Wednesday, January 05, 2005

I am so exhausted, but let me tell you about my experience tonight. I decided to go to the late night event at Passion--which I had been strongly encouraged to do by one of the workers. I probably wouldn't have gone because it started at 11pm! It is now almost 1am.

I got there and people were waiting outside. Around 10:15 there were already close to 200 or so waiting at the doors. I soon realized that no one was talking--at all. About 10:45 there were thousands waiting stretching as far back as the Ryman--as far as you could see, a sea of people. Covering the streets waiting to enter the arena (there were probably 17,000 or so at this thing). No one was talking. You could see hands raised in prayer, eyes closed, people praying, people smiling, people waiting. The anticipation was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

The doors finally opened and everyone quietly proceeded in (at this point I was wondering who had told them to be quiet and how they had gotten the word out). As we entered the arena, Shane and Shane were sitting on the floor in the center of the arena on stools playing guitar, the only lights were candles and a spot on them. The floor was lit so you could see where you were going. Again--silence. People came in and there were hundreds, maybe thousands on the floor (no chairs) sitting around them. The floor filled, the first level filled, then the other levels began to fill until almost every seat was taken. My guess is at least 10,000 people were there tonight. Meanwhile, no talking, no yelling, only soft, worshipful guitar playing. People took their seats and began to enter into worshipful prayer. Not too long after the singing began. It was one of the coolest beginnings to a worship time I have ever experienced. Louie Giglio talked tonight--amazing. Shane and Shane led worship, Chris Tomlin, and David Crowder. Tonight will be one of those high points of worship for me.

It has been fun being with Jeff and Jourdan. Jeff is still recovering from his experience with American Idol. I am just glad the Lord knows what He wants from Jeff--and it's not Simon! Maddie was completely star struck and had a huge crush on Jeff. We'll be hearing about him for weeks, I'm sure. That is until she sees Peter Wilson again. Maddie loves some Peter Wilson. :)

Have a great night/morning. God is good! I am grateful for a full day of worship and renewal.

5 comments:

JD said...

Wow! That sounds fantastic. Thank you for sharing it with us.

John Owens said...

Brandon, every week I ge to attend 7:22 here in ATL. Every week I get to hear Giglio. We have also had Tomlin, Redman, and Charlie Hall drop in on us, as well a few others. (David Nasser, Candi Pearson) I can't tell you how richly blessed I am by those opportunities. I even joined the production team this year and am learning and growing in being a volunteer as well.

I've learned so much about worship over the last year and a half at 7:22. I believe that engaging worship takes place when there is authentic leadership.

I just want to encourage you as one of the premo leaders of worship renewal in the cofC to continue leading and sharing with such excellence. I know that those Passion guys don't have a monopoly on engaging worship. They are leaders, but again, so are you.

I also think that another great element is one of removing distractions. (bad sound, bad projection etc...) Those elements do not make worship, but they sure can distract.

I know that there could probably be tons of physical, mental, and spiritual distractions for you, the rest of Zoe, Walling, Cope and anyone else that you partner with. But I encourage you to continue to lift up a true example of worship by being authentic worshippers.

Thanks for being that already, and keep on keeping on.

Grace & peace,
jon

Donny - MarketingTwin #2 said...

Sounds like a unique experience. Glad the Lord prompted you to go.

Anonymous said...

Worship is such a unique way to enter into God's presence. Man, we serve an awesome God. I am continually amazed at how good He is to us. I definitely bet your glad you went!
Zac

julie said...

Brandon Moore...loved your thoughts on God and worship. Where is God when we are worshipping him? Chills...thinking about all those images. I thought about it tonight at Highland as we were singing and praying and listening to amazing stories...was God wrapping his arms around those sharing with us?...was God in the middle of our little circle as we prayed with tears streaming?...was he wiping those tears?...when we lifted our hands in praise, did he reach back?...which member there tonight did he pull into his lap?
thanks for starting all those thoughts.
grace, Julie