Beautiful things
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Take a deep breath. Be quiet before God. Listen to Him. Speak to Him and reflect on the truth of His Word.
That’s what the June 26 Night of Worship at the Blankenbaker Campus is all about.
“The beauty of Night of Worship is that we get a chance to sit back a while and refocus,” said Worship Leader Brian Sites. “We have so many different elements packed into
worship services, and that’s good. At Night of Worship, this is the destination. We don’t have to hurry this.”
The theme is “Beautiful Things.”
“That night we’ll celebrate God’s promise that He is making all things new,” Sites said. “God takes broken, dirty, unlovable people and makes us new. Everyone needs a
Savior, a Redeemer. That’s what God is busy doing—making things new.”
Night of Worship packs some surprises—a video and some creative elements never tried before.
Kendall Rutledge, who sings with the worship team, said the night is about far more than music, videos and neat lighting.
“It’s almost indescribable what these nights of worship end up becoming,” she said. “You go into the planning process bathed in prayer, asking God to take over. It would
make very little sense for us to try and piece together an evening of worship and then as an afterthought ask God to show up. We might end up with some nice elements, but
that’s not what our church is about. The message we want to communicate is an eternal one. We want people to know that God wants a relationship with each one of us and
that He can redeem anything.”
As she has sung on the platform during previous Night of Worship events, Rutledge has seen tears streaming down faces, arms stretched out, people worshiping and
praying together. And it’s clear that God is at work.
Misty Yates, preschool worship ministry assistant at Southeast, doesn’t miss a Night of Worship service.
“I was emotionally and physically wiped out after a crazy, busy week when I planned to meet friends for Night of Worship,” Yates said. “One by one, for various reasons like
sickness and car issues and surprise visitors, they all cancelled on me. I found myself walking in by myself to sit in Section 103.”
At first, it was hard to concentrate on worship instead of the “cool set up, the stage, the tower of stuff,” Yates said. She prayed that God would overwhelm her with His love.
It happened as she saw one of the preschoolers she works with in Children’s Ministry “rocking out on the drums completely and totally worshiping Jesus.”
The verse on the screen, All Your Words are true, was the verse she was studying with the children in worship.
“Nights of Worship are the best,” Yates said. “I wouldn’t miss it.”