God Moves

So I lead worship again yesterday.  This time was definitely better than my last.  I was really nervous, because I was at camp all week and didn’t have as much time to devote towards it.  I left camp on Tuesday night to meet with Amanda Kinney to choose the songs.  Then on Saturday we practiced.  This again made me nervous, because our pianist couldn’t stay for the entire practice, so we only got to go through some of the songs with her.

Set List:

1. I am Free – Desperation Band
2. Marvelous Light – Charlie Hall
3. Mighty to Save/The Stand – Hillsong United
4. Center – Charlie Hall

When I woke up on Sunday morning I was so nervous because I had a stopped up nose and I felt like I just had a ton of junk in my throat and thought that I wasn’t going to be able to sing.  I woke up and did my devotions before going to church and just prayed that God would reveal himself to me in a new way.

I went to the church a little early in the hopes that we could get some practice in.  The first service went over a little, but we did get about fifteen minutes of practice in, but I still didn’t feel like I was going to be able to sing.  Well then it was time for the service to start so we prayed and then we started.

I started out the service by telling everyone how awesome it was to see our youth worshiping with their whole hearts at camp.  Then I gave the youth the opportunity to come to the front of the sanctuary, just as they had in the tabernacle for worship everynight at camp.  A whole crowd came down, including a few of the young adults.  We did “I am Free” which went well, although my voice cracked a time or two.  I had been yelling and singing for the past two weeks at camp, who could expect me to sing perfect?  Some of the teens even formed a train and ran around the sanctuary during the chorus of the song.  We then had gretting time during which I received the best compliment I could have.  I went to see the regular worship leader and she told me that I was going to start doing worship all the time from now on because I had done such a good job with the first song.  That really touched me.  I of course declined and told her that she was still going to do it and we both joked about it.  We then did Marvelous Light and Mighty to Save.  When we got to “The Stand”, you could really tell that the Holy Spirit was moving in that place.

Just before “Center”, I gave a short testimony about my experience at camp and my rededication and baptism.  I talked about how, for so long I had been separated from God.  I primarily talked to the teens about how I had been in their shoes and I knew what it was like to leave camp and enter the same old routine.  I then challenged everyone to allow God to be the center of their lives.

By the end of the worship set, it was so obvious that God was moving.  James and about four of the youth then came forward to talk about how camp was and after that, Pastor Hall got ready to begin.  Then, Miss Sharon stood up and began praising God.  Then person after person began to stand up and talk about how awesome it was to see the things that were going on.  This wasn’t planned, Richard had a sermon prepared, but God had something else in mind.  Probably over twenty people stood up at this time, one after another, giving a testimony about how God has worked in their lives.  I even stood up and thanked the church and the people who had worked with me when I was in youth, because if it weren’t for those people, I would not have been there to experience that moment.

Then after it seemed that no one else had anything to say, Preacher Hall slimmed his message down to about ten minutes.  His sermon was about making a difference.  He then gave an altar call, at which point we did “Center” again.  After all was said and done, we even received a request from all of the youth to do “I am Free” again.  We ended up getting out of church at 12:40, but I don’t think anybody minded, because we all knew that God had been there with us.

As I look back on yesterday, this thought comes to mind: You know, it’s one thing to lead worship into a pastor’s sermon, but it’s a whole different story when it comes to leading worship into the work of the Holy Spirit.  Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe that the Holy Spirit can work through a pastor, but the Holy Spirit working through the congregation is a whole different story.