Monday, September 24, 2007

Simple. Beautiful.

Last night, I went to Oakville Ontario to Harvest Bible Chapel, where my brother is the worship pastor. Their church usually doesnt have a sunday evening service, but last night they decided to have a "Night of Worship" to kick off their week of prayer. I wasnt't expecting what I was about to experience...

Have you ever been to a worship service?

No, I'm not talking about a church service. A church service, and a worship service are two totally different things. I am talking about a worship service, where you can feel the presence of God from the moment you walk in to the time you leave. That's what last night was. The first song we sang was "Mighty To Save" and I am not kidding, it was so loud I couldnt hear myself sing. So I just stopped. It wasnt loud because the band was turned up to high, it was loud because God's people were singing. Probably 1000 individuals, with their own God storey, with thier own struggles, and with their own personality, were singing at the top of their lungs! I stopped singing, and just looked around. Every face beaming with joy. They were in the presence of the Lord and nothing was going to get in their way.

I left Harvest and felt like I had just been to a feast. I was full. I had met with the Lord.
I wanted to know how do you get a church fired up like this? How do you get them to sing without pleading with them? I wanted to know how as a worship leader do I disapear to the point where the congregation is leading me? I wanted to know what Harvest secret was?

Was it the right songs? No, they are the same songs most chuches are singing.
Was it the right worship leader? No, it was just my brother and his acoustic guitar.
Was it the building? No, in fact the building they meet in is kinda old, and kinda small.
Was it the lights? No, nothing fancy.
Was it the sound system? No, just two speakers in the front.

Or was it something more...

Where was the roar of voices coming from?
Where was the burst of praise coming from?
Where was the shouts of adoration coming from?


My conclusion....

It was something more than lights, glitter, and sound boards. It was something more than worship leader manipulation tactics, and high energy emotional frenzies. It was something more than multi-million dollar worship centers...

it was people. real people encountering their very real God.


simple.



beautiful.

1 comment:

Melissa-this-is-real said...

wow....Johnathan that was really good....it made me smile!!! nice my lionk to my page is verticalstudentmelissa.blogspot.com so yeah I like your writeings!