Revive Us Again

This week was Revival at our church. Lee Dean was the evangelist an he did a great job. Music was by a different person or group each night.

On Monday, our Praise Team sang. The members singing were: Bethany, Sarah, Timmy, Alex and me.

On Tuesday, Jared Dean brought the special music. I had Tristan in the parlor so I didn't get to hear much. What I could hear sounded great.

On Wednesday, our choir sang. They sounded AMAZING! I was really nervous because this was the first special performance the choir had since I took over leadership.

On Thursday, the Big Branch Praise Team sang. They were really good and their piano player was unbelievably talented.

The whole week was a real blessing.

I'll Fly Away--Words & Music by Albert E. Brumley

Normally, I pray about which songs God thinks are right for that service and at some point I get the feeling that it is time to get my hymnal out and pick the songs.  This week, I never got the feeling.  Last night I figure it has to be done, so I got my book out and start looking.  Several songs stood out, but the ones I went with were "I'll Fly Away" and "What a Day That Will Be" with words and music by Jim Hill.  As I picked these songs it was like I had church in my room.  I got a real blessing.

When the choir went to go into the choir loft I found out that Rick, the guy who normally leads the congregational songs, was out of town.  This means I had to lead those as well, something I had never done before.  I can't remember what my first congregational song was (I was that nervous), but the second was "To God Be the Glory".  Halfway through the third verse I realize I have to tell everyone to shake hands.  All I know is that it ended with "Uh, yeah."  That was the low point of my first time doing music for the whole service.

For the special music, Karen Spurlock led the Youth and members of the praise team in singing "Holy is the Lord" and "Mighty to Save".  Karen led the music at Labor Day Camp.  Singing with the Youth was such a blessing.

Karen sang "How Great is Our God" for the invitational.  Another blessing.

Wonderful Grace of Jesus--Words and Music by Haldor Lillenas

I want to apologize. 2 weeks and I'm already behind. My husband is in the Army National Guard and his unit, the 201st Field Artillery Unit, deployed on Thursday and my son and I spent Monday-Thursday in a hotel with him.

Last Sunday we sang Wonderful Grace of Jesus and Victory in Jesus. Wonderful Grace of Jesus is my husband's favorite song so we had to sing it for his last service.

In addition to being his last service, we also had our son dedicated. Our pastor, Tim Arthur, did an awesome job! He said we weren't really dedicating our son, but ourselves to raising him as God would want. It was a really special and wonderful service.

Never Alone--Words by Ludie D. Pickett, Music by Fred Jackey

Yesterday was an unusual day.  Our piano player, Eric Himes is a crew member for the Herd Racing power boat which was competing Sunday for the National Championship.  As a result, his wife, and Children's Music Director, Bethany, played for us.

At the same time, it is Labor Day weekend which means Labor Day Camp at Twenty-Sixth Street Baptist.  Labor Day Camp has been a Labor Day weekend Tradition at our church since 1954!  Most of our choir members are also on the Youth Committee, so they were going sleepless at Camp Ona :)  Choir members at camp meant we only had 5 at church, so we didn't have a choir.  

We had a couple congregational songs, Oliver Nicholas sang a song where the choir feature normally is as well as a song during the special music time, and Bethany played the offertory song.

Normally, we stream each service on UStream.  However Dana, the member who records it, is the driver for the Herd Racing boat and Jeremy, who broadcasts it, is crew chief, so since they were all at the national championship, we didn't get it.

Arkeology

Adult music isn't all we do at Twenty-Sixth Street.  Our children spent every Wednesday evening doing Summer Tune-Up.  Led by Children's Music Director Bethany Himes, it's a chance for the kids to worship in song.

This past Sunday, the kids presented Arkeology.  It was a musical dedicated to God's promises.  You can see a video of the performance here.  The actual play starts at around 18 minutes.  Enjoy!  

He Keeps Me Singing--Luther Bridgers

Welcome! My name is Sabrina. I'm the Music Director at the Twenty-Sixth Street Baptist Church in Huntington, WV.

This is my newest blog venture (check out my personal blog at ourellisarmy.com). I hope this blog will be a blessing to those who read it, including myself, and a forum for members and other choirs near and far to share ideas.

God Bless!