The sounds that greet me are everything from falling walnuts as they pound the ground below the trees each time the wind blows, to birds considering whether they'll fly in to the feeders for an evening snack, to the sound of the neighbors' nightly target shooting. All these sounds are a welcome distraction from what I should probably be accomplishing.
But I can't resist!
This was a great day as I got to do a couple of my very favorite things!
I got to work with a brilliant young lady that came in to record this coming weekend's announcements. She loves the Lord and we talked about the amazing things God's using her to accomplish and it was such an encouraging time together. I pray I get to work with her a lot in the future! Very few things excite me more than discovering new talent and connecting them to our ministry!
After that I had the privilege with my daughter to present the Crossroads Christmas concept to Pastor Dave. I've worked on 20 Crossroads' Christmas concepts and I'm still as encouraged and excited as ever when all year long I collect possible creative elements, songs, videos and set design ideas - and then sit down with others and watch how the ideas they contribute fit hand in hand with them. It's obvious that God's hand is on the concept when everything lines up beautifully. (It's also obvious when it's just been my idea and isn't the will of the Lord!)
As we showed Pastor Dave each element for the first time, it was fascinating to hear his on-the-spot suggestions and affirmation as he graciously listened to us and was so encouraging as he approved the concept. I left this meeting excited to begin work on the specific elements that I need to create and pass on to others to work on!
Now about last weekend - the Weekend Report
I don't remember another weekend which was so full of technical miscommunications about details of the service, equipment failure, announcement guy's car breaking down preventing him from doing the announcements at the 9:00 a.m. service and many more difficult details behind the scenes.
I believe with all my heart that the enemy was hard at work to discourage the teams this weekend that were involved in the services following an amazing rehearsal last Thursday night and time of devotions and sharing personal needs with one another - a break through moment of sharing according to several team members I talked with!
But despite all the behind the scene problems I received so many compliments and thank you's for the praise and tech teams that I knew God used it exactly as He had intended and nothing was going to stop it from happening.
Here's just a few pictures of our weekend services.
Jocelyn lead this great team as we all joined in for a glorious time of worship! |
Austin, Scott and Johnnie all gave their talents to the Lord to help make the weekend excellent! |
Our tech guys play such a huge part in the worship services too! The LED set design is one of my favorites! |
Our Setlist:
Announcements - Jesse Rider
Behold
Scripture Reading
King of My Heart
The Lion and the Lamb
Special Music: Home - Jocelyn Nicolas
Video Bumper
Message: Our Home Pt. 2: Expectations in the Home - Pastor Dave Vance
To watch our services go to crossroadswired.com
I hope you all have an amazing rest of your week - and thanks for reading!