Another Grands Announcement

NOTE FROM KANDY K:  I finally got confirmation from Allison at church this morning regarding a rehearsal for the “Grands Standing On Faith Christmas Party” on Sunday, December 12^th around 4:45 p.m.

The Mobile Music Ministry has been asked to sing again this year and we would like to open this up to anyone in the choir who would like to come out and sing some carols with us.  Cathy and Joe could you announce this and put it on the Choir web-site please?

We will be practicing on Monday, December 6^th in POD B from 6:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. 

Look forward to seeing whoever can help sing this year!  It’s a fun time.

The list of songs we will be singing are as follows:

• Winter Wonderland                         1^st verse two times
• Deck the Halls                                  2 verses
• Silver Bells
• O Come All Ye Faithful                  1^st verse two times
• O Little Town of Bethlehem           2 verses
• Joy To The World                             2 verses
• We Three Kings                               1^st verse two times
• Away in a Manger                            2 verses
• Silent Night                                       2 verses
• Go Tell It On The Mountain

We will sing “HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS” and SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN as he enters.  Then we will call the kids up to sing some children’s carols with them.

• Jingle Bells
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
• Up On The Housetop
• Frosty the Snowman
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas

One Brookwood Ministry Helping Another

Grands…Standing on Faith is one of our Brookwood ministries.  It is for grandparents (many of whom are in financial straits) raising their grandchildren.  On Sunday, December 12, they will have their annual Christmas party for the group with a meal, entertainment and presents for the kids.  The Holy Smokers are supplying the turkey and the choir has been asked to provide the sides including dressing (stuffing), mashed potatoes, green bean, corn or sweet potato casseroles, macaroni & cheese, Cole slaw, a Jell-O fruit salad, gravy, and dinner rolls with butter.  Cooked items need to be at the church kitchen by 3:30pm but can be brought to any of the services and left there.  They are asking for 3qt casseroles (which is approx. a 9 x 13 pan.)  Please use something disposable and mark “Grands” on it.  We will be passing around a sign-up sheet at our next rehearsals.  If you have any questions, please see Alba (soprano) or Maretta (alto).  Also, the Mobile Music Ministry (a number of our choir members are in this group) will be entertaining at the party.  They would love extra singers that day and you can contact Kandy (soprano) about that.  Thanks in advance for sharing your love with this group.

Rob Dempsey's Thanksgiving Challenge

Here's a message that I received from Rob Dempsey in a HIS Radio email today.  It is so good, I want to pass it on.


I had a friend at a prayer breakfast challenge me to journal 5 things I'm thankful for every day for 30 days. The kicker was not to repeat anything. In a week I quickly ran out of the obvious things I can write down. The lesson I'm learning so far is to keep my eyes open to look for those moments of thankfulness.

Amazing to see how God is really a part of everyday life. Even in the middle of tough circumstances He is present to help and I am thankful for that awesome fact. 

I encourage you to take on the same challenge. Write down 5 things you're thankful for every day for the next 30 days and no repeats. It will open your eyes to how much God is a part of your life.


Happy Thanksgiving,


Rob Dempsey

His Radio, Morning friends with Rob and Kristin

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Remember that we do NOT have rehearsal this week. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I hope you all enjoy spending time with friends and family and travel safely. I am very thankful for all of you. With a grateful heart.....Happy Thanksgiving!

Tell 10

Have you told 10 people about our Christmas Eve Choir?

If not, make your list.  Check it twice.  Then make a few phone calls.

Everyone is invited.  Talent is not a requirement.  We just want people who love Jesus to help us lead worship on Christmas Eve.

This week we had 16 people show up to sing with us.  I think that's pretty amazing.  Somebody told them. Was it you?

Born 5:32 PM

Congratulations to Heather and Tyler!


Piper Lily was born at 5:32 PM yesterday.

She is a beautiful 8 lb. 6 oz. bundle of joy.

UPDATE - I stopped by the hospital today to see Heather, Tyler, and baby Piper.    They are all doing well.  Piper is a little sweetheart.  She was asleep the whole time that I was there.  Heather says that she is a very calm little girl.

New Practice Trax

New practice trax are now posted.  They are ...

All For the Son - Christmas version - one track for each part
Peace On the Earth - one track for each part

Check the panel on the left for the download links.

Thanks to Adam Fisher for the hours of work he spent preparing these.

Prayer Requests

Welcome to all the new people who came to practice last night. And a BIG Welcome Back to some returning members! We missed you!
Let's encourage and lift each other up and remember to thank God for each other this week.
Here are some specific prayer needs:
Kristin H (alto): “please pray for God’s protection and guidance in my daughter’s life and that she would feel His presence and love.”
Christopher D (one of our new tenors) has requested prayer for his Grandfather who has level 4 lung cancer.
Please pray for Jean H (alto) and her family… her Mother passed away yesterday morning.
Kim Carter (alto): pray for her family. Her step-dad, Bobby, had a massive stroke Sunday evening and is not doing well. Kim left for Louisiana yesterday.

We had a very full and productive practice this week. If any of you have prayer requests or praise reports who didn’t get a chance to right them on the cards, you can email them to me. Just CLICK HERE to email me and include 1. Your name (only the first name, last initial will ever be posted), 2. your prayer need or praise report, 3. Which vocal section you are in (soprano, alto, bass, or tenor) and 4. if your prayer request is confidential or can be shared on the blog.

Seconds, please!!

Many of you were wondering about the yummy Pumpkin Dip that Nikki R (alto) brought this past Sunday. She was nice enough to share the recipe with us. This would make a great addition to your Thanksgiving meal.

Pumpkin Dip:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
1 can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 cups Cool Whip

Beat softened cream cheese until light and fluffy. Stir in powdered sugar and blend well. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice and blend well. Fold in Cool Whip. Chill and serve. You can serve it with vanilla wafers, ginger snap cookies, graham crackers or whatever sounds yummy to you!

New Charts & MP3s

Please check out the new charts and mp3s that have been posted on the left hand panel of this blog.  We don't have Part Trax but we do have demos and guide vocal trax.  Most of these songs are very easy, so that should be enough.  As soon as we get guide vocal trax recorded for Peace on the Earth, I will post Part Trax.

All of the charts for our December 5 Praise Date and a few for Christmas Eve are also posted.  Please download and print them so you can bring them to rehearsal.  Thanks.

Please note that we'll be recording the Angels/All for the Son Medley at rehearsal on Wednesday evening.

Invitation to Sing With Us on Christmas Eve

The Christmas Eve services at Brookwood have become our premier Christmas event.  We pull out all the stops and try to go above and beyond in proclaiming our praise to the newborn King.  This year, we are inviting anyone at Brookwood who loves to worship and praise Jesus to sing with us on Christmas eve.  We would love to fill the stage with worshipers!

If you are interested, we ask you to come to our rehearsals in December.  That will be three rehearsals and Christmas Eve.  Just show up at rehearsal.  No audition is required.  Just bring your passion for God.  We'll have all that you need to learn the songs. If you do it, you'll remember the experience for the rest of your life.  It is going to be amazing!

For more information, just drop an email to Tina Piper or Joe Wood.  We'll get right back to you to answer all of your questions!

With a Thankful Heart!

That was such a sweet time of worship with you guys this morning. I really appreciated what Joe shared with us between the services about the presence of God being kind of like the moisture in the air that’s around us all the time. Certain conditions (temperature and stuff) cause the moisture to settle and you get condensation. The temperature of our hearts through attitudes of thankfulness and worship can work in a similar way to cause us to be more aware of the presence of God…settling like refreshing dew. I love that image! And I could really sense that happening this morning.

I also want to pass along that Shannon (soprano) is dealing with a difficult situation right now and really needs our prayer support. God knows the details. In your focused time of prayer, please remember to lift Shannon up and praise God with a thankful heart for how He's going to answer.

Random Act of Culture

The Opera Company of Philly, PA showed up at Macy’s with 650 opera singers and sang the Hallelujah Chorus.  Shoppers were taken by surprise, but many cheered, teared up and even raised their hands  and started praising the Lord.   They called it "a random act of culture".  You’ll be blessed.  By the way, the Wanamaker Organ is a permanent fixture in Macy’s – you’ll see a quick picture of it at the beginning of the video.

Happy Veterans Day

If you are, or know, a Veteran, you will want to know about these offers.  Thanks for serving!

--- Veterans Day and everyday offers & discounts ---

restaurants:

- Applebee's - free dinners to veterans throughout Veterans Day; selections will be from a new Veterans Day menu.
- Outback Steakhouse - free Blooming Onion and beverage.
- Golden Corral - free buffet dinner from 5-9pm on Nov 16^th to anyone who has ever served in the US military.
- Subway - free six inch subs to all veterans or active duty members.
- McCormick & Schmick's - free entrée to military veterans for its 12^th annual Veteran's Appreciation Event.
- Krispy Kreme - one free doughnut of any variety.
- UNO Chicago Grill- free entree or individual pizza with an entree or pizza purchase of equal or greater value.
- Coushatta Casino Resort - free seven-clams lunch or dinner buffet to veterans or active military.
- MarketPlace Grill & Express - veterans and active-duty military receive free entrees.
- Masala Wok - free entree to veterans.
- Hy-Vee Supermarkets - free breakfast to veterans.
- Abuelo's Mexican Food Restaurants - all veterans and active-duty military receive a free entree.
- Carolina Burgers & BBQ (Matthews, NC) - free meal to all service members and veterans.

Christmas Eve - Wow!

I attended a planning meeting this afternoon for the Brookwood Christmas Eve services.  I am so excited!  Don Chapman and the Brookwood Creative Team are pulling out all the stops. It is going to be awesome.  It's going to have some unexpected elements that you are going to love!  And we are singing 8 songs!!

Correction for Recording

Attention!! There is a revision for our recording next week. We will be recording NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD and GRATEFUL HEART. Please practice, practice, practice! Don't forget your FM receivers. You may also want to bring a bottle of water. This recording may take most of the rehearsal time Wednesday. Have a great weekend!!

New Charts and Practice Trax

I have posted new charts and practice trax here on the blog.  Check the left hand column for the links.  

The new practice trax are for the songs we will be recording next Wednesday.  So ... please use them and be prepared.

Thanks!

Another great devotional from Allen White

I read this on Allen's blog this morning.  It is so good that I have to share.

Do You Have Faith in God or Faith in Faith?

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20


I used to aspire to having great faith. It seemed to me that people with great faith would never question God or His ways. These giants of faith would never freak out or worry. They would just automatically trust God no matter the circumstance. I came to realize that this idea of possessing great faith was a mistake. I didn’t really desire faith in God. I was pursuing faith in faith. How twisted is that?

READ THE REST OF THE POST HERE ...

Rehearsal Notes from November 3

We had a fun and very productive rehearsal.  As a reminder, here is what we worked on and some notes about how to prepare for next week.  Remember, we'll be recording NOW THANK WE and PEACE ON THE EARTH next week.

NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD - We worked a LOT on the Amens.  Be sure you have your part nailed here. We also spent some time working on the tricky  words in the verses.  Please be sure you can sing them clearly and effortlessly.

GLORY TO GOD FOREVER - We just refreshed our memory on the parts on the chorus and bridge.

STILL - We used this song as our warm up song but did some very important work on dynamic contrast.  When you rehearse your part on this, please  work on building in some nice crescendos and diminuendos.

GRATEFUL HEART - Steve Smith rehearsed this song and worked hard on the parts and getting a fresh sound.  Since this is a new song, it will be  important that you get a lot of repetitions on it so that it feels comfortable to you when we sing it.

PEACE ON THE EARTH (Follow Your Star) - Don Chapman taught us a new Christmas song that he and Adam have written.  We'll be singing it both on  December 5 and December 24.  We handed out charts at rehearsal.  Watch the blog.  I will have charts and an mp3 up soon.

We also announced that for Christmas Eve we will wear all black.  Everyone seemed pretty happy with that. 

Have a great week with God.

REMEMBER - The point of it all is to point to HIM.

Prayers and Praises: Week of 11-3-10

Kathy S (soprano): Please pray for my friend Joan S, a dear teacher friend whose cancer has returned. She had been cancer free for 11 years.
Kristin H (alto): Please pray for God’s love, healing and guidance for my mom and for dad’s heart and eyes to be opened to recognize the sins of this world.
Courtney H (soprano): We have been living with our in laws for a month and a half and we finally closed on our new home last wed. God has his own timing and we are so happy to be moving.
Katie (alto): Pray for my friend’s son Austin – he is in big trouble and needs to feel peace and forgiveness in his life. Also, please pray for my daughter, Morgan, that she may be freed from the cloud she is under.
Alba S (soprano): pray for my mother-in-law. She’s in the hospital, but they are sending her home with Hospice. It doesn’t look good. But I know when the Lord takes her home she will have all she needs.
Larry C (tenor): Praise our Lord. Our oldest grandson, Tim has turned his school grades around and he is demonstrating respect for his mother. Thank you for praying.
Sharyn G (alto): I want to praise and thank God for the amazing ways he has provided for my family since my husband, Don, had to retire early because of back problems. God is so good!

Happy Birthday

Today is Steve Smith's birthday.  If you see him, wish him a good one.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE!