The Method to My Madness!

I spent a lot of time planning this year for the Easter service. I would dare say that I have never put as much time and effort into planning a service as I did with Easter. It's not that I don't plan out each service, but there was something different about this year. I'm not sure why. But the Lord stirred in my heart to go all out.

I didn't set awesome as my goal, I set EPIC as the goal - quick side note - apparently Katie and I use that at least once in EVERY conversation we have with someone.

Really I joke. I think there was a small part of me that wanted to do something big that Genesis had never seen before. However, my real goal was to tell the story of salvation. Not just the parts about how Jesus died and rose again, but how it affects/effects us. Affection and effection are not the same word. Affection refers to the emotional side of things, effect refers to how it causes change.

So, after that long intro, we can now move on to "how did I do that?"

I created a New Orleans style funeral.

Wait...did he just say...erm....

Yes, that's exactly what I said. If you've never heard about the New Orleans style funeral then your missing out. Personally, it's exactly the way I want people to celebrate me. New Orleans style funerals start out with a slow down-trodden song. Basically, you allow yourselves to mourn your friends passing. By the time you leave though, your singing a happy tune and celebrating.

I took that theme and modified it to a church setting. We started out the day with Death in His Grave by John Mark McMillan. If you haven't heard this guy, do your ears a favor and buy his album. We had been singing this song for a month straight because I wanted everyone to be familiar with the tune. However, we had been holding back the song from where it really wanted to go.

If you've never seen the video of JMM doing this song, it's pretty incredible, and really served as the inspiration for the entire service.

Next up, we transitioned from somber, to joyful and celebrated the resurrection with My Savior Lives by New Life Worship. We had never done this song before in Genesis, and it was about 50/50 as to whether anyone would know it. I was blown away by how well it was received. The choir killed this song. I was blown away by how much energy they brought. People in Genesis were worshipping more than I had ever seen before. Kudos to the choir.

Afterwards, we broke into A New Hallelujah by Paul Baloche and 800 other people. Ok, maybe not 800, but it's hilarious when you start looking at who writes songs. It seems like once you become a worship leader, everyone will write songs with you. This song fit in such a beautiful way. When you come to grips with the cross, you get a new song in your heart. You've been redeemed and you can't help but sing about it. At least, that's what I think.

Next, we broke into Hosanna by Hillsong. We do a modified version of the Passion version, but they are all pretty much the same. Hosanna is an old Hebrew word and can have a bunch of different meanings. The old school meaning is "please save" or "come save" and is what the people of Israel shouted to Jesus as he was riding in to Jerusalem a short while before they murdered him. It now is usually used in the context of praise. Kind of like the spiritual "Woohoo!" The key line for me in this song is, "Break my heart for what breaks Yours/everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause" Once you've been given that new hallelujah, you can't help but ask for God to change your focus from petty things, to what God hurts for.

Finally, after you've gone through all of that, you begin to see the cross in a new beautiful way. You see God's glory, power, and mercy, but you also see His love. Now, I'm not going to break down the cross to being simply about God's love for mankind. I think that makes it to small and ultimately changes the purpose to be about us. However, I think that to say that God didn't display His love on the cross also changes the intended purpose. The truth is that God displayed to us individually His love. And it's a heavy burden. It's like a hurricane and I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.

I can't tell you how badly I wish I wrote that...

No, it's by John Mark McMillan again and it's called How He Loves. Most people know the song because of David Crowder and Jesus Culture, but he's the original writer/performer. It is firmly seated as my own personal heart-song. No, not the dancing penguin sort of heart-song, but the real cry of my heart. Like, if I only had one song to play to the world and tell them how I felt about God and my time on earth, I would sing that song. And yes, that's pretty much a line from "Walk the Line". I don't come up with anything original, I just borrow from everyone else.

The Bible tells us that we should always be ready to give an account for the hope that lies within us. My goal on Easter was to tell that story in a creative way that caught your attention.

Thanks for reading.