Easter At LifePoint, Part 1

I'm so excited about what God did at LifePoint Church this weekend, I want to sing and jump up and down, but I'm my throat hurts and I'm wiped out, so my heart is dancing (or, as my friend Stacy likes to say, "my heart is pink and full of Spanish!")!!

So the first of six services was Friday night, and everything had come together. The message was done, and I got to see the dance number I in it's entirety that morning, and it looked great. A few tweaks to the order of service, and we felt like it was ready. All week we had been praying for the light board to work, and it was working great. So, 6 pm rolls around, and we start. The first song, then the dance number go off amazingly well, and the crowd was into the experience.

Then the lights flickered hard, like they wanted to go out, but came back up. All that did was take out the media and jack up the lights, but it all got put back in place pretty fast, so by the middle of the next song, it was all up and running like normal. All through it, the band played on, and the congregation sang, or tried to without the words on the screen. Pretty cool, and just a great bunch of work by the band and the team working sound and media.

So I got up to start the message, and it's rolling along well, the crowd was following right along, when suddenly, about 2/3 through, the lights flicker hard again... and stay out. Totally. Pitch. Black.

The emergency lights come on, and the crowd all laughs at the predicament. They start telling me to keep going, so I joke, "I can't see my notes!" Someone in the crowd comes up with a flashlight, and I kept going, pushing my voice a bit to get to the back row, but not too bad (years of football coaching comes in handy!).

The kids ministry folks do an amazing job keeping the kids calm and still focused, and word was that five kids received Christ in their service. Wow.

So after the service, I'm super proud of the team and all the work to get through what was obviously a difficult situation with more than just grace, but also with great presence of mind and real ministry hearts. But I'm feeling a little down that people will walk away and remember what a great job we did to finish out the service, but they won't remember Jesus.

Then, Saturday morning, I'm at the gym when a lady comes up and introduces herself to me. She tells me that she had three people she invited who had either never been to church or never been to LifePoint. She said they had a wonderful experience, and they were really excited about coming back.

I was stunned. Turns out God works, not only in the dark, but in my moment of doubt. I was worried that folks wouldn't see Jesus in all that chaos, but the truth is, He shined brighter than ever for those who needed Him the most.

That story did more to stoke my fire than anything else could have. Every service after that, I walked to the platform knowing that God was there, whether people were there to see the dance, hear the band, listen to me or for any other reason they might have listed. God was there, and He was making Himself known to people far from Him.

Such a blessing. Thank you to all the Lifers for praying, inviting, serving, giving and showing up to see Jesus be famous in our valley. And thanks to the guy who loaned me the flashlight. :)

More later...