Well hello everybody :) We are home again. I hope everyone had great worship services yesterday and that God moved in people' lives in your churches. Our trip to North Carolina went by very quickly. We ended up taking the whole family since it was just the next state over. Both our kids got sick, and slept alot over the weekend, but they hung in there. I like to have my kids with me to watch me minister whenever possible, so that I can be an example to them. As a kid it was very hard for me to get in front of crowds of people and do anything that had to do with having a lead role. I want them to see that it's not something to be afraid of, and that if old Dad can do it, they can too.
So in North Carolina, I was scheduled to sing a feature in the Sunday morning service at First Assembly of God in the city of Andrews, NC. When I got there, Mike Barres, the Senior Pastor, graciously allowed me to sit in for the whole worship set, including their communion songs, and ending songs. First Assembly has a nice website at http://www.firstagandrews.org/ . Check it out! We had a great time playing songs like My Savior Lives, Blessed Be Your Name, How Great is Our God, and Healing Rain, and even an oldie -Oh Lord You're Beautiful. The who
le service had a very real Jesus focus, and by the time we got to my feature song, I knew that God was really moving in some people's hearts. I ended up playing and singing "Love Song" from Third day, which is a song written from Jesus' perspective which fit right in. It was well received by the crowd, and I could tell that some of the people were really touched by the song. One guy in particular, stood up right after I sang the first verse, and just had his head and hands lifted to the Lord the whole time in worship to the Lord, as he stood there. I love that sorta stuff! The whole reason we even bother to minister, is to just allow God to use us to point people to Jes
us, and to exalt His Holy name as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So I love it when people just close their eyes and shut themselves off from any visible distractions that I may bring.Pastor Mike preached a great message on the Holy Spirit which I thought was right on, and at the end of the service he gave an alter call as he played guitar and led the team in the Healing Rain song and other songs again. We kept singing and playing as a whole bunch of people came up to the alter and were on their faces. I wanted my wife Sarah to take a picture, but she was so caught up in worship, that it was the last thing on her mind. I knew when I saw her with her hands raised and tears streaming down her face that I could forget about pictures :) They are probably used to this sort of visible movement of God in their services at First Assembly, but it really touched our hearts, and we were just glad to be a part of it.
We ended up hanging out with Pastor Mike and his wife Betty ( see picture) over Chinese food at lunch after church, and also with my sister and her husband, and their friends Sam and Shannon and their kids. It was a good time of fellowship with new friends and family. It looks like we will be scheduling a full Worship Night service at First Assembly, where I bring the band, and we just have a great night filled with praise and worship. I'll keep you up to date on that. It should be a total blast.Pastor Mike and Betty are fun people to be around, and they are just very real (much like my own Pastors here Greg and Liz Oraham.) And also similar to our church -First Assembly in Andrews, NC has acquired land to build their new building on. I drove out to see it, because I believe that God is about to do something big with the ministry there. Can't wait to go back and worship with them again soon. Anybody wanna go with us next time? :)
