I encourage anyone in the Worship Arts Ministry here at the Church at Severn Run to take advantage of these free resources. You can listen to and view the notes from last years WorshipGOD08 conference.

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=A2345-00-51

Enjoy!

Job 37 Video

Job 37

Wonderful Palm Sunday

824 people joined in worship at Severn Run on Palm Sunday! It was a great day. Everyone did an awesome job! I can’t tell you the number of people who have shared that they or someone they know were moved in a profound way spiritually through the worship. Thanks for your commitment to the Lord and the Worship Ministry.

Happy Birthday Maureen!

Everyone of you who know her know what a special individual she is. She would do anything for you. All with a true servant heart. Hope you had a blessed birthday, Maureen.

Worship This Weekend

Thanks to the whole team for your leadership in worship this weekend. The Women’s Conference was great! Thanks ladies for your inspirational worship. You ladies inspire me every year as you gather to worship and study. Thank you for allowing the guys on the team to share these moments with you.

The addition of the horn section on Sunday was exciting. The guys in the horn section are ready for more challenges. Here we go! Praise God.

Choir your spirit and sound this week were inspiring. You looked like you really meant it. I am really excited about Palm Sunday and Easter.

Have a Great Week!

Oops! Wrong Blog

Sorry about the previous blog to this site. It should have been posted to my personal blog at http://deanmo.wordpress.com. Thanks to you all for your prayers and encouraging words.

Meeting the Doctor

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I will be returning to Johns Hopkins to meet with Dr. Leharu. Our understanding at this point is that he will be sharing their plan for my treatment to attack this cancer in the liver.

Pray for Dr. Leharu, Dr. Herman, and Anna Howard (research nurse) to have the greatest wisdom as to what to do. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God for providing me with the best care possible.

I am feeling good, however, a little tired today. Pray for my strength and blood counts. Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragements. I love your comments and read every one.

Profile of a Great Choir Member

This spring we will begin work on some Easter songs that were arranged by J. Daniel Smith. He recently shared his list of ten characteristics of a great choir member. As in baseball not all of us “bat a thousand” on every point, but nonetheless they remain great goals to set before us.

1) A great choir member loves the Lord and loves to sing. These are the two basic requirements to sing in the Severn Run Worship Choir. There is simply a joy about the choir member who possesses these two passions. They have fallen in love with the One Who has placed the song in their heart.

2) A great choir member is faithful. It’s no secret that we can’t build a worship ministry on people who aren’t there! Many people with the best of intentions just can’t make it to choir rehearsal, but J. Daniel reminds them that “people vote with their feet.” You make it clear where your commitment is by where your feet take you.

3) A great choir member is prompt. Ouch! The old adage is still true: “early is on time, and on time is late.”

4) A great choir member gets along well with others. The great choir member knows how to get beyond themselves and reach out to others.

5) A great choir member cooperates well with group efforts. Being part of a group requires often laying down your individualistic ideas and agendas…for the sake of the group at large.

6) A great choir member is committed to learning the music well. Excellence is valued. Great choir members want to get it right and want the musical presentation to be the best it possibly can be. They will go the extra mile.

7) A great choir member is committed to prayer. Devotional living is a priority and is evidenced by the fruit of their lives. (Can I get an AMEN!, Gwen.)

A great choir member is expressive and effective in communicating. No longer is it good enough to just stand there and sing. For the audience to fully grasp the impact of your presentation, you need great choir members who will pour their heart into effectively communicating the lyric with sincerity. No one is asking for hype or artificiality. Just think about the lyric you are singing and sing it like you mean it…because you do!

9) A great choir member is diligent in the rehearsal process. They are teachable and can focus. The hardest part of any choir director’s job in a rehearsal is not teaching or conducting the music. It’s getting and maintaining the focus of attention of the choir members. Sometimes that is easier than other times.

10) A great choir member is accountable. I know of no organization of quality that does not demand some appropriate measure of accountability. In this day of voice mail and email, it’s easy to let the leadership know if you need to be absent from a rehearsal or service. The ultimate point to this is: Never leave the leadership questioning your level of commitment. To me (J. Daniel), that is the full responsibility of the individual choir member. We all have situations and circumstances that take us away from time to time, but there’s really no excuse for not letting the leadership know why you are not at your post of duty. Don’t forget that the leader is counting on you.

I (Dean) feel confident in sharing this list with you because you are an awesome choir that is working on everyone of these characteristics. Let’s continue into 2008 singing with “One Voice for an Audience of One”!

Awesome Choir!

Words just don’t adequately describe what you guys mean to me and my family. You have so blessed us this year. Thank you so much for the gifts and your expression of love.

Sunday was such a blessing as you shared in song. Your harmonies were beautiful. And especially knowing that your hearts match the message and the harmonies of the songs you sang.

Enjoy the Christmas season with family and friends. We will return to rehearsals on January 9th. Easter comes early this year so we will get right into the Easter songs when we return.

Hey Choir You are Awesome!

What a great job of leading in worship on Sunday! I can’t tell you the number of people who have mentioned how blessed they have been in worship this fall when you lead. Thank you for your servant hearts! Continue to pray that others will be obedient to God’s call and come join us in singing His praises!

Just a reminder that we will be having choir this week. You should still have time to give out some candy and connect with your neighbors before we begin. There will also be a special time of worship in the atrium at 6:30 pm.