by Jason Joyner | Jul 21, 2006 | Blog, Uncategorized
*Blink*
Ok, I think I’m awake now. Nothing like jet lag and running straight to work from a trip from Germany to keep one away from his blog. Oh, and soccer night with the boys. And worship practice…
Anyway, I am happy to report about Calling All Nations from July 15th:
Wow.
I think it is hard to fully express what it is like to be part of 25,000 people praising Jesus Christ as Lord. It definitely is a miniature picture of what heaven will be like, considering that 30+ nations were together in worship.
There was warfare involved. Prior to the event I had to deal with some sin, and it was not pleasant. However, I would rather have the Lord expose me than to go into something like this without being as clean as I can be. It was a hard confrontation, but the Lord disciplines those He loves.
My only complaint was the punctual, nay…EARLY Germans! We didn’t account for how long we’d have to spend going through the entrance line, and were searching for our seats lost outside the huge stadium when we started hearing the Psalm Drummers lead off. That was my only disappointment is that it started a few minutes early and we weren’t RIGHT THERE. But the drum group pounded away while a flag corp performed, followed by another group carrying many of the flags of the world.
The day was split into 3 sessions, as we were there from 11 am-9 pm. The initial session focused on praise and God’s love. The second session had more of an intecessory/prophetic bent. The third session directed us to the call of missions as a natural outworking of worship.
There was a main stage at one end of the stadium, then a small set-up opposite this. Acts would alternate between the main stage and the fore stage, in order to stagger acts without big delays. It actually worked quite well, since the stadium is large enough that we had to look at the large monitors to see anything anyway.
We alternated between English and German worship songs throughout the day, even though English was dominate. It worked well, as it seemed most Germans were quite familiar with the “big” English worship songs.
Five of our group, including my wife and I, were part of an international choir that performed with Brian Doerksen (two of our team were gracious enough to tackle our boys in the stands!). We only had a couple hours of practice the day before, and none of our team realized we’d be singing in German as well as English. The spirit of worship carried us through, and it was just a time to lift Him up, no matter what language (although I’m glad I didn’t have to sing a solo!). It was a powerful time to join together with these brothers and sisters and be a small part of the whole event.
I think I’ll share about the 2nd and 3rd sessions next time, then talk about my impressions of the event – what I’ve taken away from it, and maybe encouraging all of you in some of it as well. Until then, “Holy is the Lord!” (the translation of the title of this post). Also, check out this blog report from CAN. As I can find other posts on this, I’ll link to them here.
by Jason Joyner | Jul 20, 2006 | Blog, Uncategorized
Here is a must-read from Breakpoint, posted yesterday! I loved it. A quote from it:
By contrast, as G. K. Chesterton explained about the timeless quality of God’s truth: “The Church always seems to be behind the times, when it is really beyond the times; it is waiting till the last fad shall have seen its last summer.”
by Jason Joyner | Jul 20, 2006 | Blog, Uncategorized
Here is a must-read from Breakpoint, posted yesterday! I loved it. A quote from it:
By contrast, as G. K. Chesterton explained about the timeless quality of God’s truth: “The Church always seems to be behind the times, when it is really beyond the times; it is waiting till the last fad shall have seen its last summer.”
by Jason Joyner | Jul 19, 2006 | Blog, Uncategorized
Well, goodbye to Germany!
We are home after a long day of traveling. At least I think we are home. Jet lag can make things seem quite surreal. I don’t know how our kids adjust so well – they aren’t even acting tired (it is 4 am in Berlin, whereas it is 8 pm here).
We had a wonderful time in Germany, exploring and having adventures with our Lord. I will be posting more through this week on our experiences and what we’ve taken away from it, as well as what we hope to apply to our lives here on out.
I don’t want to leave y’all hanging about Calling All Nations. The event was powerful and joyous. I’ve never seen 20,000+ worshipping Jesus before, and let me tell you that is is a spectacular sight. God moved in many ways that day, and we are excited to hear reports about it both in our lives and in heaven! Photobucket helped me put together a few photos of CAN, so you can see for yourselves. Unfortunately, it was one of those things where you “had to be there”. Bless you Noel Richards, and all of the many people who helped bring this to fruition.
Note: I’ve posted more about CAN on the main blog since this date, so I invite you to check it out. Also, I’d love to have comments from people who were there! Bless you all, and thanks again to Noel for posting this link!
by Jason Joyner | Jul 19, 2006 | Blog, Uncategorized
Well, goodbye to Germany!
We are home after a long day of traveling. At least I think we are home. Jet lag can make things seem quite surreal. I don’t know how our kids adjust so well – they aren’t even acting tired (it is 4 am in Berlin, whereas it is 8 pm here).
We had a wonderful time in Germany, exploring and having adventures with our Lord. I will be posting more through this week on our experiences and what we’ve taken away from it, as well as what we hope to apply to our lives here on out.
I don’t want to leave y’all hanging about Calling All Nations. The event was powerful and joyous. I’ve never seen 20,000+ worshipping Jesus before, and let me tell you that is is a spectacular sight. God moved in many ways that day, and we are excited to hear reports about it both in our lives and in heaven! Photobucket helped me put together a few photos of CAN, so you can see for yourselves. Unfortunately, it was one of those things where you “had to be there”. Bless you Noel Richards, and all of the many people who helped bring this to fruition.
Note: I’ve posted more about CAN on the main blog since this date, so I invite you to check it out. Also, I’d love to have comments from people who were there! Bless you all, and thanks again to Noel for posting this link!
by Jason Joyner | Jul 14, 2006 | Blog, Uncategorized
Just a quick post tonight. Some of our group have the privelege of singning in an international choir with Brian Doerksen for a couple of songs. I didn’t realize I would be singing in German as well. If I can’t get “Heilger Gott” then I may be mouthing “watermelon” in those parts.
Anyway, just the practice was so exciting. There was a group called Psalm Drummers who were practicing, as dancers with flags of the countries paraded around the track. Right away I had tears in my eyes. If anything I’ve ever been a part of has the potential to “rend the heavens”, this is it. I am SO excited.
Bless you all, and I hope to post after tommorrow! Thanks for praying! We want to bring home some blessing from here to everyone as well!
