Choir Retreat 2012 God Still Speaks

If the Word was with God and the Word was God in the beginning as John tells us,

then the Word must be more than simply the written word.

Did God stop speaking when the ink dried on the last page of the NewTestament???

or

Do we believe He is still speaking today?

Hello dear ones,

We will be exploring God's wonderful Word while away this year. We'll be joining our voices in song and starting work on our cantata. There'll be food and fellowship. We'll invite the Spirit to fill us and move among us. We had a wonderful retreat last year and so many good memories!

We discussed the importance and the calling of being "High Priests" since we are worship leaders. I think you all took this to heart. You made me proud as you always do this last year and I'm looking forward to another one. See you there!

God bless,

Rhonda

Fall Happenings

The music ministry will have Spirit of Joy Totes available
for Christmas! We will have two different sizes so there will be something for
everyone. The smaller ones will be in royal blue or red (15"x15") and will work
great for AWANAS, Bible Studies and paper work. The Larger size (16"Wx12"Hx4"D)
will do for all of us musicians who have to tote lots-o-music around,
overnight/carry-on bag, beach bag or to go green and bring your groceries home
in. We'll have them just in time to get as Christmas gifts. The funds go to
supporting the music ministry and worship at Spirit of Joy. They will be
available from anyone involved in Choir or Praise Band or at the AWANAS table on
Wed. nights.

Christmas Cantata:
The Choir, First Decade choir and Praise Band will be offering the cantata,
Tonight, Heaven Touches Earth, by Randy Vader and Jay
Rouse this Christmas. The dates will be Sunday Dec. 11 at 6:30pm and Sunday
Dec. 18 during the 11am service. Invite friends and family to come with us to
the place where Heaven touches earth, the place that captures the heart and eyes
of God. Come to the place where the whole universe was waiting and holding it's
collective breath in anticipation. The night that Jesus came to us in a most
unexpected way!

Note First Decade will present their Christmas Cantata "For the
Glory of the King" prior to ours on Sunday Dec. 11 at 6:30pm.

Sunday Dec. 11
6:30pm First Decade: For the Glory of the King
7pm choir and praise band: Tonight, Heaven Touches Earth

Sunday Dec. 18
11am service Tonight, Heaven Touches Earth

We plan to offer our Cantata to the residents of Plantation Estates on
Thurs. Jan. 5 as an outreach.

Thanks yous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to Laurie Halvorson, Dwayne Helms and Joy Stevens for kicking off
our Music Ministry Treats during the Sunday School hour.
Thanks to Ed Olsen for researching and finding us a good drum set to use in
worship, cantata, and youth praise band.
Still accepting donations toward the drum set.
Thanks to the choir and all of my instrumentalists for giving of their time
and talents to make our Christmas Cantata a special offering!
Thanks to all of our volunteer leaders of the different music ministries
here at Spirit of Joy for a great year of singing and playing our praises to the
King!



If you are feeling led to praise the LORD in song, whether it be
ringing or singing, strummin' or hummin', young or old (or in between) there is
a place for you!
Please join us in the new year!

Sundays
Bells 4pm choir room
Youth Praise Band 4pm sanctuary (teens)
First Decade Choir 5pm sanctuary (children 3-10+ years
old)

Thursdays
Praise/Cantata Band 6pm sanctuary
Choir 7pm choir room

God bless,
Rhonda

First Practice of Fall season

We had our first rehearsal for the Fall 2011 season tonight! I hope that all my dear ones there (choir and praise band) were as blessed as I was! How good it felt to be together again lifting our voices and our abilities in praise to our Lord! Thank You God for the gift of song and thank You for Your willing servants! It's going to be a great year!

Fall/Winter 2011 Choir Season

Hello Dear Ones,

Fall choir season is rollin' in fast! I hope that you have all enjoyed your tie off and are ready to come back and sing praises to God with me!

Psalm 47:6

Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

We're excited because we will have our first choir practice on Thurs. Aug. 25th at 7pm. We'll start cantata practices on Sept. 15 after the retreat. Praise band will begin meeting this Thur. as well at 6pm.

As for our retreat, we will be going toCamp Kinard in SC again. We'll be going the weekend of Sept. 10. If you're interested in joining choir or cantata choir this is great time for you to come along and get to know us. This is how we get away from it all and come together as a family in Christ. We get to slow down and spend some timewith God in a beautiful location. We get to fellowship with each other over food, devotions, worship, singing, food, prayer, singing, (you get the idea)!!!! I have always felt that this annual retreat is what helps to make our group more than a bunch of people singing, but a cohesive small group who ministers to each other as well as to the congregation.

Mark 6:31

...He said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place

and get some rest."

So dear friends, I ask you to come along side of me once again (or anew) to "Sing a new song" to our Lord! To lift our voices and our hearts in a sacrifice of praise! To give back to Him the gifts that He first gave us! Looking forward to a great year!

Psalm 134:2

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.

In God's peace,

Your humble servant

Rhonda Mauney

Reschedule Praise Band and Choir Practice

Hello dear ones,

We will not be meeting on Nov. 12 our usual choir night. We are rescheduling that practice to Mon. Nov. 9. Praise band at 6pm and choir starting at 7pm as usual. Thanks and God bless!

Rhonda

Holiday Season Scheduling/Cantata

Hello all,

We're gearing up for the Christmas season in the SOJ Music Ministries.

We will start instrumental practices this week for the cantata on Thurs. nights at 6:15-6:50. The last portion of praise band will be dedicated to this.

Cantata Choir practice is on Thurs. nights from 7-8pm. It's not too late to join yet.

Our Sat. practices will be coming up and will include the cantata choir, narrators and the instrumentalists:

Sat. Nov. 21 10am-12
Sat. Dec. 5 10am -12

Our Christmas party will be on Dec. 5 at 7pm. Miss Dawn Theurer has graciously offered her home for this event. This is open to all of music ministry and we are asked to bring heavy hors d'oeuvres and our own drinks. Great to time to fellowship.

Thurs. Dec. 10 we plan to present our Christmas Cantata at the Weddington Park (by the Siskey Y) Nursing Home at 7pm.

Sun. Dec. 13 at the 11am service will be the Christmas Cantata "Only Love" invite friends and relatives.

Dec. 19 we have been invited to sing some of our Christmas Cantata selections at the Billy Graham "live nativity". We will not have narration in this presentation. We will also have time to do some carols as well as possibly doing some of your Christmas Eve selections if you'd like.

Sun. Dec. 20 the choir will be off for church services, but we have been invited to Carol at the Monroe Soup Kitchen. This will be a great outreach, but can be done with a small group if folks are already out of town. We have been asked to collect toiletries for small gift bags for these folks. You can bring anything you've collected to choir or instrumental practices between now and Dec.

Thurs. Dec. 24 Christmas Eve services -if you'd like to sing a special offering for the Christmas Eve services let me know what music you're doing so I can get it to Ian. We need to set up times that you and Ian can get together to prepare these pieces. You don't have to be in choir to participate in this offering.

Fri. Dec. 25 Christmas Day- Paul Thomas has again agreed to do the Christmas Service for us this year. He will have some special music for anyone who would like to participate again. I'll let you know when his practice to prepare this music will be. This is also open to anyone who would like to participate, not just choir members.


Thank you all for sharing your gifts and spreading the love of God in our telling of the Christmas Story!

God bless,
Rhonda

Coming Choir Retreat and Fall Season

I'd like to invite anyone interested in praising God in song to consider joining the Worship Choir this fall. Our goal is to use our God-given gifts to help lead worship and point to Jesus. We believe that singing the word of the Lord sets scripture in our hearts. We lift each other up as well as lifting our voices to God, with prayer, song and fellowship. If you'd like to join us in sharing your love of Christ, others and music, please contact choir director Rhonda Mauney at mauney03@aol.com or (704)995-7253. We meet on Thurs. nights at 7pm starting Aug. 27. Starting after Sept. 17 we will meet for Cantata practice from 7-8pm and worship choir from 8-9pm.

We'd also like to invite anyone interested in joining Worship Choir or just the Christmas Cantata Choir to join us for our annual choir retreat. This will be at Camp Kinard, www.sclrc.com/campkinard.html in SC the weekend of Sept. 18-20. We use this time to worship, fellowship, eat and SING! There's hiking, volleyball, bonfires, etc. This retreat is one of the things that I believe keeps our group together as a family unit year after year. God is a God of relationships and He wants us to encourage each other on our walk with Him. We'd love to have you.

Another ministry that we have is the Sunday Morning Praise Band. We currently are meeting on Thurs. nights at 6pm over the summer. We may reconsider this schedule in the fall. We are always looking for others who have the gift of playing an instrument that would like to help lead worship service. Our worship services are very music driven, and any new instrument we can blend in will add depth. It's a wonderful way to serve God and others by sharing our time and talents. I'm also looking for folks who would be interested in accompanying our Christmas Cantata this year. One of the things that makes it so special every year is the orchestral accompaniment. I would love to have a trumpet, saxophone, oboe, flute, violin, cello, drums, percussion, etc. etc. Please get in touch with me if you are being led to participate in any of these opportunities. God walks among us as we honor him with songs of worship, whether we are just practicing to offer Him our best or leading an actual service. Come share the blessing with us.

Peace,
Rhonda Mauney
Director of Music
mauney03@aol.com
(704)995-7253