Worship Leader Probs

It’s Thursday night and the National Worship Leader Conference has come to an end. It has been a marvelous week and we have taken in enormous amounts of information. I know that we will be processing this for several weeks as we comb through new resources and look back through our notes from 4 amazing days in Austin.

Kim and I have had a blast attending this conference with one of my closest friends in the world, Sam Lynn. I met Sam while I was a college student at Anderson University. We spent a summer traveling the country on behalf of the school and have been the best of friends ever since. Sam is a gifted musician and an incredible worship leader. He serves a church in my hometown of Evansville, IN and leads several thousand people in worship every weekend. Sam is a dear brother in the Lord and has been a great source of encouragement to me throughout our friendship.

Tonight was the night when they really “iced the cake” that we have been baking all week long. This was an amazing night of worship that involved Communion, Ancient songs and some of the most amazing new worship music I have ever heard. Tonight we got the chance to hear CeCe Winans with her live band. It was awesome! We also were absolutely floored by Israel Houghton and his band. He has brought us songs like “Friend of God,” “You Are Good” and “Again I Say, Rejoice.” He was amazing and it was beyond all doubt the loudest set of worship I have ever heard!

The highlight for me personally was the opening worship set led by Tommy Walker. He is a worship leader in a local church in Los Angeles and has given us some amazing worship songs (“He Knows My Name,” “That’s Why We Praise Him” and “Only A God Like You” to name a few). He used one of his new songs tonight that we will be working on at our church over the coming weeks called, “I Have A Hope.” It’s an amazing song! I’ll close this post with some of the lyrics.

It’s been a great trip and we are grateful for the chance to have been here. We are also exhausted and are looking forward to heading home tomorrow, getting some rest and a big hug from Sophie. Yes, I know that is terribly pathetic but we do miss her!

Here is a sampling of those lyrics to “I Have A Hope.” It is my hope that they will be an encouragement to you as you go about your day today! See you soon.

“I have a hope I have a future, I have a destiny that is yet awaiting me. My life’s not over. A new beginning’s just begun. I have a hope. I have this hope.

God has a plan. It’s not to harm me but it’s to prosper me and to hear me when I call. He intercedes for me, working all things for my good. Though trials may come, we have this hope.

I will yet praise Him, my great Redeemer. I will yet stand up and give Him glory with my life. He takes my darkness and He turns it into light I will yet praise Him, my Lord, my God.”