Worship Setlist & New Worship Team Members

Here is the setlist from ACC's Sunday AM service on April 29:

• All Because of Jesus - Fee
• Lord Almighty - Kristian Stanfill
• Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill
• Never Once - Matt Redman
• Revelation Song - Gateway Church
• Yours is the Victory - NewSpring Church

Also, some of you have been asking, who's the new singer onstage? Her name is Heather Knollman and she and her husband Andrew recently joined ACC earlier this year and they have been fantastic additions to our Worship Team with Heather singing and Andrew running sound.

So the next time you see them, you'll be able to say "Hi" since you know who they are now!

How It Should Have Ended

Anyone who knows me would know that my favorite movies series of all time is the Original Star Wars Trilogy (Episodes IV, V and VI). And if I absolutely had to pick one of those to be my favorite, it would have to be Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

The amount of emotion in that film is staggering. The director, Irvin Kershner, specifically set out to cram as much emotion into the film as he possibly could and every scene and moment comes off as strikingly magnificent. Not only that, but it has what is possibly the greatest plot twist in cinema history, (you have to remember that we didn't have the Prequel trilogy yet).

So when the website How It Should Have Ended parodied Empire, I knew I would love it and today, i thought I share it with you. This is How the Empire Strikes Back should have ended.....

Summer Trimester

Just wanted you to know that things are gearing up for our Summer Trimester of Small Groups at ACC.

We will be offering two groups this summer and you will have the chance to begin signing up for those beginning on Mother's Day, May 13.

Next week here on the blog, I'll let you know exactly which two groups will be available, so stay tuned...

Defend Your Pride

I was flipping channels the other night and came across a show about lions hunting on the Discovery Channel.

Each pride has an Alpha male lion who defends the pride from attacks and sires the cubs. It's a beautiful arrangement until he gets challenged by attacks from other Alpha males looking to dominate his pride and take away everything that belongs to him.

And on this show, two roaming alpha males came in and attacked the leading male of this particular pride and drove him off, killing all of the cubs that were his in the process.

And this needs to be a huge lesson for any man that is trying to lead his own family.

1st Peter 5:8 says that our enemy the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Men, we need to step up and defend our prides. We can never be off our guard, never lay down for an instant, because it might be in that moment when the Devil sends an attack in to destroy everything we hold dear.

We have to stop being lazy and pretending that everything's okay. 

So, if you've been slacking:

• Get back to reading the Word 
• Ask your kids what's going on at school, or with their friends 
• Pursue the godly woman that God has brought into your life to protect. 

And defend your pride so that no one else can come and take it from you.

Setlist from April 22

Hey ACC, here is the worship setlist from this past weekend, April 22:

• Our God - Chris Tomlin
• Holy, Holy, Holy - Reginald Heber & John B Dykes, New Chorus & Arrangement by Brian Morrissey
• You Never Let Go - Matt Redman
• Son of God - Starfield
• The Broken & The Tired - Elevation Worship
• Greatly to Be Praised - Fee

Sulfur Hexaflouride

Random Humor Thursday Post!!!!

Okay, we all know about helium and what it does to your voice when you inhale it. But what happens when you breathe in the dense gas known as Sulfur Hexaflouride?

And then how would you get it out??????

Why So Small?

People have often asked me, why does your church place such an emphasis on Small Groups? So, here's the long and short of it:

Our Church is growing. That's what every Church in the world should be doing if they're truly following the great commission.

As our Church grows larger, we cannot know everyone. It is a physical impossibility. Statistics say that you will only really "know" 60-80 people within your Church. And by the word know, I mean "be acquainted with."

But Jesus didn't call us to stop there, so as the Church grows larger, we must also grow smaller at the same time.

Acts 2:46-47 tells us how the early Church did it while their numbers were increasing: ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

We base our model on the early Church and since it worked for them, we figure it will work pretty good for us as well. Hence, Small Groups at ACC

Allergies

Oh this season is my least favorite time of year.

Wait a sec, I'm not supposed to complain anymore.

I tend to get really bad allergies this time of year. The trees are in full bloom and so are my sinuses. They back up and swell up and it leaves me sneezing my head off, blowing my nose and generally laying on the couch feeling miserable.

At least until I discovered my new best friend, Allegra.

I don't like medicine. It's something I will not take unless I'm in dire straights. I had previously been on Claritin, but my body developed an immunity to it and the effect that Claritin had on my allergies gradually faded over time until it was almost non-existent.

Enter Allegra

My brother told me that it worked for him and I was so miserable, that I decided to give it a try.

The result was instant relief.

Allegra cleared up my head, my sinuses and I was actually able to go outside with my family again.

Now before you think that that's the end of this, let me show you something you may have missed because you weren't looking for the spiritual significance in this lesson.

When you're constantly doing the same thing over and over, it loses it's effect and it's meaning for your life.

• When you pray the same words in your prayer
• When you read the same Bible passage over and over again
• When you just go to Church week in and week out as a spectator.

These things will cause your Spiritual life to gradually fade over time until they become non-existent.

So this week, try something new.

• Pray differently
• Read a different section of Scripture that you've never read before
• Go to Church and volunteer to serve in an area you're gifted in.

Be intentional about switching up your routine and watch the relief of God wash over your life so that you can get up and live again.

ACC Worship Set April 15

Here is the Worship set from April 15 at ACC:

• Hosanna (Praise is Rising) - Paul Baloche
• The Saving One - Starfield
• No One Like - NewSpring Church
• Revelation Song - Gateway Church
• God of This City - Bluetree
• Mighty to Save - Hillsong United

How to Propose

It's random humor Thursday and this week I'm bringing you a video entitled "How to Propose"

When I proposed to Cara, I did it under the stars up in the mountains. (Yes, I grabbed her wrong hand - but give me a break, I was nervous)

This guy went above and beyond for his and he got it all on film...literally.

Check it out to see what I mean and watch her reaction when she figures it out:

Tough to Follow

My Small group is currently tackling the Book of Romans and this week we're in Romans Chapters 12-13.

Take a minute and read these commands that Paul lays down for believers in Romans 12:

o Hate what is evil

o Cling to what is good

o Be devoted to one another in brotherly love

o Honor one another above yourselves

o Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord

o Be joyful in hope

o Be patient in affliction

o Be faithful in prayer

o Share with God’s people who are in need

o Practice hospitality.

o Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

o Rejoice with those who rejoice

o Mourn with those who mourn

o Live in harmony with one another

o Do not be proud

o Be willing to associate with people of low position

o Do not be conceited

o Do not repay anyone evil for evil

o Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody

o If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone

o Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath

o Do not be overcome by evil

o Overcome evil with good

Of those commands, which do you have the most difficulty following?

Try and work on that one this week.

Worst (or best) Day Ever?

*Warning - this post contains graphic complaining. Viewer discretion is advised....

Last Friday was an exercise in the totally bizzare.

There are seasons as a pastor where your family comes under attack. You expect that.

Since I'm trying to win people to the Kingdom of God, you understand up front that you have a red bullseye painted on the front of your chest.

However, Friday took it to a whole new level.

It began when my son woke up and discovered that a tick had latched on to his side. Now, I had to research it and we were able to get the tick off him since it hadn't burrowed yet, but then I had to discover what kind of a tick it was and figure out whether or not he would get Lyme Disease. After spending some time looking at options, we determined it wasn't serious. The bug had barely bit him and the sites I visited said that it usually took >36 hours for the tick to pass on the disease and this variety didn't even carry it.

So, we calmed him down and resolved ourselves to watch him for symptoms. This put me in an extremely foul mood. I was trying to get my family ready and out the door so that we could enjoy breakfast as a family on Josh's last day of Spring Break.

I wanted the day to be perfect from then on, but little did I know that it was going to be anything but that.

Over the next few hours, these things occurred:

• Traffic on the way to the restaurant
• Every red light I could've hit, I hit
• Josh was in an extremely foul mood (probably because of the tick) and that bothered me and my nerves
• There was a huge line at the restaurant
• The food was cold when it arrived at our table
• We went shopping after breakfast and couldn't find what we were looking for
• When we came back home, Josh went out to play and Cara decided to clean the bathrooms, where chemicals somehow got flung into her eye and had to flush them out for 20 minutes before we were able to get it to stop burning
• My allergies started acting up and I was sneezing my head off (more about that next week)
• Josh and I tried to play the Wii, only to have it freeze up right as we got to the end of our game we were playing together
• We found a second tick crawling on Josh after he came indoors and we got to it before it could get on him
• We went to cook a meal for dinner and after making the meal, realized that the butter we had used to make the meal had expired (Cara normally checks such things, but I was cooking that evening)

After a long and frustrating day where nothing seemed to go right, we were getting water to take upstairs with us before bed and the cup Cara was holding fell out of her hands. the cup immediately fell onto the floor and cracked and the water that had previously been in the cup flew the entire length of our kitchen and sprayed me in the face....

...and we laughed.

After the day we had experienced, what else could you do in a moment like that? We each have a choice on how we react to situations. During the majority of the day, I had complained, whined, been frustrated and stamped my foot quite a bit, but with water dripping down my face, I began to see what God had done for us:

• The tick(s) didn't hurt Josh. He didn't contract a disease from them because we found them early enough
• We didn't get in an accident during our trip(s) out of the house
• We had food to eat and everyone was healthy enough to go out to breakfast
• At least we have a bathroom (with indoor plumbing) to clean
• I was able to sit down with my son and play a game together even if we didn't get to finish it
• We are able to cook indoors and we have food in our pantry
• We have more cups and more water

Instead of viewing it as the worst day ever, maybe I should have viewed it as the best, because God showed me how many blessings I really had during the day.

April 8 Setlist - ACC

Going to be doing something new on the blog every Monday from now on. So to that end, here is the Worship Setlist from this past weekend at ACC:

• My Future Decided - (Hillsong United)
• We Stand (Lee McDerment)
• Exalted One (Elevation Worship)
• Glory to God Forever (Fee)
• How Great is Our God (Chris Tomlin)
• Proclaim the Name (Aron Paul Kirk)
• Yours is the Victory (NewSpring Church)

Blog Revamp....(plus Zorro)

Finally....a post

For the few of you who still read my blog, I am looking at a new format for posting things that will make it a lot simpler for me to post. For you, this means more posts to read!

From now on, the new format will look like this:

Mondays - Worship (These posts could be something as simple as the worship set from Sunday at ACC, but will tend to include scripture and life lessons I have experienced during both leading and personal worship. From time to time, I will also review music albums so that you can read about it before you waste money on it - that's always a good thing)

Tuesdays - Personal (These posts will be life lessons from either myself or my family. I am really excited and nervous about this one because I'm a fairly private person but others have told me that they want to know what happens in the Morrissey household outside of Church, so I guess we'll spend some time talking about that....)

Wednesdays - Small Groups (Again, I will mostly be posting on upcoming items/events at ACC, but from time to time, I will offer advice I have picked up along the way so that you can have a better experience from and in your Small Group)

Thursdays - Random (Humor is a big part of who I am and what I do and along my way in life I have collected and continue to collect humorous things that i like to share with others. Most of Thursday posts will have to do with that very subject, but I reserve the right to be totally bizarre and perplexing as well)

Hopefully that will keep you coming back for more as we go through each week.

For now, it's Thursday and that means it's Random Day, so without further ado, here's what I wish would've happened in my college science class.......