’s the light. Praise God!

9:35 am Okay, we’re in the sermon. I can relax a little. I start getting messages from Tysons asking how many people are here. They’re sending us more bulletins? I didn’t even know we were running low!

10:15 am Service is over. What do I need to tell the band for next time? I check in with Alyce. We attempt to work on several video issues, but it proves to be too much to do between services so Dave and I make a note to fix it during the week.

10:30 am Bulletins arrive. Praise God the attendance is so great that we needed them! Rachel, Janette and the team furiously stuff bulletins while other ushers hand out bulletins to people.

10:45 am Service number two kicks off. Alyce makes a face, but I don’t find out until later that was because she had Tysons’ music in her inear monitors!

10:50 am Already more people at the service than there were at the 9:00 am service!

11:10 am Staff Commissioning… green light is on. We’re ready for the offering song.

11:15 am “God of this City” is sung simultaneously at MBC Tysons, The Edge, MBC Loudoun, and MBC Prince William. “Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done….”

11:20 am Lon’s sermon. Vision message part 1.

11:50 am Mark dedicates “While I’m Waiting” to all the people who have been faithfully serving the Lord while waiting for Prince William to open.

12:00 pm Services are done! Time to clean up. Wow… hard to believe that we’ve actually opened! All in all, we had 220 children and 880 adults in services, many more than we’d expected. I’m really pleased with how it all went. Of course, there are details that we’ll work on and improve upon, but for opening weekend, God truly provided!

I can’t tell you how personally supported I felt by the team at Tysons, Frontline, and Loudoun. I got phone calls, emails, and texts all morning asking how it was going and letting me know they were praying for us. I know that Jim, Todd, and Lon all prayed for us during their services. I’m honored to be a part of the large family that is McLean Bible Church.

And now… we’re open. Our challenge now is to maintain the momentum that has been created. All the preparations weren’t just about September 13th. They were about creating a church that is ongoing. We have services this Sunday, next Sunday, and every week after that. People need to hear the message of Jesus Christ. And that’s why we’re here.

The vision of McLean Bible Church is to make an impact on secular Washington, DC with the message of Jesus Christ.

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I’m praising God for all He did today. All in all, we had 882 attendees between the two services. We had an amazing group of volunteers and staff serving all throughout the building, from parking to Kid’s Quest to the band. I’m excited to see what happens in the coming weeks!

Here’s the story from Todd Adkins, Frontline Executive Pastor, and Katy Kirk, Frontline PW Director of Women’s Small Groups.

Todd and Katy at Opening Day

My friend Ryan posed an interesting question that I thought I should share with our arts community. If you work/serve during a service, do you need another service “just for you”? Let’s be honest, we all have a lot to juggle during the service. Our tech crew has buttons to push, faders to move, cues to catch. Our onstage folks have to remember things like where to stand, when to come out, service orders, etc. It’s easy to be distracted. Once the sermon arrives, it’s often a chance to catch our breath and figure out what we need to change or adjust for the next service.

With all that going on, it’s easy to miss the sermon or not “worship” in the traditional sense. So do we need to go to another service, just for ourselves?

In my humble opinion, it’s not as important whether or not you go to a service somewhere else as it is whether or not you are spending your own personal time with the Lord. Worship is a lifestyle (1 Corinthians 10:31). Worship isn’t about singing some songs. You can go to church and never worship. You can listen to a sermon and not let it impact your heart. We need to be sure that we aren’t using our roles at church as our only connection to Christ. If going to another service somewhere helps you with that, by all means, go for it. But don’t think that going to another service on it’s own can substitute for spending quality time with the Lord.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and hear how you balance service with work. Leave a comment!