Exciting days at Worship Without Borders! After Yuma, AZ and India, we were thrilled to return to The Dalles, OR where we started our married journey together back in 1974! Pastor Dan Trautman, Worship Pastor Shawn Lutz and the worship team at First Christian Church welcomed us warmly for a great weekend of worship and growing in Christ. Loved working with their choir also as a special treat! We had a wonderful time of discovery in worship on Saturday concluding with a great worship service in the evening. Maryl and I got to play cello and flute for the worship and then I had the joy of playing cello accompaniment to the choir. We had a completely different set for the Sunday worship with Shawn leading. What a delight to experience praise and worship in this beautiful setting in The Dalles. Thanks Shawn Lutz for a great weekend!
After The Dalles, Maryl and I flew to the Los Angeles area for 10 days of ministry and meetings with pastors, missionaries, family and friends. Our host for the first weekend was Gateway Church of the Nazarene in Murrieta, CA. Pastor Bill Grigory and Worship Pastors Rick and Sara Brummett prepared the church for a great weekend of teaching, impartation and release in worship and song. Many of you know that I come from a Nazarene background and my dad was a Nazarene pastor in Washington, so this was extra-special for me to minister my worship seminar for the first time in a Nazarene setting! What an honor. I felt right at home!
Friday night started with our Vision of Worship with a great response from a good gathering with a lot of the church showing up! I love it when the whole church gets to hear God’s heart for their church! Saturday was powerful with every session seeming to hit strong chords in everyone’s hearts. I ministered on the Heart of Worship with a study on John 4 and the woman at the well. Then we moved into more practical areas of the worship team, leading, flowing, engaging. We ended the day with a great session with their choir (two churches in a row with choirs!!!). They were all readers, so I gave them a couple of charts and they immediately learned them so well we were able to minister both of them in both services on Sunday morning!
Sunday was just sweet all the way! From the opening song by the choir (Doxology) into the worship set led by Sara (Maryl and I got to accompany on flute and cello – I was able to borrow a nice cello from a young man there), followed by my favorite sermon on worship: Extreme Worship – Shachah and Proskuneo. Since there were two services the first one was a little rushed but still a great response at the end for surrendering our lives in worship. The second service I was able to go a little deeper and got everybody bowing and the response again at the end was beautiful as many came forward for prayer. We were treated so well and honored at every turn by the whole church but especially Rick and Sara – we were deeply impacted by this – thank you Rick and Sara! You are amazing!