Last night an amazing thing happened at our “worship” rehearsal. We were plowing along tweaking verses and choruses, hammering out lead riffs and chord progressions, and adjusting in-ear monitor mix levels like we normally do.
As I recall, we were just getting ready to move into our last song and it happened.
There were two ladies who kind of just showed up in our auditorium and were having a “Jesus moment” right there at the altar.
Honestly, it was kind of awkward at first, because there they were. No altar calls. No Bible study. No “Just As I Am” playing softly in the background as people responded to God during a planned service.
These ladies were just there. Right in front of us.
Our entire team dropped what we were doing and surrounded them and listened to their heart-felt stories and our tenor led the ladies in putting their faith and trust in Jesus…right then and right there!
Thanks to our leader in this situation who had the discernment to sense something was stirring in the spiritual realm and that we needed to do more than just say hi to these strangers who showed up uninvited in our rehearsal space.
We learned through their stories that they didn’t know each other before they “met” outside the church and had basically showed up independently of each other. That doesn’t happen every day!
Long story short: We were in our normal routine. These ladies needed to meet with Jesus and Jesus wanted to meet with them through US. And He did.
Thankfully, in that moment we WERE willing to drop everything and to wrap our arms around these ladies and love on them with the love of Jesus. Hopefully, we’ll see them again. We invited them to come and be a part of our community wide Bible study (today) and to come and be a part of the family on Sundays. Also, one of our female singers got their contact information and will be following up with them.
It was a neat encounter. Praise God.
Two takeaways:
1) Even in the times when we’re just working on the mundane “details” of doing ministry, we should keep our hearts tuned to the Holy Spirit’s frequency. We CAN be worshipful and moving things in the spiritual realm without realizing it!
2) We should be willing to set aside what we’re doing…even if it’s good. To pursue the leading of the Holy Spirit. This could mean dropping everything and doing something totally different. This could mean changing directions in the middle of a song set. This could be mean NOT singing and spending a moment in prayer.
Prayer: Lord, help us to focus on You and to follow the guidance you give us so graciously. Help us to not be so distracted by doing Your “work” that we don’t see Your creation right in front of us. Let us not miss out on being Jesus to those who need You. Help us to SEE what you see and HEAR what you hear. Amen.
