There have been many times in my life where I have been blessed to see the hand of the Lord orchestrating and influencing the road set before me. This past week was no exception. I had the extraordinary honor of traveling with the worship team from Alive Wesleyan Church to Barbados for the International Conference of the Wesleyan Church. While we were there, we had the opportunity to lead worship for the congregation of pastors and delegates representing fifty different countries around the world. As you can imagine, this was such a beautiful experience and led me to think about how impactful worship really is on an international scale.
From the moment I got the phone call being asked to go, I immediately knew God had crazy things in store for this trip. He certainly did not disappoint. Over 200 fellow Wesleyans gathered for this fourth international conference. Delegates from around the world discussed business, trained in many aspects of ministry, and gathered each morning and night for a time of worship. I can’t even begin to describe how powerful these worship experiences were. To see men and women of the Wesleyan church from around the world come together and worship so freely was inspiring. These are the men and women on the frontlines, some of whom are struggling to survive in third-world countries, some of whom are the first ever Christians in their countries, and some of whom face persecution and threats on a daily basis. But when it came time to worship, these pastors were so expressive, so free, and simply bowed down at the feet of Jesus. It amazed me how God seemed to break the language barrier. People of different tongues were shouting the words of praise at the top of their lungs. In those moments, we truly felt like a family in the Body of Christ.
These are the men and women on the frontlines, some of whom are struggling to survive in third-world countries, some of whom are the first ever Christians in their countries, and some of whom face persecution and threats on a daily basis.
This conference showed me how vast and rich the culture and background of the Wesleyan church is. There were so many different peoples, skin colors, languages, and economic statuses present, but the main purpose of everyone there was to worship. I have never seen anything like what I witnessed there. The people and the atmosphere proved to me how truly important worship is. Corporate worship is a time where we remember the One who blesses us, uniting us as a body of believers, and calling us to stand strong in the wake of hardship and pain. I will never forget this trip, these people, and the amazing God that took us all there. We are called to move out into the world and spread the message. We are called "from everywhere to everywhere.”
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