Brandon Gilliam

Set List 6/28 at Rivers Crossing

2009-06-29T08:47:00.002-04:00

The Time Has Come - Hillsong United
Dancing Generation - Matt Redman
Everlasting God - Brown
Revelation Song - Jenny Lee Riddle (Kari Jobe Version, NOT Philip Craig and Dean...bla)

Glory to God - Fee
You are Here (the same power) - Hillsong United

Set List 6/21/09

2009-06-22T09:01:00.001-04:00

Dancing Generation - Redman
We Shine - Fee
Taste and See - Brian Johnson
River - Bluetree
From the Inside Out - Hillsong United
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall

Set List 6/14/09

2009-06-14T20:52:00.002-04:00

Great day at Rivers Crossing today as we continued in the One Prayer series. We stripped things down a little this week and did an "acoustic set". It was a great change of pace.

Better than I know - David Walker
Unchanging - Tomlin
Happy Day - Hughes
How He Loves - John Mark McMillan

Your Love is Strong - Jon Foreman

I've never laughed so hard....

2009-06-11T11:46:00.002-04:00

Echo Conference

2009-06-03T09:19:00.003-04:00

As you can see, my name is on that list. I was one of ten winners of a FREE echo conference ticket. I won this by basically leaving a comment on their blog as to why I should get a ticket. I will show you my comment below.

Im so excited to be going to this conference. Im even more excited because our tech director Jos Hall and our graphics guy James will be getting to go too. I cant wait to see how this conference sparks our creativity. Worship and Creativity are one of our core values at Rivers Crossing.

So...um...Dallas, TX....are you ready for us?

Set List 5/31 at Rivers Crossing

2009-06-01T08:58:00.003-04:00

Faithful - Kristian Stanfill Version w/ Extended Intro
All Because of Jesus - Fee
The Stand - Hillsong United
Come and Listen - Crowder
Living Sacrifice - Gilliam

This is my view for the day.

2009-05-15T11:21:00.002-04:00

I've taken over our living room. Working on electric today. Word.

Set List 5/10 Rivers Crossing

2009-05-11T13:26:00.001-04:00

Salvation is Here - Hillsong United
Sing Sing Sing - Tomlin
Overcome- Desperation Band
How He Loves - John Mark McMillan

Leadership

2009-05-05T10:35:00.002-04:00

Last night I got an email from Paul, lead pastor at Rivers Crossing Community Church, just sharing some thoughts he had as well as encouraging his team. It really made me pause think about how lucky I am to be here at Rivers Crossing. I know off the top of my head a ton of Worship leaders or even any folks in the ministry for that matter that would love to be under this kind of leadership on an everyday basis. They would give anything for it. People ask me why I think Rivers Crossing is in a season of tremendous blessing and growth, and my answer is because we have a pastor who is passionate about reaching a city for Christ, as well as a pastor who is passionate about the vision that God has given him for Rivers Crossing and will not let anything or anyone get in the way of it.

Rivers Crossing folks, if you read this....take a moment and thank the Lord for your pastor.

Rivers Crossing Set List 5/3

2009-05-05T10:30:00.002-04:00

I had the Sunday "off" which was cool. We are blessed to have a couple really talented and anointed worship leaders in our church, so Julie Maguire led this Sunday. She did an incredible job.

Here was the set:

Sing my Love - Sara Mcmillan (Kim Walker version)
Happy Day - Tim Hughes
How Great is our God - Tomlin

Cover Song - When will I be loved - Linda Romstadt
(I had never heard of this song before this week, but the lyrics fit perfect for the message)

Sunday Recap at Rivers Crossing

2009-04-20T09:26:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we kicked off our Marriage Series, titled We Want a New Marriage. We invested quite a bit into the marketing for this series, mainly because we believe (and the statistics show) that marriages are failing all around us, but that it doesnt have to be this way. One of our strategies was to make it known to all people that if they attended all 5 weeks of this series, they would receive a free date night on us. A nice restaurant and free childcare, just for coming to church for 5 weeks. Yes, this will cost money and will be an investment. However, it was very evident yesterday that people are hungry to know more about what God has to say about marriage (this series is not only for the married, but for the singles and the divorced as well).

We had record attendance at Rivers Crossing on Easter 2009. One week later, which was yesterday, we broke that record. We had over 100 first time guests with us at Rivers Crossing, with over 90% of them saying they would be back. This is incredible.

It was obvious from the get go yesterday that the enemy was going to try everything to distract us and to get under our skin. With volunteers being late and pushing us back on time a little, as well as our projector going out on us during run through along with several other little things that didnt go quite as planned. I can get really spiritual here and say that we just pressed on as if nothing happened, however, if you've ever been involved in church planting you know that this is not the norm way of responding when these situations come up haha. As must as we want it to be, when we are pressed against time and everything is going wrong, its natural to get stressed and tense. But I say all that to say this...the enemy tried, the enemy failed horribly yesterday. Despite distractions and technical difficulties, the Lord still showed up in Power and began a work in people's lives.

I personally believe that during this series not only are we going to see record attendance (which, by the way, number DO matter to God), but more importantly we are going to see more people saved and baptized than ever before at Rivers Crossing. All of this for the Glory of God. Amen?

Set List
Better than I know - David Walker
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall
Everlasting God - Brown
Love Story - Taylor Swift
Your Love Never Fails - Jesus Culture Music

Incredible day

2009-04-12T21:10:00.002-04:00

Today was incredible. One of the best services I've been a part of. And from the sound of all my friends on twitter and facebook (status updates), churches all over the country saw the Lord move. Great stuff for sure. The same was true for Rivers Crossing today. We had a record crowd, about 500 peeps which is great for a 1 1/2 old church as well as several people raise their hands to receive Christ. But we arent satisfied or contempt. Thousand in our area still need Jesus, and we will not compromise the vision that the Lord has given us for anything or anyone. I pray that we will stay focused, and thats my prayer for you too (the 3 of you that read my blog haha).

One powerful element for me today was before the service even started. To be able to have communion with our band was just an amazing thing. We prayed, took communion, and worshipped.

Setlist for 4/12 - Obviously these werent all together, but rather played throughout our service, even some during communion.
Happy Day - Hughes
All Because of Jesus - Fee
Lead Me to the Cross - Hillsong United
Jesus Paid it All - Umm...
Taste and See - Brian/Jenn Johnson
True Love - Phil Wickham

Bracketology

2009-04-07T20:51:00.002-04:00

So, one hour before the NCAA tourney started several weeks ago, me and a couple other guys in our office decided to fill out a bracket. Winner gets free Chipotle. Loser pays for that meal.

We entered into the Catalyst bracket. Pretty cool. I dont even know how many people were in this bracket, maybe 1000 or so. Our very own Jos Hall, tech director at Rivers Crossing, came in 10th place out of everyone. Pretty good for someone who just filled his bracket out oh a whim.

Congrats Jos. Cant wait to go to Chipotle on Thursday.

Setlist 4/5/09 at Rivers Crossing

2009-04-07T20:48:00.002-04:00

Today we had more music than normal, which was cool. We even had the chance to strip it down to just acoustic guitar and vocals for a couple songs which was a great change of pace.

All Because of Jesus - Fee
Let God Arise - Tomlin
Taste and See - Brian and Jenn Johnson

Happy Day - Hughes
Beautiful Jesus - Stanfill
Glory to God - Fee and Beeching

Yard Update

2009-03-30T15:28:00.002-04:00

So,
Most will remember a couple posts ago I talked about getting many, many tons of topsoil delivered so I could re-do my yard and start over. Well, as of right now I've laid all my seed and all that good stuff. But here are some pics I took of the Bobcat tearing up my yard. it was great fun.

Set List 3/29/09 at Rivers Crossing

2009-03-30T15:24:00.001-04:00

The Time Has Come - Hillsong United
Let God Arise - Tomlin
The Stand - United
Where You go I go - Brian/Jenn Johnson

Incredible day.

A new yard

2009-03-21T08:36:00.003-04:00

So, I enjoy yard work. I know Im in the minority. Maybe I get it from my Grandfather, or my mom (his daughter). Anyways, one sucky thing about buying a new house is the yard they "give" you. They do the bare minimum and leave the rest up to you. The soil is pretty much clay, and sort of rocky. I've asked around and done some research and what Im doing is basically laying top soil over the entire yard. Then I will seed, fertilize, and lay straw over it for protection from the wind. Then, we'll see what happens. The seed should take off in the top soil as opposed to just spreading the seed on top of the clay.

Yesterday I had 25 tons of top soil delivered. I'd love to know what my neighbors think. After looking at this picture, it really doesnt do the pile of dirt justice. I've already covered most of my front yard, and will probably hire someone who drives a bobcat to come and move the rest to my back yard. I didnt realize how tiring this would be and absolutely kills my back. Its rewarding though. Nothing ever comes easy.

Hopefully I can put some photos up in a month or two with some grass growing. We'll see.

Speechless

2009-03-10T20:12:00.001-04:00

Not many people can do Phil Wickham songs justice. Dex Alexander does. This song is powerful, and the elements included take it up another level. Dex used to sing in a band called All Together Separate...he now leads worship at Fellowship Church in Texas.

Enjoy.

True Love from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.

Set List 3/8 at Rivers Crossing

2009-03-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

We Cry Out - Kim Walker
Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill

During Communion we played:
Mighty is the Power of the Cross into slow version of Grace Like Rain. Worked out really well I thought.

Another reason I love Craigslist

2009-03-02T23:12:00.002-05:00

So, if you know me, you know I really like Craigslist. Its just fun. I love selling and occasionally buying things. The last thing I bought was back in October, I bought my Fender Rhodes off of Craigslist. Recently, I've been wanting a Flip Mino Video HD. I love the size of it as well as how easy it is to use. The cheapest I have found these for online is like 200 dollars. I cant swing that right now. I was roaming through Craigslist the other night and found someone selling their Flip HD for $100. I thought it was too good to be true. Sure enough it was a guy who had two of them and just wanted to get some cash for one of them. Well, I had to at least ask him if he'd come down on his already super low price. Um, so I bought it from him today for $80. Needless to say Im super excited. I cant wait to use this thing. Should be a lot of fun.

Any deals you've gotten on Craigslist?

snow cream anyone?

2009-03-01T22:18:00.002-05:00

A few pics of today...more to come

2009-03-01T21:48:00.000-05:00

Sunday in Review

2009-03-01T19:36:00.002-05:00

So, this weekend Megan and I made the trip down to NC (where Megan's family lives). We had a great time hanging out with her family. Today we left early from her house and headed down to Greenville, SC. I wanted to check out Newspring Greenville. I know a lot of friends that go there. It was kind of crazy to think that a couple years ago I used to go to the Bi-Lo that Newspring bought, gutted, and turned into a state of the art facility. They really did a great job with the building.

It was cool to visit Newspring Greenville. I love checking out different churches that "get it" and do a great job at reaching people. So, here are my thoughts. And I realize that they dont mean much, but its just a way to explain my experience at Newspring. First off, the rain was absolutely coming down. So we get out of our car and hear comes a really nice lady with a huge umbrella for us. Great first impression. Walking into the building was great. Just a great atmosphere. Nice, big atrium. Couches, TV's, coffee, information. Then they opened up the doors to the auditorium and we flooded in. We got seated on the second row from the front. Pretty cool. Once the five minute countdown started the music got turned up. I like this. It tells people inside and outside the auditorium that the countdown has begun. Band comes out at the end of the countdown. They open up the service with "A Thing Called Love". Dude, it rocked. Whoever that dude was that was singing was great. He nailed the very high notes (falsetto) in that song. Very, very impressive. The band absolutely rocked. What I loved was that the sound was very clear and very loud, but it wasnt over bearing. I thought it was nicely mixed. My one negative concerning the music, and I understand Im not a music scholar by any means...but the worship leader was not what I would have expected at Newspring. His stage presence was pretty awful. Just looked really uncomfortable and out of place. Im in no way questioning the dudes heart or anything, just stating what I observed. Anyways, the music was great. Then a huge...no really, a huge screen came down to satellite Perry's message. Perry was incredible today. Such a great ending message for their marriage series. The service ended with Perry asking all the married couples to come forward, give the ladies a rose, and renew their vows. Pretty cool stuff. Overall, it was a great experience and I feel that Newspring Greenville will be used by the Lord to reach thousands for Christ.

Now Im sitting in my parents living room, with a fire going, and its funny to say this but we are snowed in here in Greenville, SC. Hmm...

The end of our 21 Day Fast

2009-02-26T17:33:00.002-05:00

Our staff filmed this video as a conclusion to our church wide 21 day fast. basically a video based on each of our favorite foods and what we couldnt wait to get our hands on after the fast ended. Pretty funny I think.

This Fast was Hard for Us too... from Jos Hall on Vimeo.

Random Photos

2009-02-23T21:50:00.003-05:00

Some random pics with my awesome wife and our really cool dog. Yes I had to hold Maya (dog) so she would stay still which is why my arm is across the whole photo haha.