Sunday Afterthoughts May 23rd

If your afraid to take risks you just end up limiting yourself.

Yesterday we took a risk. I had this crazy idea to experiment with electronic music in worship. So we made our way down to The Bakery Studio in Colorado Springs, CO with my friend, producer/engineer, Brad Nyght who made it all magic. The entire worship set was built around a DJ running the tracks, Jeremiah adding tasteful additions with modulations on his guitar and me simply rocking the mic. This was my first time leading with out a guitar. Overall we felt really good about it. It was definently a stretch for us as a church. We have never really attempted anything like it before. Ill post 2 of the tracks here. I don't have copyright to post the other 2 but they were solid.





We also used an element of silence in our service. Completely awkward. Showing a video with text talking about hearing God in the silence. Sometimes we don't hear God because we make too much noise. Silence is a form of worship. Will you choose to be silent sometimes?

Pastor Jeff preached a very good and strong word on Expression in Worship. Click here for the rundown on his message.


Set List:
Breaking Free - Adam Cruz (arranged by Adam Cruz & Brad Nyght)
Glory To God - Steve Fee (arranged by Adam Cruz & Brad Nyght)
Til The End - Adam Cruz (arranged by Adam Cruz & Brad Nyght)
How He Loves - Kim Walker (arranged by Adam Cruz & Brad Nyght)

This Sunday

We are super pumped about this Sunday at element church. I wanted to give you a little taste and see for this Sunday. Don't miss it. I hope you enjoy.



pumped about Sunday,
adam

Sunday Afterthoughts May 9th

If you missed Element Church yesterday, I'm sorry.

God's presence was so strong and moving.

As you know we like to mix things up all the time around here. So we did just that. We stripped it down to a full acoustic worship set. It was beautiful. We rocked 4 acoustic guitars across the frontline with huge harmonies and moving creative elements. Added a new tag to the end of Nothing But The Blood which was a powerful moment. We opened and closed with the AWAKE MY SOUL tag from Mumford and Sons. Such a cool song.

The kicker of the day was having Jenna LaPierre paint throughout the entire worship service. The theme was Awakening. Check out Jenna's facebook for more information on purchasing the painting that came out of that time. They are auctioning it off for there missions trip.















There was such a specialness about meeting with Jesus yesterday.

But we won't stop there...this week we are busting out more Jesus Creativity. haha. This weeks worship set is brand new to Element. Never been done before. Don't miss it. Jesus is creative. Don't put Him in a box and say "there is only one way to worship". Great moves of God from all of history have happened with so many musical styles. So we want to still press the envelope on style. There is a huge culture out there that still have not heard of Jesus and His love for them. Don't ever settle. Be creative.

Pastor Jeff delivered a great word on Routine in worship.
Check it out here.

Set List:
Awake My Soul - Mumford and Sons
Your Grace is Enough - Chris Tomlin
Nothing But The Blood - Old Hymn
Hallelujah Our God Reigns - Hillsong
Awake My Soul (re-visited) - Mumford and Sons
Communion - Third Day

Til The End,
Adam

Sunday Afterthoughts May 2nd

Yesterday we kicked off our new series called "OPEN" - Noisy Hymns, Ego-Music, and How God Sees Your Worship. I am pumped about the things God has laid on Pastor Jeff's heart for this topic. I think that it is timely especially in today's culture of "church shopping". We have made worship so much about ME and MY "preferences" as if THEY EVEN MATTER, that we have replaced TRUE "HANDS AND FEET" worship for a "time of singing", in-which afterwards has no affect on the way we live our lives in our work place, our schools, families and communities . I know that my heart is going to be stretched on this topic as your worship pastor and I am asking God to do a brand new work in me thru this series.

My creative team knocked it out of the park for our set design this month. We put in many more hours than normal but the end result was remarkable.















Leeland's new song "Follow You" is exactly what this sermon series is all about. It will be song several times this month for sure.

I challenged our team yesterday to leave it all out on the stage. Give it everything you've got, and they definitely did. I love this worship team. Their passion to see God lifted high. I love watching each one of them worship their heart out and be moved by God during every service. Its contagious. But it doesn't stop there. When they worship God, they are moved beyond the song and they live it out. Love you guys!!!

Sunday Set List
Open Up The Gates - PlanetShakers
Glory To God - Fee
I Surrender - Kim Walker
Follow You - Leeland/Brandon Heath



til the end,
Adam