VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 3 | 1.28.2025

A Shot Literary Caffeine: Words on Worship

“(1)…my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and desert land where there is no water…(3) Because Your Loving-kindness is better than life, my lips will praise You.”  – Psalm 63:1,3

Today in staff meeting, Alicia shared this verse. Wow! The gravity of this Scripture has stuck with me all day. In fact, I had a different encouragement I had already written here…but THIS! So Good. This is the meaning of worship, isn’t it? Worship is never about us. It is all about Who God IS regardless of our situations.When we truly begin to get a sense of Who God IS, and then we catch a fragment of a glimpse of the fact that HE – THE I AM – LOVES US…we can’t help but long for HIM in every situation. David said ‘in a dry and desert land‘ one translations says ‘a dry and weary land‘. Worship is our response to catching a vision of WHO HE IS and that HE LOVES US...and how can we not respond—in the desert, in the storm, in trials, in hard times, in famine, in sickness, in sorrow, in times of testing—our only response becomes WORSHIP! God YOU are worthy! Right now, You ARE Worthy! Then David says “Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips will praise You!

Boy David GOT it. He understood. God was worthy even when God was pruning David, God was worthy of Praise even when God was calling David to repentance and David felt the weight of his own sin and failings, guilt and shame…David was not letting his shortcoming and his hardships KEEP HIM FROM GIVING GOD WHAT GOD IS ALWAYS WORTHY OF! I love that. That is true worship. This is what a LIFESTYLE of worship is all about. This is the kind of worshiper that God pursues! This is Worship in spirit and in truth.

I pray that this ‘Shot of Literary Caffeine‘ is an a encouraging boost to you soul. God bless you this week! 

-Sam

February Sunday Leads

  • 2/2: FIRST SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Song Leader: 
      • Sound: Sam
      • Slides: Heath
      • Streaming: Eric
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Song Leader: Morgan
      • Sound: Brian
      • Slides: Paul
      • Streaming: Tim
  • 2/9: SECOND SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs:
      • Sound: Jenn
      • Slides: Heath
      • Streaming: Eric
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs: Brad (in for Sam)
      • Sound: Matthew
      • Slides: Jeff
      • Streaming: Josiah
  • 2/16: THIRD SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs:
      • Sound: Sam
      • Slides: Heath
      • Streaming: Robert
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs: Alicia
      • Sound: Sam
      • Slides: Jeff
      • Streaming: Josiah
  • 2/23: FORTH SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs:
      • Sound: Sam
      • Slides: Izzy
      • Streaming: Eric
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs: Brad
      • Sound: Chris
      • Slide: Richelle
      • Streaming: Tim
  • 2/28: NIGHT OF WORSHIP
    • Songs: Sam
    • Sound: Matthew
    • Slides: Heath
    • SPECIAL SHARING: Passion Group

March Sunday Leads

  • 3/2: FIRST SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Song Leader: 
      • Sound: Jenn
      • Slides: Heath
      • Streaming: Eric
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Song Leader: Sam
      • Sound: Brian
      • Slides: Paul
      • Streaming: Tim
  • 3/9: SECOND SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs:
      • Sound: Sam
      • Slides: Heath
      • Streaming: Eric
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs: Sam
      • Sound: Jenn
      • Slides: Jeff
      • Streaming: Josiah
  • 3/16: THIRD SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs:
      • Sound: Sam
      • Slides: Heath
      • Streaming: Robert
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs: Alicia
      • Sound: Matthew
      • Slides: Jeff
      • Streaming: Josiah
  • 3/23: FORTH SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs:
      • Sound: Sam
      • Slides: Heath
      • Streaming: Eric
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs: Brad
      • Sound: Chris
      • Slide: Izzy
      • Streaming: Tim
  • 3/30: FIFTH SUNDAY
    • 1st Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs:
      • Sound: Sam
      • Slides: Heath
      • Streaming: Robert
    • 2nd Service: Worship Leads
      • Songs: Sam
      •  Sound: Jenn
      •  Slide: Jeff
      • Streaming: Josiah
  • 2/28: NIGHT OF WORSHIP
    • Songs: Sam
    • Sound: Matthew
    • Slides: Greg
    • SPECIAL SHARING:

Special NOTES

  • Sam is in California next week.

    • JEFF is meeting with Pastor Joe to download worship and announcement and sermon slides.
    • STREAMING / VIDEO: Tim, Eric, Josiah, Robert...Since Pastor Joe is teaching a mini series, I will go ahead and put both God’s Will: part 2′ AND ‘God’s Will: part 3’ Thumbnails on the desktop this week. That way they are ready to go for you.
    • SOUND: Jenn, Matthew, Chris, Brian – In this UPDATE (added below) I am including the ‘Sound Ministry: Step-By-Step Order of Service Checklist.‘ It covers every step from turning the system on – through each live-service transition – to closing down. I know you guys have a good handle on it…but look over it. We did get some background mic-pickup on this week second service, so make sure that when Pastor Joe is preaching ALL other mics are off. We don’t hear the background in the sanctuary but it is picked up on our streaming. Matthew, hey brother, I noticed that you had written your own sound checklist…GREAT JOB on that, I would love for you to look at our together and let me know if it looks like I missed anything?

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: FCC WORSHIP FORUM - Saturday March 1st, 10am.

 The Worship Forum: March 1st @ 10am in the Friendship Room. The men’s breakfast will be at 8am and I’ll be sharing on “When Men Warship: The Call to Glorify God and Declare war on everything that tries to steal God’s place in our lives.” Everyone from the worship team is invited to be at the breakfast. Then the Worship Forum will begin after breakfast.

Below is the Theme, Focus, and Direction of the 2025 FCC Worship Forum (so yes, this may become an annual event). This is what the forum is about, and will be my endeavor to continue to encourage and build upon with the entire FCC Worship team throughout the year.

  • Our Theme for 2025: Iron Sharpens Iron
  • Our Focus: Cultivating and Celebrating our Common-Union as Worshipers
  • Our Direction: Pursuing the Presence of the Lord in our personal lives and faithfulness in leadership.’

MARCH IS THE MONTH OF WORSHIP…

I’m really excited about March. There will be a lot of focus on worship all through the month:

  • I am Speaking on Worship at the Men’s Breakfast
  • We are doing the FCC Worship Forum the same day
  • I’ll be reaching out to several of you about sharing thoughts (like a devotional) about what God has done and is doing in your life through worship, as an opportunity to encourage others.
  • We’ll be getting active on our FCC Worship FB page – to encourage ‘all things worship’; leaning into our Focus of Cultivating and Celebrating our Common-Union as Worshipers.
  • I’m Preaching March 30th on the 7 Hebrew Words for Worship.

This is just the beginning for us as a team for coming together to use our talents, abilities, knowledge, and passion for ‘all-things’ worship to encourage one another – within the FCC Family and outside the house – towards pursuing a lifestyle of worship, in our personal lives, our family lives, our ministry service, and public lives. I am super excited about this, and I am super excited to be part of this team with you during this year’s journey, as we encourage and build one another up in our faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to lift up Jesus, and bring glory to the Father.

FCC WORSHIP WEBPAGE:

These Weekly Updates Are Just Part of the FCC Worship Leader Page

In March, I will be launching our FCC Worship Leaders wed page. It will be a hub page for everything ‘FCC WORSHIP’. You will have access, but the public will not. The Page will include a blog that archives these Worship Updates, and the page will also have:

  • The Worship Calendar
  • ALL Training Materials (PDFs, Checklists, Video Training) covering
    • Stage Lights
    • Sound Training – Yamaha TF3 Resources
    • ProPresentor Training
    • Planning Center Training
    • Slides Training
    • Streaming Video Training
    • Sound Mixing
    • How To’s: Proper way to clean your In-Ears, ect.
  • Upcoming events
  • Worship Song History and Fun / Interesting Facts about Worship
  • An archive of worship resources to help encourage worship: blogs, podcasts, links to featured videos on Right Now Media, and the Bible Project.
  • Worship Devotionals, Worship Bible Studies.
  • Contact Info to the Worship team Members
  • A Communication Board for everyone to share
  • AND I will add more as you tell me things that would make sense to be added

As you think of things that you would really like to see on the FCC Worship Leaders page feel free to bombard me with ideas. This page is FOR YOU, the worship leaders at FCC.

Sound Ministry: Step-By-Step Order of Service Check List

Once the new speakers are set, this will update, but until then I want to make sure everyone is on the same page with the Order of Service

  1. Turn Yamaha ON: FIRST at the sound booth, SECOND the system behind prayer room.
  2. Turn stage speakers ON: The switch in on the back of each speaker.
  3. On the Yamaha, sign into the GUEST account. Should already be signed in.
  4. Put batteries in all the mics: 5 In-Ears, 2 Lapels, 1 Handheld. Check to see that the batteries have full charge.
  5. At the TOP LEFT of the Yamaha screen, check to make sure that it is signed into the right service: 1st Service or 2nd Service
  6. Have whoever is running slides to turn worship music on to make sure computer sound is working.
  7. As worship team practices set their sound levels.
  8. Sit in the back room to make sure volume is set.
  9. Check the main sound by sitting at the front, middle and back rows to set a good volume.
  10. When Worship is finished practicing, turn on Pre-Service worship music.
  1. When Worship team comes out of the prayer room START RECORDING.
  2. Wait until they get on stage and in place before fading pre-service worship out.
  3. Adjust sound as needed throughout worship. Make sure the lead and the harmonies are mixed together well. If you don’t hear the harmonies, adjust their volume.
  1. At the end of the last song, watch for Pastor Joe’s Lapel light to turn on.
  2. Turn his lapel On
  3. Turn off all singer mics, and any instruments not playing during transition.
  4. When he prayers, turn the rest of the stage mics off: Piano and guitar.
  1. Turn on Lapel #2 and the Handheld (if two people are doing announcements)
  2. Turn Pastor’s mic off (so there’s no feedback while he sits on the front row)
  3. When they are finished giving announcements turn their mics off and turn Pastor Joe’s make on.
  1. Check again to make sure all mics are off but Pastor Joe’s (or the special speaker’s). If any mics are on we pick it up on the video.
  2. When the Sermon is finished, STOP recording.
  1. When Pastor Joe prays before communion the worship team will head to the stage. Wait until they all get in place and are ready to sing before turning their mics on.  (NOTE: 1st Service, Frank and Paul will hold their mics. Wait until they have removed them from their stands before you turn them on. 2nd Service Megan, April and sometimes Alicia do the same.)
  2. Pastor Joe will mute his mic when the worship team comes up. Leave his mic on.
  3. When team is finished singing and Pastor Joe beings to speak, turn all singers mics off.
  1. If the worship team is playing during prayer time make sure the volume is soft.
  2. When the worship team or piano player is finished playing, TURN Altar Time worship to play softly in the background.
  1. Some people may still be at the altar when 2nd service worship team comes in and sets up, switch the Yamaha from 1st Service to 2nd Service.
  2. Make sure to keep guitars and bass OFF until they are plugged in, to keep from making loud pop.
  3. Check Pastor Joe’s lapel battery. Switch out batteries if it’s below half.
  4. FOLLOW the CHECKLIST ABOVE , Starting with WORSHIP.
  1. Keep Altar time worship playing as long as anyone is being prayed for.
  2. Remove batteries from all mics: 5 In-Ears, 2 Labels, 1 Handheld and place them on the batter chargers.
  3. Turn the stage speaker off.
  4. Turn off Sound System FIRST in the room behind Prayer Room, SECOND at Sound Booth. (This is the opposite of what you do when turning it on. If you do it backwards you get a loud pop.)
  5. Make sure the music is off, and check that they Slide Ministry turned the Screens off.

Media Ministry Schedule: February / March

ALL THINGS WORSHIP: CALENDAR

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