Greetings from snowy Colorado!
We just returned from a tour of Thailand and Singapore. To be honest to try to tell the story would take several days of talking, lots of coffee and a room full of pictures!
I must tell you of a story however, of one of the guys Carrie met while we were in Thailand. This person asked that their name and location not be identified for security reasons. All I can say is that they are part of a 'pre-church planting' team in the middle east.
"Jim" asked the question in one of our worship workshops about how (as a worshiper) we can use what little we have to lead others in worship. Carrie began to explain how often in China where we served for two years, it was normal for worship services to be lead by human voice only! This prompted other questions - "but how can you lead them without instruments?" Jim asked; Carrie told them how many of the Christians in China often will create rhythm by taking a water bottle, filling it with rice and using it as a percussion (shaker) instrument.
The workshop ended. Later the next week, the Worshiplanet Band went into leading other events and the church planters returned to their host countries..... a few days ago Carrie received an email from "Jim" in the middle east. Following is the transcript from his email;
"Carrie - I hope this finds you well and the rest of your time in Chiang Mai was
blessed. I am sure that you all were a blessing to the churches there.
I want to thank you again for taking time out of your schedule to meet
with me and encourage and help me brainstorm ideas of how to bring a
more lively worship to my field and team. My teammates and I actually
got creative and used some empty water bottles and rice and made some
shakers that we incorporated into our worship the other day. It was
actually fun. At first we felt like little kids again, but I think
that really helped us just put everything aside and really get to the
heart of worship. Our neighbor's kids came over yesterday and wanted to know what they were so I got to sing worship songs over them while they danced and shook the shakers all over the room. I also contacted
my worship pastor back home and he sent me some stuff to help me get
going on the guitar again. I think this month, as it is Ramadan, will
be a good time to try and carve out some hours on the guitar as not
much else is happening here as everyone is fasting. Well I hope that
you guys found some time to enjoy Thailand and that you were in
someway blessed by being there as much as we were by having you there.
Thank you once again for all that you do.
In Him,
"Jim"
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
