Message from First Impressions Ministry

THANK YOU Brookwood Praise Choir for so graciously sharing the new Volunteer Central with the Brookwood First Impressions Team. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together. We look forward to spending more time together and getting to know one another as we serve Brookwood with our time and talents on Sunday mornings. Y’all ROCK! Literally J.

Kristin Dawsey
Serve Ministries and First Impressions Manager
Brookwood Church
864.688.8282

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Our sweet Faye R. (alto) leaves for China this Wednesday with her brother and sister-in-law. Faye is going along to take care of their kids while they finalize their 4th international adoption. They have 3 beautiful girls and are adding a handsome boy, Zhan, to their family! They will return in 2 ½ weeks. Please join this family in prayer and praise for the success of this exciting event!


By the way, did you know that the Chinese character for righteousness (yi) is formed by combining two other characters. The top character (yang) means lamb. The bottom character (wo) means me, self or I.

Hi Gang. What a sweet pleasure it was to worship with you yesterday.

Please pray for Julie C’s husband, Ken. Julie is one of our altos. We don’t have a lot of details, but Ken is having open heart surgery this morning at the Asheville V.A. hospital. One of the lyrics that really spoke to me yesterday was “Our God is Healer, awesome in power”. Please pray for His Power to be manifested in this situation.

Click here and save my email address if you need to contact me in between practices with prayer requests.

I love you guys!

Praising from the Mountain Top

This is what it was like for me this morning.  It felt like I was on a mountain top singing my heart out in praise!  Thanks for taking me there ...

I never cease to be amazed at the passionate praise that you bring each time we have the privilege of leading our congregation in worship!  You are the most dedicated and passionate people that I have ever served with.  Thanks for letting me serve with you.

Prayer Request - Kandy K

Kandy K (S) has asked that we please lift her neighbor, Beverly, up in prayer. Beverly had breast surgery 2 weeks ago. She found out yesterday that she did have cancer in 12 of the 14 nodes removed.

..do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

--Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

Sunday Morning - A Few Reminders

We'll be up with the sun on Sunday morning getting ready to lead worship at Brookwood.  Here are a few reminders ...

1.  Be in POD I at 7:15 AM ready to line up for entry onto the blacktop.
2.  Wear your choir colors.  If you are still shopping, find the closest match possible to the swatches.
3.  Bring your FM receivers and black ear buds.  Tune them to 107.9 FM.
4.  Be sure you have fresh batteries.  I change batteries between every service.  You may not need to, but I'm paranoid about losing signal during the service.
5.  If you would like, bring food to share with others.  It's our Potluck Praise Fuel.
6.  Have your heart prepared in prayer.  This is holy work that we are doing.

Prayers and Praises

Nancy M (S): pray for a neighbor who has a malignant stomach tumor. They have learned recently it is inoperable and incurable, but they’re pursuing treatment options.

Nancy also has a PRAISE! Nancy’s niece and her husband who we have been praying to be able to start their family are now expecting not just one baby, but two. God is “doubly” good!

Beth L: pray for her sister-in-law, Terri, who is having a test on Friday for bladder cancer.

Elaine V (S): pray for her husband. She also wants us to praise that her son is doing great starting out in middle school.

Mary S (A): “please pray for me to keep my eyes on Jesus & not on the waves that surround me; to strengthen my trust in Him, and increase my gratitude for His love & protection.”

Kristin S (S): pray for her boyfriend, Philip. He lost his mother and stepfather in the Spring. He was their sole care giver...Battling depression & overwhelmed with probate court, estate duties and moving.

Julie C (A): pray for her husband, Ken. He is having exploratory heart surgery this week.

Sharyn G (A): PRAISE! My son, Justin, had been without a job since December. He recently got 2 job offers.

I'm enjoying this new album ...

How To Burn Music CDs with Windows Media Player

Prayer Request - Toni M

We have a prayer request from Toni M (A). Her mother has developed an infection at the incision site of her surgery and will have to go back into surgery. They are going to drain some fluid and try to determine what is causing the infection. Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you.

Childcare for Rehearsal Tonight

We will have regular child care arrangements for rehearsal tonight.  If at all possible, please go ahead and call in as normal and make reservations.  If you don't know how to do that, just call me and let me know.  I'll get your reservation posted.  If you don't know my number, you can click the widget below to make the call.  You'll have to enter your name and the phone number you are calling from.  Then Google will connect us.

Revised Lyrics ...

At 5:45 PM today I posted a revised lyrics document for Be Thou My Vision and Holy, Holy, Holy.  If you downloaded your copy before then, you may want to get the current copy.  The file name and the link are the same as before.

Night of Worship with Impact Ministry

When: Sunday, August 29

Times: Tailgating 3:00 pm &  Worship 5:30 pm

Location: South Campus

Join us this Sunday for a special Night of Worship featuring The Point Band.  This night will be focus on glorifying God through worship while opening our eyes to see how God wants us to make and impact in the lives of others this year. This event is open to all and is FREE!! Tailgating and family activities will start @ 3:00 p.m. for more information visit brookwoodchurch.org/events

New Chart is Posted

Check out the Holy, Holy, Holy chart in the Current Charts section of this blog.

You'll notice when you read through this that we do not sing exactly what the worship leader sings at points in the song.  Don't worry.  We'll work it out in rehearsal.

Please print your copy of the chart and bring it to rehearsal.

Thanks.

Put On Your Happy Face!

We will be taking pictures of everyone at rehearsal this week. So, be sure to fix your hair, wear a clean shirt, and SMILE!! These pictures will be used in our new database called Arena. We will be able to link your picture to your information -- putting a name and face together!! We will also eventually be using this system to sign in every week with key fobs. Wow---the magic of technology! The photographer will be set up at 5:30 for those who can come early to get pictures taken. All others will be done throughout our rehearsal time. See you all Wednesday. Don't forget: SMILE!!

New Lyric Sheets

I have just posted two new LYRIC SHEETS in the Praise Choir Documents section of this blog.  One is the lyrics for two new songs on which we are working, "Be Thou My Vision" and  "Holy, Holy, Holy".  You may want to print this and bring it to rehearsal this week.  The other is the lyric sheet for our September 19 praise date.  We'll start working on this next month.

Holy, Holy, Holy

A demo version of our Brookwood version of Holy, Holy, Holy is now posted in the Current Practice Trax section of the blog.  Choir vocals are being written to this and should be ready for rehearsal this week.  I won't have guide vocals ready by then, but if you'll download the demo and listen to you prior to rehearsal, we'll be able to learn the parts quickly.

Thanks.  I'll see you Wednesday!

Perpetuum Jazille

Perpetuum Jazille

Praising Jesus Is Contagious!

This is from Anne Graham Lotz's blog.  It's good enough to share ...

Anne Graham Lotz - Praising Jesus Is Contagious!

August 22, 2010

Praising Jesus Is Contagious!

"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever!"
Revelation 5:13, NIV

The apostle John gives us a thrilling glimpse into a universal celebration that one day we are going to participate in. He describes four living creatures who surround the throne on which Jesus reigns supreme over the universe. These living creatures never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." (Rev. 4:8, NIV). 

Prayer Requests

It was great to be together again this week. What a fun practice! I’m really excited about the new people who have joined too. So to you new guys who may be checking out the blog for the first time… WELCOME!

The Praise Choir is like other small groups at Brookwood… we share each other’s struggles and victories. I want to share a couple of prayer requests with y’all.
• Please continue to pray for healing for Phillis S (alto).
• Kayla K asked for the choir to pray for her upcoming gall bladder surgery and for a quick recovery as she hopes to get back to choir in September.

Beyond Philosophy - At The Channel Friday Evening!

Come check out Beyond Philosophy at the new Channel on Main Street (old Fuddrucker's location) Friday night at 7PM.  The band is made up of a bunch of talented Brookwood teens.  They put on a very entertaining show.

If you have middle or high school teens in your family, this would be a great show to bring them to.  It will be pretty hard core alternative rock.  The kids will love it.  You may want to bring ear plugs ...

The show starts at 7PM.  Three bands will be playing. BP is on first.  Admission will be $8 per person.

Songs of Ascent

The pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the festival seasons were important events in the lives of the ancient Hebrews, serving to remind the people of their covenant relationship with God.

Here is a good article on the Songs of Ascent that Steve discussed last night.  I found this at http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/poet/psalms5.htm.

PSALMS 120 - 134:  These 15 psalms are each titled "A Song of Ascents" [Hebrew: shir hamma‘aloth]. We do not know precisely what this term means. Mitchell Dahood writes: "[This term] has been explained by some as a ‘Pilgrim Song’ sung by pilgrims as they ‘went up’ to Jerusalem for the great annual feasts. Cf. Exod xxiii 17; Deut xvi 16; I Kings xii 28; Matt xx 17; Luke ii 41f. Others hold that these psalms were sung by the returning exiles when they ‘went up’ to Jerusalem from Babylon" (Psalms III: 101 – 150, The Anchor Bible, vol. 17A, p. 195).

Rehearsal Notes

It was great to see you and praise with you last night.  I was very pleased with how great the group sounded from the first note on!  And then, I was impressed with how quickly you shaped your sound when I would remind you of something that we'd worked on.  It was amazing.  There have been times in previous years where I would ask for a tweak in the way we were singing a word and everyone would try but nothing would change in the way we sounded.  Not now!  You can hear what we are trying to do in your head and go there.  Pretty cool!

Ruben Morgan & Ben Fielding Interview

Breakfast and a time of Prayer

Breakfast and a Time of Prayer
Saturday, August 28, 8 - 10:30 am, Auditorium 

This church-wide time of prayer will focus on the upcoming 2010-2011 ministry year. We will pray for the different activities and programs at Brookwood, our pastors, our community, and our country. The cost is $5 and includes breakfast.

Childcare is available with advanced reservations. Click here to register by Sunday, August 22.

Mouth Watering Worship

Here is a great post by Ross Parsley that I found on the Integrity! website (www.integritymusic.com).  If you've been there, you know what he means!

Mouth-watering Worship 

Mouth-watering Worship!

January 26th, 2009 by Ross Parsley

This week I was out in San Francisco, CA appearing on a Church Communications Network simulcast sponsored by Integrity Music where Rod Arnold, vice-president of Live Events, and I were discussing worship and promoting the upcoming Worship Summit on March 7^th. It was good clean fun and a real swell time, but on the way back to the airport something really exciting happened. We realized that we might have time to stop and experience one of the greatest inventions to ever come out of California. Yes, I speak of the IN-N-OUT BURGER!

New Chart is Posted

I just posted a new chart in the Current Charts section.  This is an arrangement of Be Thou My Vision and is currently not scheduled on our calendar.  It's a new work by Don Chapman.  We don't even have an mp3 yet.  But I'd like to start learning it.

If you are a music reader or like to have sheet music in rehearsal, be sure to download and print your copies from the Current Charts section of the blog and bring them to rehearsal with you.

Bass Section - Two Special Trax

Basses, since you sing a different part than the tenors on Crown Him and Our God, Scott and I recorded a special track for you on those two songs.  Be prepared, I did this on my computer, so it does not sound great when compared to what Adam does, but Scott and I believe it will help you learn your part.  So go ahead, download it, and see if it helps.    You'll hear the regular guy's recording until the basses kick off on their own line.  At that point, you'll hear Scott and me chime in.

So what does this picture have to do with anything?  Nothing really... Just another kind of bass.  And it's an interesting picture.

Rehearsal - THIS WEEK

It's be a great summer, but I am very happy to say that it is time to start again.  Our first rehearsal is this week.  I'm looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday at 6PM in the auditorium.  Be sure to print your charts and bring them if you like to use them.  We'll have lyric sheets at rehearsal.  It's going to be an exciting year!

Playing Around

For the next week or so I'm going to be playing around with some design and formatting ideas on the blog.  It would be great to do this in a separate environment; but since I don't have a test environment in which to work, I'll just play in live production.  I hope it doesn't drive you nuts.

Our goal is to get a layout that is fresh and more intuitive.  Since I'm only marginally geeky, I'm limited to the tools that Blogger provides.  I don't have a way to implement some of my bright ideas

Vocal Charts Are Now Posted

Check the CURRENT CHARTS section in the left hand panel of this blog for download links to the charts we'll be working on in rehearsal.  If you are one of our choir members who wants to have sheet music, please be sure to download and print your own copies of this music.

Since we are making it available here, we will not be providing it at rehearsal.  I also ask, since we pay royalties on every download, that you hang on to the download file or the printed copy and use it again when we sing these songs in the future.

Thank you very much for your help.

Practice Trax - August Praise Date

All of the practice trax for our first Praise Date are now posted in the CURRENT PRACTICE TRAX section in the left hand panel of this blog.  You part will play your notes at a louder volume than other parts in the choir.  Please download and begin listening to your part so you can be ready for rehearsal next week.

I'm looking forward to seeing you!  It's going to be a great year.

Tahnya's next musical

Just wanted you to know about another musical that Tahnya will be in next week at the Fountian Inn Civic Center.  It's called Back to the 80's.  Here is the scoop ...

Prayer Breakfast Info and Prayer Request

Hi Guys.. I sure have missed you all. I’m thankful for the occasions when I bumped into some of you over the summer, but I’m sorry… that’s just not enough. I’m really looking forward to being with everyone on August 18th. Can’t wait! ---Sharyn

Please add this request from Nancy M (s) to your prayer list.
Please pray for a friend's husband, David, who has been diagnosed with a malignant stomach tumor. He will probably have surgery this coming week and possibly chemotherapy and/or radiation. They meet with the doctors tomorrow [Monday] to discuss the appropriate course of action. Thank you!

I also want to share the following message with you from Betty Zeller (Coordinator for the Brookwood Intercessory Prayer Room). Some of you may not know about the Prayer Room. This is a great opportunity to come learn about it.

Hello prayer warriors, I just wanted to remind you to check the church bulletin, web and or Brookwood in Between to get all the information on the Prayer Breakfast that is coming up at Brookwood. It would be wonderful to have all of you that have served and volunteered in the Prayer Room in the past and present to be there for this important prayer time in our church and country. It is being sponsored by the Men’s group (MOB) and the Women’s group (B Women) but is for the entire church to come together to pray. You can get Breakfast tickets for $5 in the book store at church. The Holy Smokers are catering. It is only a few hours on a Sat. morning on Aug. 28th. Please come and bring as many people as you can that will help us all pray together. We will also be given a brief time on their agenda to let people know how the prayer room works and how they can volunteer as well as an opportunity to let people that do not know about the prayer room go inside to see it. Thank you so much for all you do for God’s kingdom by being faithful to pray. Please spread the word to everyone you know. Be blessed.

First Rehearsal

Can you believe our first rehearsal is only a week and a half away!  I'm getting excited.  Be sure to check out the practice trax!

Are you a Worship Robot?

Check out this great blog post by Adam Fisher ...

As a worship leader, I spend a great deal of time planning and preparing for worship on Sunday morning. You must pick songs, write out and print out charts, schedule a band and singers, and maybe even setup the stage week-in-week-out. If you’ve been doing this kind of work for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve felt more like a robot in a factory assembling cars or filling bottles of cola. You can lose perspective on why you are leading worship at church – we are meant to praise our God and sing His praises – as a collective church. Period. Anything less than our best worship is not what our God deserves.

For the REST of this blog post, click this link ... http://blog.adamlaynefisher.com/2010/08/05/are-you-a-worship-robot/

Prayer Request - Alba S.

I've received a prayer request from our sweet Alba. Please pray for her grandson, Ben. He received a serious break in his arm at the end of football practice. It will take at least 6 months to heal. Alba says, "He is heartbroken. His whole world revolves around God and sports." So please lift Ben up in prayer.

Prayer Request - Toni M.

Hi Choir Family. We have a prayer request from one of our alto sisters, Toni M. Her mom fell yesterday and broke her hip badly. She is 82 years old and has osteoporosis and congestive heart failure. She is having surgery today (Wednesday). Please be in prayer for her today and for the family...they are very concerned.

New Practice Trax Now Appearing

Check the CURRENT PRACTICE TRAX section in the left hand column of the blog.  New practice trax for Fall are beginning to appear.  Many thanks to Adam who is remixing the trax so that, for instance, the Alto track has that part mixed louder than the other parts.  Creating these trax is a very time consuming process.  Ultimately, we'll have a track like this for each part in our choir library.

Currently, you'll find the trax for CROWN HIM.  More are on the way.

Important Blog Posts

If you haven't checked the blog in awhile, it's easy to miss important posts that have slipped down the page.  In order to be sure you catch the most important posts, we've created a new section right under the Praise Choir logo called KEY PRAISE CHOIR POSTS.  Be sure to check this anytime you check the blog.

Of special note right now is "Places to buy Choir Colors".  If you check the Comments on that post, you find out where others have found the new colors. And you can share what you have found with other choir members!

I'll see you at our first rehearsal in a few weeks!

-- Joe

Urgent Prayer Request - Betty W

Please take time to pray for this request from Betty.

Please pray for my niece, Cindy A. About 4:30p.m. today [Sunday] she suffered a sudden bleeding & swelling in her brain and very high blood pressure (180/120). She was sitting & talking to her family and became very ill & in a lot of pain. They rushed her to the Easley hospital, they did a CT-Scan then took her by ambulance to Greenvlle. She has been admitted into ICU. She will have another CT-Scan about 5a.m. tomorrow unless they feel the need to do another one during the night to see if there are any changes. Cindy is 50 yrs old, married with 3 sons. Her husband, Chuck, pastors a small Assembly of God church in Liberty.

Thank you for your prayers.

Betty W (S)

Hurry!! The dental clinic needs us!

Remember that the dental clinic is this week, Friday Aug. 6 and Saturday Aug 7. We are still in need of volunteers to help out. Please try to find some time to help. Friday from 5:30 am to 6pm and Saturday from 5:30 to 3pm. Check out the Brookwood website for details and volunteer registration. www.brookwoodchurch.org/getupandgo