the weekend

Well, I must admit, I’m glad this weekend is over. LTC went great, but man, I am worn out! It is always great to see so many young people developing and using their talents for Him. There are a lot of events for them to participate in from Bible Bowl to Scripture reading, puppetry, group singing to drama, speeches to song leading (although I wish they would help develop Worship Leaders, not song leaders…but that’s a whole different blog subject) But my favorite event is the Christian art. That gets me the most excited. I am super passionate about raising up young people who are not afraid, and are in fact, encouraged, to use their gifts in the church. “art” is something that has gone pretty much unrecognized in most churches of Christ for far too long. I am encouraged to see this change. I think the total attendance figure was around 1,100. The worship times went OK; although I must admit, besides being completely beat by the time I go up onstage; the venue is not exactly what I’m used too. I love everyone at LTC dearly, but the crowd is generally much more conservative than I am. I know I often talk about North Central being conservative; but at weekends like this, I remember that North Central is pretty “out there” comparatively. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the LTC crowd; it just puts me even more out of my element than I am at NC. Friday, we had a short worship time and the sound was rotten! It was by far the worst conditions I’ve ever led worship under. The system sounded like a bad megaphone. Saturday, everything was fixed and sounded great. Autumn from Rochester College helped me out as the Praise Team. They are a great group of college students, good hearts and good voices. For the 1st couple of songs we used vocal percussion. It sounded great; but when we went up for the extended worship time, I was asked to cut the percussion. Ouch! Opps, I had forgotten where I was :-) Then, before we launched into “Above All”, I stared sharing some thoughts on Easter. Opps! I forgot where I was again :-)
I quickly sensed the Spirit’s (thank you God) nudging that I was going to lose some of these people, so I (HE) found a way to bring it back home to convey the same message without offending. Is that compromise what Paul was talking about? And I think some people weren't quite sure what to do with "This is How We Overcome"...mourning into dancing?...spinning around? :-)

This mornings gatherings at North Central went well. The first was dragging a bit. But the 2nd, WOW…the singing was awesome. Yes there were more people, and yes, they were more awake…but I think it was more than that. God’s presence was just very strong. I got lost in His presence. I still have not figured out the differences between services. I think it goes to show you, it’s not really about you (what is planned, how well everyone does, etc.) Same leaders, same message, same set up, same location, totally different vibe. Anyway, I am constantly amazed how great the acoustics are when we have a full crowd. My ears were ringing on a New Anointing! WOW! Jenn did a great job on "For all You've Done". The Praise Team did OK on “Your grace still amazes me”. That is such a powerful song! It was a bit rocky in parts, but it ended strong and the video really helped solidify the message of the sermon.

As I prayed this morning, I hope that God’s Spirit touched someone there who does not yet realize the gift we have in receiving a new life, NOW! I can only trust that those who worshipped with us this morning came to know Him more deeply than they did before they arrived, and those that don’t yet know Him, fell in love today.

I’m going to sleep in Monday. Hey, anything more than 5 hours would be a record this weekend. Blessings.