We were blessed to be the Cleveland Host Church for the James MacDonald Vertical Church Tour on September 14, 2012.  PHBC was buzzing with activity as the Vertical Church Tour team and our own team of volunteers prepared to greet over 700 people who came and were challenged to focus wholeheartedly on God's Word and our relationship with HIM. 





Jeff Brubaker - Faith Story

Dave Pietrzak - Faith Story

Refuel III

Kerrie Mawyer - Faith Story

Jennifer Berkey - Faith Story

Tricia and Randy Webb Faith Story

Staci Kling - Faith Story

Kraig Anderson - 40 Days Faith Story

Our Pastor Of Worship shares part of his experience during 40 Days of Community.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

The choir and congregation join together in singing.

All of the children gather to listen to a special Christmas story.

The lighting of candles.

Glory to the newborn King!

Vocal Artistry

On April 17, fourteen of our worship team vocalists had the opportunity to attend a fantastic day-long seminar called “Vocal Artistry”. Tim Carson, fantastic vocal instructor and vocal coach from Seattle, Washington was the presenter. His unique approach to building vocal strength, range, tone and other vocal styling’s were refreshing and challenging to say the least.

Tim Carson, from Seattle Washington

Bernice and Mandi

Christene (far left) and Jennifer (3rd from right) working on developing their “chest voice”

Jennifer, a classically trained singer being stretched as Tim seeks a contemporary tone in this exercise.

A few of our vocalists…I think they’re having a good day

More of the gang (Christene moved fast and found her way in this picture too!)

Takin' Him To The Malls

On December 13, 2009, the Worship Arts Ministry took 90 minutes of Christ-centered music to Parmatown and Southpark malls.  At 3:30 the "Ron Nelson" jazz trio started playing at Parmatown Mall, followed by the "brassphone 4" and finally our worship choir.  By the time the choir was finishing things up at Parmatown, the jazz trio had traveled to Southpark in Strongsville to begin our program their. 

The whole idea behind this outreach is to draw a crowd that the musicians and people form our church could connect with.  The weather was beautiful, the crowds were very nice and it turned into wonderful night that was really enjoyed by the musicians and audience alike!  Thanks so much to everyone who supported this new endeavor!

Soul'd Out Quartet

What a fun night we had on Tuesday, November 24.  The wonderful, nationally known vocal group "Soul'd Out Quartet" spent a fantastic evening with us.  They entertained us, made us laugh, shared their lives and the gospel of Christ with a nice, full crowd for this year's Thanksgiving week Concert.

Integrity Live Worship Conference - What We Learned

We want to share what we learned at worship:

WHAT CAN WORSHIP BE?

- Dynamic - Transformational - Inspired - Free

HOW CAN PEOPLE LEAD WORSHIP?

- Invite people into a sense of community

- Facilitate a Vertical Conversation

- Show people a journey of scripture, prayer and song

- Minister to the Lord

- Minister to people's Hearts

- Have an UNperformance

- Be transparent, so that people see God, not you

- Practice Worship in private

HOW CAN WE WORSHIP

- Show up; give God the offering of your attention

- Be authentic

- Be open to a visit from the Holy Spirit

 OTHER WEE SNIPPETS:

(Kathryn being from Ireland used all kinds of cute colloquialisms
like this throughout the course of the few days)

- You don't need to change to come and worship, worship will change you if you come

- God may not give you a new song, but He may give you a seed that you will need to cultivate and grow
- How we live our lives is an act of worship. We can not put on our "Worship Man" costume every Sunday morning and expect to make worship happen
-Sunday morning service is not the pinnacle towards which we aspire
-Tip: Don't focus on grumpy faces from the congregation during worship
-Tip: Don't guilt or try to force worship. Be respectful of your congregation and meet them where they are

Integrity Live Worship Conference

Several of the Worship Team members attended the Integrity Live Worship Conference on November 2nd and 3rd. Hundreds of worship leaders and their teams attended; they came from as far as New Guinea to gather at Cuyahoga Valley Church to experience real worship and learn from each other and great worship leaders. The conference was a full two days led by amazingly gifted worship leaders and song writers: Paul Baloche, Brian Doerksen and Kathryn Scott. Paul has written hundreds of songs that have been featured on a variety of albums. He has written many popular songs including "Open the Eyes of my Heart", "Above All", "Offering". Brian's songs include “Come, now is the time to worship”, “Hope of the nations”, “Faithful One”, “Refiner’s Fire”, and “Hallelujah (Your love is amazing)”. Kathryn Scott, all the way from Ireland, shared her popular songs “At The Foot Of The Cross,” “Search Me, Know Me” and the evergreen “Hungry” among others. We we're blessed to be able to sing the songs with their original creators and sing them straight to our Creator!

We were so blessed not only to indulge in a rich time of worship, but also to hear what these folks had to share about the worship experience. Our hope was to better minister to our church by learning and bringing back what we learn.

Left to Right - Ross Parsley, Brian Doerksen, Kathryn Scott and Paul Baloche

A Hearty Group - Worship Arts Picnic

What happens when lots of people work, play and serve hard all year long? They EAT!!! On Wednesday, June 2, over 100 people from the worship arts ministry had their annual Spring picnic to celebrate the year, connect families outside of rehearsal and worship, and just have a great time together. We even got to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of two worship choir members!

The picnic was held in one of the beautiful Cleveland metro parks - though it was one of those chilly 59 degree spring days. The kids had a great time playing soccer.

One of our great tech guys showing a guitarist one of his hidden talents.

Nothing like a rousing game of corn hole.

A God Moment

A few days ago my wife and I carved out an afternoon to hike around "The Ledges" at Cuyahoga National Park, which is about 20 minutes from our home. It was one of those perfect days - 75 degrees, sunny and no wind. As we walked we just couldn't believe the beauty, the formations, all the bright green colors. Every corner we turned, I had to stop and try and capture just glimpse of God's beauty with my camera. All of this made through God's creativity. It was amazing. The moment led us to talk about creation and the evidence we witnessed of a divine plan. God made this. God was here. God is here. It was one of those worship without music moments!



















There is a song we sing on Sunday mornings in worship by Lincoln Brewster that is simply called, "Majestic". I think this may have been one of those scenes Lincoln was referring to as he wrote the song.










"Majestic" By Lincoln Brewster
Oh Lord, Our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. The heavens declare Your greatness. The oceans cry out to You. The mountains, they bow down before You. So I'll join with the earth and I'll sing...The heavens declare Your greatness. The oceans cry out to You. The mountains, they bow down before You. So I'll join with the earth and I'll give my praise to You....I will worship You!