Enter-ed His Gates

What an incredible, busy, jam-packed, God-connected, worshipful, missional week last week was!  We had the privilege for our worship band to play out in the community.  Back in January, we prayed for opportunities to play outside the church walls, and God so happened to drop two in our laps at the time we were planning on releasing our 2nd album of the year.

Here’s a rundown of the week:

We loved being able to play with Brandon Giles at Live After 5.  Thank you Hack Bartley and the City of Greenwood for the invitation!  Being able to lead worship in Uptown Greenwood was an honor and it was great to make some neat connections with the community.  Brandon, who lives in Nashville and plays with many different groups, stopped be between sets and said, “Man, you guys are good.  I mean, you are really good.  And you said, you guys play in a church?!”  I couldn’t agree more.  God has placed some amazing musicians and singers around me.

Brian Whitaker and the staff at Chick-fil-a were amazing at putting on a great event with the Family Night on Saturday night.  As hundreds filled the field next to the Drive Thru, we raised a lot of money from chicken sales to go to our West Africa partnership.  As we concluded, Brian stated, “You guys just played for 2 1/2 hours.  That’s a really long time.  Most professional groups don’t play that long.  Your whole band is amazing.”  Once again, I couldn’t agree more!  We did play for that long straight with different members subbing in and out.  Everyone was prepared and did a great job.  We even had our ol’ buddy, Jodie Shirley Ouzts sing along with us!

Sunday morning was great yet again as we got to lead worship at both services with songs from the new CD.  On the CD are new songs, somewhat familiar songs, some live songs, and some instrumental jams!  16 tracks that really sound like us on a Sunday morning – eclectic and passionate.

As I was driving to and from these events, I really was overwhelmed with the people God has put on this team.  I mean, I was blown away at their commitment and humility.  I was watching tech volunteers spend all day on a Saturday working on setting up a system while getting a suntan and not complaining one bit.  I watched some of the most talented musicians work on their parts relentlessly to lead others in worship.  I watched a church family come out to the different events to support and encourage.

I felt like I entered his gates all week long, and I am truly full of thanksgiving.  I appreciate this team and this church more than anyone can know.  I pray you are enjoying your copy of the new album.  If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you can pick one up at the church office or it will be available on iTunes on Tuesday.

Thank you again.  I am a very blessed worship leader among great worshipers.