This weekend I’m leading worship in the craziest environment I think I’ve ever played in.  The Erie Otters and WCTL are putting together a “Faith & Family” night for Sunday’s 4:30 game.

I got an email a few months ago from the Otters front office, asking if I’d be willing to lead a team after the game finishes.  We’re going to set up on the back of a flatbed truck, and be wheeled out onto center ice.  From there all we have to is plug in to the speakers hanging from the rafters and just let loose.

I can think of a million things that could potentially go wrong with that plan, but on the other hand…it also sounds like too much fun to pass up.

I’ve put a band together, Tom’s bringing the lyrics on the jumbo-tron, and we’re absolutely jacked to seek God’s face in the Tulio Arena.  We’ll be playing some of our own stuff, as well as a little Hillsong, Jesus Culture, Chris Tomlin, etc.

Since so many churches will be showing up on Sunday, I thought we should take the opportunity to pray for what God is doing in Erie–pray that He would do even greater things, that His church would be one, and that He would be glorified in our lives.

Here’s a preview of our set for Sunday night.  A know a bunch of you want us to do “God Almighty, None Compares” again from this Sunday, but there are some logistical problems that may make it impossible for us to do that one (we’ll see!). But don’t worry, we’re not going to hold anything back this Sunday night! Check it out:

1. God of this City
2. Mighty to Save
3. You are Lord
4. With Everything
5. You Are Here (the Same Power)
6. Who Can Stand
7. Overflow
8. Sing to the King
9. I Exalt Thee

Filed under: Events | 1 Comment »

Rachel’s grandfather passed away today.

He’s been battling cancer for about a year, and this week his health took a dive and seemed to really speed the process along. Rach and I have been talking all this last week about the strange juxtaposition between life and death that God seems to have our family walking through.

You see, Rachel’s grandmother passed away only 9 months ago, also from cancer.  At the time we didn’t quite know it yet, but when we learned later and then went back and figured it out, we realized that our first child was conceived the week that Betty died. A strange coincidence, but one that gets yout thinking about the contrast of new life and the end of life.

Now we see another strange coincidence in our circumstances.  This week we’ll be celebrating Dick’s life and saying our final goodbyes,  and then within two weeks Rach will be giving birth to our daughter Chloe. The reality of anticipating the joy of new life while saying goodbye to one of our closest loved ones has been heart wrenching at times.

So what does this have to do with worship? Two things:

1. First, that Jesus Christ is Lord through all circumstances and all seasons. What has sustained Rachel and I through joy and sorrow has been the foundation of Christ’s work on the cross.  The gospel gives us hope–hope that we’ll see Dick & Betty again and hope for our daughter’s heart.  It gives us strength to live out lives of worship in how we parent, how we live as children of our own parents, and how we love one another as husband and wife.
2. Songs take on a new life and new meaning as your life intersects with them.  Worship at Grace yesterday was amazing for many reasons, but what was most meaningful to Rachel and I wasn’t what you’d expect.  It was one line in the song In Christ Alone–a song we’ve sang dozens, if not hundreds of times at Grace.

No guilt in life/no fear in death/this is power of Christ in me/from life’s first cry/to final breath/Jesus commands my destiny

That one line brought both of us to tears yesterday (her in the service and I as we talked about it in the car on Sunday evening). It has never been my favorite line before, but it was so poignant in its truth for our current circumstances.

There is comfort in knowing that as Dick takes his final breath, and as Chloe greets us with her first cry, Christ is in control. There is a sort of beauty in it–a haunting, bittersweet beauty that has me thankful for God’s hand in all circumstances–for His glory and our joy.

Filed under: Reflections | 4 Comments »

Today is a great day! Why you ask?  Because today I get to announce the launch of a new podcast for worship leaders called What’s Up Worship.

I really enjoy podcasts.  They’re a regular part of my week, whether listening to a sermon or checking out the feeds from my hobbies, like World Soccer Daily or 4guys1up.  But there was something missing in my weekly intake.  It was a podcast that covered the ins and outs of what it means to be a worship leader for the local church.

Let me say it this way.  You know that phenomenon that happens when worship leaders get together and chat about what’s going on at their churches? I wanted to capture that dynamic–the conversational, funny, enriching dialogue that comes from “talking shop” with others of us who lead worship together.

There are plenty of good worship podcasts out there–but they normally involve interviewing worship leaders who are just releasing an album or are on tour somewhere.  That’s awesome, but I was still craving something a little different–so I decided to create a podcast that would have it’s own unique voice–made by local worship leaders, for local worship leaders. I brought in Jen Kerr and Tim Hull, two awesome lead worshipers with their own unique take on things, and we started to plan what this new podcast would look like.

We launched our first episode yesterday on iTunes, you can subscribe to it free here. We’ll be releasing a new episode every other Tuesday. In our first episode we recapped our experiences from the weekend of Feb. 14th, and then launched into a discussion on the balance between planning and spontanaitey. I broke the podcast into chapters, and each episode I’ll post some show notes to let you know what we talked about. Hit up the comments if you have some feedback, and let us know if there’s something you’d like us to talk about.

Episode Notes:

Chapter 1–0:00–Introductions

Chapter 2–9:28–Weekly Wrapup: Tim

Chapter 3–15:05–Weekly Wrapup: Jen in Union City

Chapter 4–25:56–Weekly Wrapup: Brian

Chapter 5–35:17–Weely Wrapup: Jen at Church in A Bar (CIAB)

Chapter 6–43:02–Topic of the Week: Planning vs. Spontanaety

Filed under: Practical, Sunday Setlists, What's Up Worship, Worship Confessional | 1 Comment »

Christmas Eve for us at Grace is a time to return to tradition. We still use our bands, but for the most part, we stick as close to the original carol melodies and arrangements as possible.

During the weeks leading up to December, I like to introduce a few surprises into our worship set.  For instance, this weekend I’m leading the service with a techno/gregorian chant mashup of the Magnificat.

Yes you read that right.

I’ll posting more on that next week after we get a solid recording of it at the weekend, but I wanted to share a version of Angels We Have Heard on High I’m working on for next week’s services.  For the last few years, we’ve toyed around with a version in 5/4 time. But this year I’m changing things around again, with the verse in 5/4 and the chorus in 6/8.  I think it adds a jazzy feel to the familiar melody, and I’m looking forward to singing it next weekend. Check it out:

Angels We Have Heard on High in 5/4 from Brian Lusky on Vimeo.

And if you’d like a chord chart of it, just click here.

Filed under: Creatives, Video, music | No Comments »

I’m in the process of getting Who Can Stand up on iTunes/Amazon, but I’m pleased to announce that you can download the album on Digstation starting today!

You can listen to each track and download the whole thing, or simply grab one song. Digstation doesn’t charge any distrubution fees, so if you’d like to support me as an artist, this is the best way to do it online.  There are links to the download page for Who Can Stand on the main page of my website, and on the music tab at the top.  Or you can simply click on the link below!

Who Can Stand

Filed under: who can stand, who can stand EP | No Comments »

It’s been a few weeks since my last confessional. I’m back in the saddle this week, while at Grace we’re in our 4th week of our Transformed series. Pastor Al was back again this week, talking about how to live out God’s Word through love. Check out the video:

Worship Confessional: All You Need is Love from Brian Lusky on Vimeo.

Setlist:

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

Now Thank We All Our God

For the Beauty of the Earth

We Will Tell

Band:

Drums–Rob

Bass–Josh

Acoustic–me

Electric–Mike M.

Piano/Keys–Angi

Violin–Rob

Vocals–me, Amy, Christie

This post is a part of Fred Mckinnon’s Sunday Setlists.

Filed under: Services, Sunday Setlists, Video, Worship Confessional, transformed | 1 Comment »

It’s been a really long time coming, but I’m really excited to be able to say that my album, Who Can Stand, has a release date! We’ll be having a worship night at Grace on Friday Night, Dec. 4th, 2009 at 7 p.m., which will also serve as a CD release party.

As always, the event will be free and Grace also be providing childcare up through age 4. This will be an opportunity for an extended time of music and prayer–a time for us to seek God’s face together.

In case you’re interested in picking up a CD, this will be the first place that you can do so. They’ll be on sale that night for $10. Hopefully I’ll see you then–in the mean time, you can check out a preview of what the cover is going to look like:

Filed under: music, who can stand EP | 6 Comments »

Today was the final week in our Marriage Matters series. No music from Grace today in the confessional because Logic crashed during the service. Check out the video below:

Worship Confessional: Singleness from Brian Lusky on Vimeo.

Setlist:

You Hold Me Now

How He Loves

Revelation Song

One Pure and Holy Passion.

Band:

Drums: Rob

Bass: Tim

Acoustic/Electric: me

Electric: Josh

Keys/Piano: Angie

Vocals: me, Amy, Christie

This post is a part of Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlists.

Filed under: Marriage Matters, Services, Sunday Setlists, Video, Worship Confessional | 5 Comments »

This weekend is our final weekend in our Marriage Matters series.  Derek is up and will be preaching on what Paul has to say to the unmarried from 1 Corinthians 7.

Tim Hull is leading worship at our Saturday Service.  I (as the worship monkey) get to play piano after taking a turn on bass last week. Marie Detter is leading the team at our 9:15 commons service, and I’m leading in the Worship Center on Sunday morning along with the ever talented duo of Amy Mason & Christie Lee.

Click on the service you’re attending to get a preview:

5:30

9:15 Commons

9:15 & 11:00 Worship Center

Filed under: Marriage Matters, Services | No Comments »

Check out Revelation Song, a new song for corporate worship we’re introducing this weekend. It’s based on Revelation chapter 4, and it is just wrecking me this week in its ability to paint this grand picture of our God seated on the throne being worshiped by all creation. Here’s a video of Kari Jobe singing it with Gateway worship:

I don’t think there’s any way to fully musically represent this scene as grandly as it deserves, but we’re going to try out best. If you want to download the song on iTunes and learn it before this weekend, click on the title of the song above and it’ll take you there!

Filed under: Song Study, Video, music | No Comments »