Right off the bat, let me spell out my own bias. I love the Saturday services. And I've concluded there's one central reason for that affection, too. There aren't very many people wearing ties on Saturday. Not Joel, not most of the band. Plus, it's also the first take at the full service. So mistakes happen, bugs aren't ironed out yet, and it has a very raw, unpracticed feel to it. By the time 11am Sunday rolls around, you can practically set your watch to Lakewood service, which seems to be fine for a good deal more folks than see it my way.

This Saturday, there were two snapshots that I felt compelled to share, so I had it in my mind that I'd clip the two segments below. But as I'm headed home early on Saturday, I spot Michael Hodge & Joel Camey and decide to just offer a quick encouragement on a job well done backing up Michael Mellett for his solo performance. Michael informs me that they'd sound even better Sunday.

Therein lies the difference between the perfectionist musician and the off-the-cuff blogger type. So I concede a point this Monday. I'm sharing the Sunday 11am clip of Michael Mellet's performance.

But I'm sticking with the Saturday performance of Cindy & Da'Dra doing "How Great Is Our God." The harmonies that Cindy & Da'Dra hit are too perfect to not share. They've tried this a handful of times for this song, adding in Stephen Crawford on many of them. I'll go out on a limb and say this performance is hard to beat.

Cindy & Da'Dra: "How Great Is Our God"

Back to Michael Mellett's performance, I have to confess that I'm a fan of some of the changes they've been experimenting with for praise & worship (but is it asking too much for a few more Aimee Beard solos?). Among those changes is bringing the guitars up front. Again, my bias is clear ... those are the guys I tend to relate to the most musically. I haven't seriously played guitar in over a decade, but I at least recall enough to know what it's like to play. And these two are lucky enough to get to play their music to a pretty big audience of people every week in a way that lifts people up and connects them with God a little more. Oh, and Michael Mellett does a pretty good job of this Big Daddy Weave tune, too:

Michael Mellett: "Every Time I Breathe"