Worship

Emotion

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

Music evokes emotion.

Could be good, could be bad. It can bring up memories of all sorts of things. Maybe its an old song that reminds you of your glory days, maybe its a song that reminds you of a girl or guy, heartache, love or a God moment.  I dont know about you but I love music.

My wife and I had the chance to go see Mumford & Sons (one of my favorites) in concert at the Iconic forest Hills Stadium in Queens. Dang….First there was 17,500 people and It was way over packed. Yea I saw drunk people and there were plenty of weed smokers but I also saw people worshiping. I know what your probably thinking and no they werent worshiping the devil. They were letting go and singing at the top of their lungs. They were jumping with their hands raised just all out letting go! It doesn’t matter if its Mumford or a guy on a home made drum set on the street, music evokes emotion.

Something to realize—-

Worship leaders you have the chance to set the atmosphere for an entire service. How you’ve prayed, practiced, prepared and planned will show up on Sunday. You have a short time slot in someones life each week and we as worshipers should make the best of it and never take it lightly.

What would you do differently if you knew that all you had was one chance to impact someones life on a Sunday Service? What would you add, what would you not do?

J

 

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Ebenezer…What the heck?

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

I have been learning some new (to me) hymns lately.

Now for years I heard my Grandmother tell me I needed to sing more hymns because “the young people needed to learn them”. I will agree that there are some great ones to be learned so my Grandma had a point. Actually, I wish I would have listened a long time ago because there are some hymns that I wish I would have learned a long time ago.

A couple of weeks ago was one of those times but I came across some words in a song that I had no idea what it meant.

As a worship leader it is always great to expand your vocabulary and this was one of those times.

As I was studying what it meant I realized that this could be a teachable moment for myself and the church! I bet most people who have sung this don’t  know what it means either. Ever happened to you?

The song we sang is Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing which has the line “Here I raise mine Ebenezer” in it. When I first read the line I was like….What the heck is that? So I did a little studying!

In 1 Samuel 7:12 it says:

Then Samuel took a stone and called its name Ebenezer for he said, Till now the lord has helped us.

The Hebrew Translation of Ebenezer is “Stone of Help”

The Israelites had finally defeated the Philistines and had taken back the Ark of the Covenant.

Samuel set up a marker stone to identify and remind people of Gods faithfulness.

God  has been faithful in the past, In our present and He will be in our future.

So on that Sunday we passed out rocks. Now if you think they may throw them at you then you might want to rethink it. 🙂

We took our little stone as a reminder of His faithfulness. We all have battles. We’ve been through them, we may be going through them now and they’ll come. We need our Ebenezer. We need our reminder.  When things seem to really suck our first reaction or thought is to quit or give up. What would happen if the first thing we did is remind ourself of Gods faithfulness? Remind ourself that God had been faithful, that He has saved you, that He sent His son to die for you. I guarantee you can think of at least one thing to remind yourself of His faithfulness.

Ebenezer

Its time to raise your Ebenezer! Its time to set a reminder.

Worship leaders its time to expand your vocabulary, its time to get creative. Use rocks if you have too.

Heres the video of it. It was filmed on an iPhone!! Ebenezer Video

J
Ebenezer

Here we GO!!!

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

I wanted to let everyone know whats going on with the Nicholas Family!!

Well here it is…

At the end of May we will be moving to NY!

I have recently taken a job at First Baptist Church Brewster in Brewster, NY. I have actually been flying back and forth since January but we will be moving up as a family at the end of May. I was hired as the Worship Arts Pastor but have recently been made the Associate Pastor. I am still over the Worship Arts Department but I also oversee Education (small groups, youth, kids ministry)!

The Village of Brewster / The Town of Southeast

The Village of Brewster is 58 miles outside of Times Square in the town of Southeast. It is in the New York City Metro area. The Pastor of First Brewster is actually a southerner too! Rick Julian is his name and he is from Greenville, SC and he spent some summers in Canton, NC which is pretty close to Franklin. Small world…. I am very blessed to work with someone like Rick. He is truly a Pastor and he is unlike anyone I have ever met. His wife’s name is Rachel and they have two kids, Abby and Brooks.

We are very excited about this humongous and scary faith step but we know were headed in the right direction. NY is nothing like NC when it comes to church’s. In case you didn’t know there is not one on every corner in the North. Actually a bible believing, bible teaching church is few and far between. A lot of them are avenues for the Pastor to share their political views or discuss what is going on in the news. The opportunities to reach people here are unbelievable. This area could truly be considered a mission field… Forget that, it is a mission field. 

Did you know that there is around 800 languages spoken in NY?

And,

1 out of every 16 people in the United States lives within a 75 mile radius of Times Square!!

Dang… Thats a lot of people.

One of the things that we loved about the church was that it actually had a variety of people. It really is a church for everyone. From Homeless to the top of the Corporate ladder and everything in between you name it and First Brewster has it. It is a regional church which means some people drive up to 1.5hrs just to come to church!

We are very excited about the ministry possibilities here. They are pretty much endless and I feel God has some really amazing things in store for my family and I. We know God is going to use us to make a difference in the North East!

One thing I would ask of you is this:

PRAY FOR US!!

We would love to have you praying for us! Prayer works and we need it!

A few immediate ones are,

  • Easy Transition for the family
  • Find a house
  • Find the right school for the kids
  • Make good connections

Would you commit to pray for us once a week?

If that’s something you are interested in would you email me at jnicholasfamily@gmail.com and let me know! We will send you more updates and keep you posted with whats going on. I have some really awesome stories I look forward to sharing with you!

Excited about the adventure,

Jason, Brandi, Jonah and Jada

Here is a few video links:

Here is Pastor Rick

Hear is our Easter Egg Hunt from last week!

And Heres one we made for Easter Sunday

Brewsterchurch.com

Do what you love.

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

I had the privilege to go to TN this weekend to lead worship and I loved it.

Ben Walker, Josh Walker, Tony Mengacci, Kimberly Lackey and myself joined up with Andrew Gouge to play for their 2 morning services.

I am blessed to be able to sing and play with a team like this.

WHAT I KNOW…

*They are Men and Women of integrity who are willing to go after the presence of God without worrying what anybody even thinks of our “style”.

*Their heart isnt to be a rockstar but see people be touched by God.

*They love what they do so much their willing to sacrifice to be a part of it.

*Its not about them its about you.

HERES THE DEAL

We were doing what we love.

Going after God, being led by the Holy Spirit, and leading people into the presence.

If you dont do what you love then what are you doing?

J

 

The death of hymn?

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

Now at first I am sure some of you are getting worked up about this and are waiting for me to say something harsh towards hymns. Well….Im not.

I love rock n roll, distortion, electric guitars, drums and all that goes with it but I also have a great appreciation for the simple old-time hymns.

Today I have found myself playing a variety of hymns and just worshiping. It’s not my normal “play my guitar to kind of music” but I have enjoyed it.

My Grandma whom I love deeply always tells me that hymns will come back around but really I don’t think that they have ever left. They are the foundation for many of the songs being written and sung today.

The hymn’s music were written simply (piano,organ) but the words had depth and meaning(Something that we have gotten away from). I love hearing hymns that have been redone or worked into existing songs that we sing today and even just singing it like the original.

Will hymns die out? Of course not. Will they play a supporting role in the worship music of tomorrow? I don’t know…but we shall see!

Theres a few hymns that are my favorite, what about you?