Confessional #2

Almost forgot to post a confessional, what with all the Hurricane Ikeness that has gone on here. Glad he went ahead and left.

Yesterday morning most of Lufkin, Texas was without electricity. FUMC-Lufkin was part of that most. Plus FUMC was hosting 40-50 Red Cross workers and National Guardsmen/women who were working in Lufkin. It's a great statement about the people of our church that they still show up looking to worship in spite of the fact that 1) their own homes are without electricity and most likely a mess with trees/limbs down everywhere, and 2) they will come to their church even if it doesn't have electricity and consequently, no lights or air conditioning. Now I'm not talking huge numbers, 50 or so in each service, but still, that's a passion for God that is not hindered by hardship and that is something that brings God honor and glory.

I picked up Kathy and got to the church about 8:45 and met April there and we started trying to figure out how we were going to make this work by 10:30. We had a generator out front and we ran an extension cord right down the middle of the center aisle and up to the stage. We initially plugged up some halogen lamps behind us on the stage. We moved Kathy's piano right up beside April and my microphone, ran extension cords everywhere, and had a very East Texas lighting ensemble on the stage so we could see. I found a small, portable speaker that takes 1/4" plugs and plugged the microphone into it so we would have some sort of vocal amplification. After rehearsing the first couple of songs, me on guitar and vocals, Kathy on piano, and April on vocals, we were all sweating profusely under the cooking light of those halogen lights. We got rid of those and just used our little spots to light our music. We finished rehearsing, checked our power strip with eleventeen things plugged into it and got ready for worship with about 10 minutes to spare. Lucky for us, John, Kathy's husband, came in with a big ole' fan from his house and set it up in the back and it significantly improved the overall temperature of that room.

Worship, honestly, went fantastic. To be able to slow down from the hurricane rat race and thank God for his deliverance and goodness was a very moving experience. When I looked at the songs we had planned for the week, with the intention of having a full band, the words and message could not have been more perfect. We began with This Day, the song we intro'd last week. It speaks of serving God through serving others, a very telling message for those members who were volunteering as well as the Red Cross and National Guard members who were worshipping with us. After a prayer by Mike Tyson, our Assoc Pastor, we began our worship set with Everlasting God (Brenton Brown), then went into a slowed down version of Lincoln Brewster's Let the Praises Ring. We did Ross King's Glorified in Me as the offering tune and preparation song. Doing these songs acoustically with just a guitar, piano, and vocals, in less than perfect accommodations, and how well they sounded, is a credit first to God, and second to the talent of Kathy and April making it sound good.

Carol Turner, our Sr Pastor, had done her message in the sanctuary and came into the worship center during our last song. Because of the lack of light, Carol could not see her notes and it did not matter. Carol was at her best in speaking of how, even when the world doesn't know our suffering, God knows, God hears, God cares, and God comforts. We closed with the chorus from Everlasting God and the service ended. The service, regardless of how we sounded, which really was pretty good, was perfect in that God was honored and worshipped. It was the right kind of respite from the turmoil of the weekend. Better than a nap, better than a hot shower, better than air conditioning.

Next week, maybe a video, or not. I just hope we can bring the same passion for worship back again next week.