A bit of San Antonio, and Refresh rocked the house.
Sunday night. What a weekend!!!
Friday morning several friends and I drove down to San Antonio to hear Beth Moore speak at a Living Proof Live Event. The Alamodome was home to about 10,000 women on Friday night and Saturday morning. I could have turned pages in my bible all night and into the morning listening to Beth speak words of God's Inheritance, but alas it ended at 9:30 on Friday night. We went and grabbed a bite to eat on the Riverwalk, some yummy Mexican food. Then we were up pretty early to get back to the venue for the 8am start time.
I am still so emotional about the whole weekend. Travis Cottrell led worship and their were some women up on the stage in the worship team that brang the house down with their amazing voices. A couple of times I just listened to what it sounds like to have 10,000 women sing praise to God at the same time in the same place and it was as close to hearing angels sing this side of heaven. So powerful.
I will write a post about the fresh words I received this weekend. I would like to say they were totally fresh, but God used this weekend to hammer home some areas he has been convicting me of over the last bit of time that I haven't fully submitted to. All of us Coffee Group gals will write a post over on our Espresso His Love Blog and will link it when we do. I am thankful that God is so patient with me, but never allowing me to hover in the same place for very long. He wants more for me than I do.
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Today at our church we went back to two services; our early morning service is called Daybreak (the traditional service) and late service is Refresh (outreach, contemporary service). We have always been early servicers, but decided to give the very first Refresh a try. It was amazing, it was a powerful service and the Spirit was thick. One of the differences besides the fast pace is there is alot more interaction between the worshippers. We all walk forward to tithe and are encouraged to visit with those around us. Communion was similar to the new tithing process. Couples were asked to stand in different areas around the sanctuary. Some couples walked around with the bread and juice to carry to people who were older or disabled and would find it difficult to make their way in the crowd. One of my sweet friends told me that she and her husband would be serving communion today in Refresh. This is a new thing to my church, men have always passed the plate. We break off a cracker and pass it to the next person. But in Refresh they decided to have married couples serve, one holds the bread and the other the juice and the church comes up to them to partake.
Right as church was starting today Rob told me as he slid past me in the pew that they needed one more couple to serve and that they asked him if we could. He told them yes, and in that same moment worship started and I didn't really think about it again. Time for communion came and we went back to get the bread and juice and went to our spot when we were called to do so. I was really nervous. Do you remember the part from above that I said we hadn't done this before at our church? So I was standing there holding the two plates of unleavened bread and then people started to break off their piece and before you know it there are tears streaming down my face. It was so personal, like looking right into their eyes and heart as they remembered Jesus body. At times I felt like it was just too much and I would lower my eyes, but then I would lift my eyes to theirs again and each time I felt such a strong bond of love with each person who broke bread. Many people blessed me with their words, many people looked at me and started crying too, it was such an honor to serve and also to be filled with emotion that I didn't expect was an extremely humbling experience. My heart is full of gratitude for that experience. I praise God for our new service.
Friday morning several friends and I drove down to San Antonio to hear Beth Moore speak at a Living Proof Live Event. The Alamodome was home to about 10,000 women on Friday night and Saturday morning. I could have turned pages in my bible all night and into the morning listening to Beth speak words of God's Inheritance, but alas it ended at 9:30 on Friday night. We went and grabbed a bite to eat on the Riverwalk, some yummy Mexican food. Then we were up pretty early to get back to the venue for the 8am start time.
I am still so emotional about the whole weekend. Travis Cottrell led worship and their were some women up on the stage in the worship team that brang the house down with their amazing voices. A couple of times I just listened to what it sounds like to have 10,000 women sing praise to God at the same time in the same place and it was as close to hearing angels sing this side of heaven. So powerful.
I will write a post about the fresh words I received this weekend. I would like to say they were totally fresh, but God used this weekend to hammer home some areas he has been convicting me of over the last bit of time that I haven't fully submitted to. All of us Coffee Group gals will write a post over on our Espresso His Love Blog and will link it when we do. I am thankful that God is so patient with me, but never allowing me to hover in the same place for very long. He wants more for me than I do.
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Today at our church we went back to two services; our early morning service is called Daybreak (the traditional service) and late service is Refresh (outreach, contemporary service). We have always been early servicers, but decided to give the very first Refresh a try. It was amazing, it was a powerful service and the Spirit was thick. One of the differences besides the fast pace is there is alot more interaction between the worshippers. We all walk forward to tithe and are encouraged to visit with those around us. Communion was similar to the new tithing process. Couples were asked to stand in different areas around the sanctuary. Some couples walked around with the bread and juice to carry to people who were older or disabled and would find it difficult to make their way in the crowd. One of my sweet friends told me that she and her husband would be serving communion today in Refresh. This is a new thing to my church, men have always passed the plate. We break off a cracker and pass it to the next person. But in Refresh they decided to have married couples serve, one holds the bread and the other the juice and the church comes up to them to partake.
Right as church was starting today Rob told me as he slid past me in the pew that they needed one more couple to serve and that they asked him if we could. He told them yes, and in that same moment worship started and I didn't really think about it again. Time for communion came and we went back to get the bread and juice and went to our spot when we were called to do so. I was really nervous. Do you remember the part from above that I said we hadn't done this before at our church? So I was standing there holding the two plates of unleavened bread and then people started to break off their piece and before you know it there are tears streaming down my face. It was so personal, like looking right into their eyes and heart as they remembered Jesus body. At times I felt like it was just too much and I would lower my eyes, but then I would lift my eyes to theirs again and each time I felt such a strong bond of love with each person who broke bread. Many people blessed me with their words, many people looked at me and started crying too, it was such an honor to serve and also to be filled with emotion that I didn't expect was an extremely humbling experience. My heart is full of gratitude for that experience. I praise God for our new service.
Comments
Tiff
I can't tell you what it meant to me to have you and Rob serve me communion. I will never forget being served my Lord's supper by my precious friends.