New Music: Jesus We Love You
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)
One of my favorite parts of being a Worship Leader is the never-ending quest for new songs to use while we worship God. We live in a time where there are so many churches producing quality, singable, theologically sound worship music; it's actually very difficult to narrow down what to introduce because of that.
That being said, "Jesus We Love You," by Bethel Music, has quickly become one of my favorite songs to use in worship. The first time I heard it used in a live setting was at the SALT Conference in Nashville last year, and I remember being blown away by the second verse in particular:
The hopeless have found their hope
The orphans now have a home
All that was lost has found its place in You
You lift our weary head
You make us strong instead
You took these rags and made us beautiful
Such a powerful representation of the love that God has given to us, followed by a challenge to do something about it. "For all that you've done, we will pour out our love." We get to love because he first loved us.
I've embedded the song story, lyric video, and a few playlists and links below. I hope that you find encouragement in the truths of this new song. Sing it loud!
Blessings!
-Matt
Read more about the story behind the song at New Release Today.
Matt Dailey serves as Worship Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2013. When he's not leading worship and designing graphics, he enjoys baseball, comic books and team trivia. Read more about Matt here.
Blog: Day One.
Last July, our church staff took a retreat to Orlando, to attend the Renegade Pastors Conference. That was our first chance to “feel each other out,” so to speak, as a staff, with most of us coming on in the previous three months. We came out of that retreat with momentum to spare and a drive to make things accessible to first time guests. One of the things that we noted in our time there was the ineffectiveness of our church website. The old website had become bulky, bloated, and ineffective; in fact, it may have even been driving people away! According to a 2015 study from Stanford University, 46% of people say a website’s design and functionality is their number one criterion for determining the credibility of an organization. We saw that statistic and realized we needed to make a change.
I was put in charge of redesigning the website, and over three months we rebuilt it from the ground up with a first-time guest in mind. Now, the interface is sleek and easy to use, and the content relevant to a guest is front-and-center. We launched in October, and have averaged 872 unique viewers per month since then. At the time of this publication, we are in the midst of the second phase of our website upgrades – Web 2.0. In Web 2.0, we’re expanding to include a Central Hub from which you can easily find information about the goings on at Navarre, as well as updated pages for worship, growth, service, kids, and youth.
Of all the features we’re launching this summer, the feature I’m perhaps most excited about is our new blog. For many years we've published a monthly newsletter, but we found the format to be largely ineffective - we're excited to move to a format where we can see our content reach more people. Today marks "Day One" of this new endeavor.
So what can you expect?
- Original content from our ministry staff every week
- A preview of Sunday's sermon every week
- Other articles and websites that we find interesting
- An active celebration of the life of Navarre UMC.
Our hope is that you not only find this space informative, but that you might come to know us as people in the process. Above all, I hope that this space gives you a way to actively see and serve Christ in every area of your life.
Blessings!
-Matt
Matt Dailey serves as Worship Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2013. When he's not leading worship and designing graphics, he enjoys baseball, comic books and team trivia. Read more about Matt here.