What a day of joy and encouragement!
Today, we sang and led worship for
Making It Easier to Serve - Leading Children's Ministry Conference. This event gathered people in all kinds of children's ministries - staff members, Sunday school teachers, youth ministers, and pastors - for a day of workshops and networking.
We started the day bright and early (sopranos should never sing at 8:30am!!) with a mini-concert of music as people gathered. We mostly sang our originals, such as "Infinitely More," "A Divine Heart Imagined You," and the song Gerald finished in Rocky Harbour, NL, on our East Coast Tour, "Oh My God, I Love You."
For our portion of the opening worship, we led a rousing and soulful rendition of "Wade in the Water," which definitely woke everyone up! We also shared our song, "Let the Children Come Unto Me," which we specifically wrote to gather children together in worship. We made up packages for each attendee with music for the song, our Infinitely More colouring sheets, and our new brochure.
For the closing worship, we led the crowd in Psalm 104 set to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," and our pop/hymn mash-up, "Joyful, Joyful Meets Jeremiah." As a special tribute to all the attendees, we finished the day with Ray Boltz's "Thank You."
Throughout the entire day, we had the chance to visit with interesting and passionate people - arts educators, book sellers, teachers, musicians, clergy, and people who just love bringing ministry to children. I continue to be fascinated by the journeys and lives of people of faith. I wish "the world" saw more of these kinds of Christians - honest, simple, quiet people, plugging into their communities, reaching out to the fringes, seeking solutions, and trying to let people know they're loved.
These are the people who should be making the news.
It's not always dramatic, but it is life changing.