Series: ONE Worship

Attendance: 250-ish

Thoughts: This week we went off-site and had a worship night with two other churches in our area (Fellowship Church and Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church). Fellowship is the church that planted our church in the late 90’s and Cedar Springs is just a great church in our area that we have a great relationship with.

We met at Fellowship and with it being about 20 minutes away, we gave our students the choice of meeting at the church and riding a bus over or meeting us at Fellowship. We had about 50 kids meet us at the church and probably another 45 meet us at Fellowship. A quick, unscientific eyeball count came out around 250 people there total.

One night, three churches, over ten schools, and 250 kids in one room worshipping together.

In other words, not a bad night at all.

Worship nights are always a little difficult for me, especially when I’m not the one running them. I’m so technical and worship band oriented that it takes me a while to unplug and not “observe” everything. I catch myself looking at the lights, listening to the mix, looking at the screens and graphics, and any other mood/environment aspect of the event. It’s just the way that I’m wired.

Once I was able to finally get past that, I really enjoyed the night.

My favorite place to be during a worship night is in the back. I like to take in the entire event. Being able to create an atmosphere where students can just hang out with God is something that is very rewarding. In my spot in the back, I was able see a group of students randomly pray for each other. I was able to see a student in the middle of all of his friends block everything out and have an intimate time with God. I saw a couple of students grab one of their leaders and leave the room to go talk about whatever was going on in their lives.

I got to see God move.

My other favorite part about a worship night, especially in the back, is the little community that always develops. Last night we had a few leaders and a few upperclassmen guys standing together in the back. Throughout the night we were able to laugh together, pray together, and most of all, enjoy being together with God at the same time. One minute we’d be singing and the next we’d be whispering to each other a joke or observation.

It was guys hanging out together and God just happened to be right there with us.

Intimate moments with God are very much needed and very much an important part of our lives as Christians. However, I think that those times with other Christians in the presence of God are way too neglected. Many of us enter a time of worship with a mindset that says that we have to act holy, raise our hands at the right times, close our eyes during the slow parts, and pretend no one is around us. There are definitely times where that is appropriate and needed, but there are also times when God wants us to enjoy the community of believers he’s put around us. The Bible even says that other Christians make the best friends.

Last night’s worship music wasn’t my favorite style.

The lights weren’t how I would’ve done them.

The screens and graphics were different than the ones that I make.

But the God that I serve is the same God that they serve and he’s the same one that showed up in that room. Regardless of the look of the room or the sound of the music, God is still the same person and he is still worthy of being worshipped.

So that’s what we did.

We worshipped God.

And we all did it in our own way.