Was Lost But Now Is Found

My camera has been lost. I missed taking picture of Elam's first birthday and several other things. You can read about it here. http://papalyndel.blogspot.com/2007/08/things-i-wish-i-had-picture-of.html

But I found my camera yesterday! Woo-hoo! You can read about that here http://papalyndel.blogspot.com/2007/08/good-news-and-bad-news-good-news-is-i.html

Here's the first picture I took with my newly found camera. It's looking through the spindles on my bridge. (These are about the only flowers that have survived the summer.)


Sunday we'll be singing At the Cross and Grace Flows Down during our morning worship services. This of course is a much more important "lost and found". I pray that the words to "Amazing Grace" are real in your life.

I once was lost, but now am found.

Was blind but now I see.

See you Sunday!

Oh, the choir anthem for Sunday is Glory to the King.

Singing in the Rain

Rain! Rain! Rain! Yeah!

Charles Billingsley in Concert!

This coming Sunday night, September 2, Charles Billingsley will be in concert! You won't want to miss. And you'll probably need to come early for a good seat. The concert begins at 6:30 and will be followed by a church-wide ice cream party! Woo-hoo!

You can find out more about Charles here - http://www.charlesbillingsley.com/

An Inchoirer for Your Inbox!

If I have your e-mail address and you are in the adult choir at Hilldale Baptist Church you should have received an e-Inchoirer today. It's just another fun way for us to keep in touch and for you to know what is going on in the Worship/Music Ministry. If you are just one of our avid readers of our worship blog and you would like to receive your own e-Inchoirer then send me an e-mail and I'll put you on my list.

You can find my e-mail at http://www.hilldale.org/

I guess I could put it here, but that would make it too easy for the spammers to find. I think you should at least have to work a little bit before you start sending me all the great stock option and pharmaceutical e-mails.

Wind and Fire Begins This Week

I'm reallllly excited! Our "Wind and Fire" instrumental ensemble begins THIS Wednesday night. We'll rehearse from 5:30-6:10 in "The Crow's Nest" (located above the choir room). To get there, go through the Sanctuary to the double doors on the left front. Just inside the doors you'll see a sign for Wind and Fire and a stairwell leading up to The Crow's Nest.

We have a good group signed up so far. We have trumpets and trombones and clarinets and at least one flute and a saxophone or two...

Bring someone with you - well, that is if they play a band or orchestra instrument - and join us this Wednesday night. Call the Music Ministry office if you have questions or for more information.

Linguistic Siblings & Pinky Dinky Doo

Cheryl and I counted up the other day. I've been in vocational ministry for 32 years. 32! And I've had 12 preachers. 12! In those 32 years and 12 preachers, today is the first time ever that one of my pastors has used the phrase "linguistic siblings"! I love it! It's really nice having a preacher who cares about words and what they mean and who has an educated vocabulary. One of his ways of learning new words is the word of the day that is sent out each day from Merriam-Webster Online http://www.m-w.com/

But I think I discovered something else. Michelle (our church pianist) and I were talking about "linguistic siblings" tonight and I mentioned Bro. Larry's love for words. I then mentioned a text message I received from him. In it he used the word auriferous . Well... ends up Michelle thinks she heard that word this week. She heard it on Pinky Dinky Doo! Each show has a "great big fancy word." So I had to check out Pinky Dinky Doo. (Google helps you find anything, you know.) Sure enough, Pinky is a great preschool show that teaches reading and words and things. And each show has a "Great Big Fancy Word." So if you've never heard of "Pinky" - like I hadn't - and are looking for more Pinky info, click here and you can see her web site http://www.noggin.com/shows/pinky.php
Click here and you can play her Great Big Fancy Word game. http://sesameworkshop.org/pinkydinkydoo/game-great_big_fancy_word.html

I'm not saying Bro. Larry watches Pinky Winky Doo...

All of this to say I'm proud to call Bro. Larry my Senior Pastor. I love it that he is so passionate about each of us understanding biblical truth. I love it that he cares about the meaning of words and wants to help us understand the meaning behind words used in scripture. I love it that he spends time studying and looking for the deep things of God and that he shares what he has discovered with us. I love it that he doesn't decide what to say and then look for scripture to back him up, but instead he reads a passage of scripture and asks what that passage has to say. Those are all very important things. I hope you appreciate them (and him) too.

Well, I need to quit blogging so I can set Tivo to record Pinky Dinky Doo. I want to keep up!

Sunday's Music

I've started three different blogs since Wednesday and didn't like any of them. First, I was going to say something about the 40th anniversary of the Big Mac. It was Wednesday. I thought about the jingle and how easy it is to remember something when it is set to music. "Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun." And then I was going to say something about all the spiritual truths we know because of the songs we sing at church. But it didn't seem to flow and then the moment passed and that was the end of that.

Then I was going to say something about the great rehearsal we had Wednesday night. We had a good group there and learned a lot of notes and words and we're all set for Sunday... but that seemed a little boring. Why would anyone care about reading that. So I never finished that one either.

So I decided I would blog a little about the new groups and fall schedule in our worship/music ministry: Wind and Fire instrumental ensemble, handbells, children's choir getting ready for the Kid's Choral Connection, a Christmas party coming up the first Wednesday in September... But i didn't have any of my art work, so I decided I would blog about them on Monday when I have my church computer.

So... The only thing I have to really blog about is tomorrow's service. The choir will be singing "Fill the Earth", the congregation will be singing some great worship songs and hymns, our wonderful band and keyboard players will play with their impressive skill, the sound guys and camera men and MediaShout computer people will all be doing their usual wonderful work and we'll have a great time of worship together! I'll be looking for you in the morning!

I really need a picture or something to go with this post. It is so boring.

Kid’s Choral Connection

Bro. Tim and I are going to take our 3-5 grade choir to the Kids’ Choral Connection in September. They will have a super time. For one thing, Bro. Tim and I have a great time with kids. For another thing, they get a cool t-shirt, have some fun times and singing times and at the end they record a CD! How cool is that?
The dates are Sept. 28-29. More information will be in the mail to all of the kids this week. I just wanted you all to be the first to know!

Here are a couple of pics from one of the Celebration Times from last year.

Braggin'

It's generally considered bad taste to brag. I saw a photo holder at one of the big discount stores the other day. It said, "I can't help it that I am so much prettier to look at than you." Tacky!

Yesterday I bragged on our church. And what I said is true. I'll try to say it again. Cheryl said I said it better at 9 than I did at 10:30. I said something like this.

I need to brag on you all. I've been at Hilldale for 6 or 7 weeks now. I've noticed that we do a great job singing lots of kinds of music. Not every church can say that! We can sing songs that are hot off the contemporary Christian radio stations and old hymns that grandma used to sing, 1970s hits by the Gaithers and 2007 hits by Chris Tomlin.

The really nice thing about this is that as we sing so many kinds of songs we are doing exactly what we should be doing. As each of us sings songs that aren't our favorite style, but are instead the favorite style of our grandchildren or grandparents, we are considering others as more important than ourselves. Phillipians 2:3
We are also living out the truth that worship isn't about us and meeting our needs, but it about God and worhipping Him.

There's a whole lot more that could be said about this, but let me just say, "Thanks." I'm looking forward to great times of worship together in the months to come.

Sunday's Music

I don't think I've blogged all week. I've been working on finding new music so we can get some new musical groups started. Check back here next week to read about the Studentz Praize ensemble, Wind and fire - our new instrumental ensemble and some exciting news about the Kids Choral Connection.

For today, I just want to remind you about Sunday's music. The choir will sing "Come, Thou Almighty King" by Mike Harlan. The congregation will be singing "God Is Good all the Time" and "You Are My King" and right now I don't remember what else.

If you're in choir, I'll be looking for you Sunday. If you've just happened by here and you live near Clarksville, TN I'd love to see you in the congregation this week. OUr services are at 9:00 and 10:30. Click here to go to Hilldale's home page. http://www.hilldale.org

Sunday's Music

In case you want to warm up before Sunday morning, here are the songs we'll be singing with the congregation.
Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord
Holy, Holy, Holy
I Will Call upon the Lord
Victory Song
Victory in Jesus

Our choir anthem will be - I Am Blessed

See you Sunday!

Addition and Multiplication

Wow! We had 31 altos in choir tonight! 31! Even though we had fewer singers in the other sections, we had a wonderful sound and a total of 66 sounting me and Michelle. I can hardly wait for our congregation to hear I Am Blessed this Sunday morning. What a great song!

If you had to miss rehearsal tonight but you have practiced I Am Blessed with us in the past few weeks, go ahead and sing with us Sunday morning. See you then!

So if you take 31 altos and add a good amount of tenors, basses and sopranos, one fine pianist and a pretty good director, add in the work of the Holy Spirit and you get more than a simple 66 number of singers. God multiplies our voices and works in us and through us and the end result brings honor and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ. and that's the whole point. The blessing we recieve from singing is secondary to Him receiving our praise.

Didn't mean to start preaching. Just wanted you to know what a great rehearsal we had and what a great number of singers too. See you Sunday.

As the Deer

"As the deer panteth for the water so my soul longeth after Thee." A beautiful text taken from the Psalms. I hope that is the depth of your longing for our Lord Jesus Christ.

I always have this beautiful pastoral scene in my mind as I think about that song - a lovely doe and her fawn at dawn, drinking from a beautiful stream, the sun's rays streak through the morning mist, the cardinals are singing their songs and the smell of honeysuckle hangs in the morning air - something you'd love to see when you look out your back window.

Well... today I am not picturing deer as something I want around Bear Hollow. The pastoral scene has been replaced by something very ugly. Sticks! My hostas were just starting to open up. I have a thirty or forty foot row of hostas and elephant ears along the wall by my creek. Those mean old deer have chomped off almost every single hosta bud. Oooooooo! Now there's just sticks where there used to be flower buds.

There are only two or three flowers that survived the deer snack-attack.

I still love the song, and the Psalm (Ps 42:1 ), but I may yell at the next deer I see in my backyard.

If you have that desire - that longing - to know the Lord in a deeper, more personal way, spend time both in personal, private time reading your Bible and praying and in corporate times of worship.

If you want to take pictures of deer snacking on hostas don't bring them over to Bear Hollow!

Sunday's Music (Aug. 5)

Days of Elijah
Choir anthem - Because We Believe
I Will Call upon the Lord
You Are Holy
Shine on Us
and more!

Woohoooo! We had 62 people in choir Wednesday night. I hope to see you all Sunday!

God Loves Choirs

I know you think I'm just saying that 'cause this is our Worship Ministry/Music blog and I'm supposed to say things like that... but it's really true! God loves choirs. Here's how I know.
You see a choir first when the Morning Stars sang at creation Job 38:7. (I'm sure there was singing in heaven before that.) The singers in the temple were full-time employees paid like the priests with the tithes and offerings of the people. How cool is that? And of course there is singing going on now around the Lamb's throne where someday we will join in the singing.

In the mean time, what we do here week by week on Sundays is just a great preview of what is to come. For those of you who sing in our choir - THANK YOU! To those just passing through reading blogs - find a choir and join in.

"But I can't sing", you may say. Then sing with the congregation during worship. Those in the pews are our biggest choir. (and there's safety in numbers!) God loves to hear you sing. Just remember Ps 98:4 "Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise."

I'll be looking for you Sunday. Let's make a joyful noise together!