Wow, what an exciting month for Worship Without Borders. God has kept us busy and fruitful in so many ways. We sure love what we do and we know there is great favor on our lives right now to accomplish all that God has given us to do. We were privileged to minister in three great churches this month:
- Eastside City Church, Calgary, AB;
- Life Bible Church, Harrisburg, OR;
- Rock Point Church, Newberg, OR;
Three distinctly different yet vibrant churches in their communities. All growing, with strong and caring leadership and full of wonderful spirit-led worship in every service.
Calgary: I started the month at Eastside City Church in Calgary with Pastors Ron and Karen Leech and Pastors Todd and Jan Swisher. Their main Worship Pastor, Mark Cole was ministering in Singapore, so they called me in to help out. What a great team they have there. Mark has done miraculous things with the organization and training of the groups and so it was so easy to flow with them and release what God had put on my heart. What a powerful time of worship and a great response from the people as they ‘whispered His name’ and received the revitalization of the Holy Spirit. At the end, Pastor Ron took a special offering for WWOB to help the production of my new Piano in Worship DVD (coming soon to a church near you!) – and they raised over $5000 CAN! Praise God! Thank you Eastside, Pastors and staff, for believing in us and investing in the worship for the nations!
Harrisburg: Next, we (Todd and Sonjah Beal joined Maryl and I) travelled to Life Bible Church in Harrisburg, Oregon – Pastors Brad and Jen Neuschwander (Pastor Brad was in Cambodia at the time!). From Friday night through Sunday morning, the atmosphere was electric. The church was on a Daniel fast and was ready to worship and receive all that God had for them. I taught on Vision and the Worship Team and the New Song – the response was powerful and I delighted to watch so many singing their new songs back to Jesus. Todd and I got to lead the worship for the weekend and were thrilled to work with their new choir and various instruments: trumpet, alto sax, tenor sax, viola! We added cello, flute and trumpet to the mix and we had a ‘band’! We arranged some of the music to secure the sound and the flow and it really took off all 3 services! I preached on raising our expectations for what God will do in Harrisburg – and they did! I was especially moved by the dozens of people who came forward when I asked how many people had been changed and transformed by this church starting 9 years – stirring to think what happens when we obey God, do what He tells us to do, and He brings the increase!
Anyway, the level of musicianship at this church (along with their pretty incredible sound people led by Pastor Steve Diamond) coupled with their passion and zeal for God and His presence, was amazing to be a part of. Thank you, Life Bible Church for your faithfulness, passion and vision to accomplish great things for God (even if you are in a cow pasture!)
Newberg: Lastly, we went to Rock Point Church in Newberg, Oregon with Pastors Jeff and Karyn Wells. A small but growing church that has destiny written all over it. Jeff and Karyn came to Newberg 2 1/2 years ago to help a struggling congregation that was down to 30 people. Sunday we set a record with 142 people there! Great excitement was brewing as the team, lead by Marcus Jansen, led the worship with skill and passion. As I shared about worship and our part of the vision for what God has for the church, I could sense hope stirring and passion rising as people responded at the end of the service. We met with the whole worship team in the afternoon to ‘debrief’ and plan the evening. Then after a quick rehearsal, we launched a two hour delightful time of worship with the congregation, complete with loud praise, prayers, silence, repentance, forgiveness and renewed vision. What a great responsive group of people who will definitely impact their region for Jesus. The band was top-notch too, mostly due to Marcus’ skill and leadership. It was a joy to flow with them and sense His presence throughout the day. Thank you Rock Point for being faithful and faith-filled worshipers of Jesus!
February 2, 2010, we head to India for the second time in 6 months! This time to the north: New Delhi for a Worship Conference and ministry and then on to Lucknow to work with a great School of Worship and another citywide Worship Conference and ministry before coming home on February 16. We would appreciate your prayers for safety, health, strong voices, anointing and impartation to thousands of worshipers in India.
And please consider investing in this and other ministry opportunities we continue to have to transform nations in worship – this is a tax-deductible donation!
God bless you all richly in His matchless presence,
in Him, Dr. Tim and Maryl Smith – Worship Missionaries