I stand in AWE.

This is a big one... I'm struggling to even begin. This past Friday night (May 25th) I had the privilege of acting as "Worship Leader" for an event at BRV called FREE.IN.DEED. Over the past few weeks the youth of BRV have been busy being educated and becoming aware of the reality of modern day slavery particularly in the area of child sex trafficking. I got witness firsthand the reaction these kids had to this tragedy. It was a reaction which was clearly driven by love, compassion, a fire in the souls of the youth that burned with a hope of freedom! These kids have been on fire ever since they learned about the reality of slavery. There has been fundraiser's, pie sales, pie's to faces of youth leaders and pastors and all in the name of freedom. The Lock-in event was designed around many things. First was prayer, from West Virginia to Maine youth groups were getting together to cry out to The Lord from 9:30, also meeting with friends and with The Holy Spirit was high on the agenda, and freedom from anything that the youth were struggling with was something on the hearts of the leaders. Last, the kids all got up in the morning to go into Media and silently protest human trafficking, they made their passion and presence felt in the town.

Now, i guess that's some background but what i really want to say is this. Friday night was the most sincere, Spirit led, Spirit filled, worship experience that i've ever been a part of. This is not to discredit God's presence in any other moments but there was something so powerful about this night. I had a great team of people to play music with and was certainly blessed by their talents. So, a little breakdown of the night. Kid's got there and everything was crazy, the rules were explained and a speaker from LOVE146 was present to further educate the youth on sex slavery and what the organization was doing about it and what they could do about it. Let me just say... this is an issue i am very passionate about. The seed was planted when my WWC class skied in honor of Katie Nolan and raised support to end human trafficking. That seed has grown to be something much bigger in me. But, it is such a hard thing to deal with. No mount of positivity, hope, or anything will get me past how much it hurts every time the topic comes up. It is so dark and draining. That being said after the representative from LOVE146 was finished we were short on time so we had to move two songs from the opening worship set to the second set (lemme tell ya God had a plan for that one!) so we played three songs. Finishing with How He Loves by John Mark Mcmillan. WOW these kids really appreciate the love of their God! So i was full, I was ready, I could have sung the praises of My Savior for 3 more hours. But, we had to stop for the scheduled time of prayer which was equally as powerful but much much darker and heavier. The reality of the darkness we were praying against was very evident. So I was worried how was the Spirit going to show up after that feeling? But I was also excited because I didn't know what God was going to do but I did know He'd be there.

OH HOW HE LOVES. That's all i gotta say. We got back on stage and Angela said "ok lets do what we did before... again!" I was all in for that. So we did our best and oh goodness did God bless it. The Spirit led every word, not, and voice that filled that room and channeled it into one voice, one loud, loud voice, one cry for freedom and praise and glory to our LORD. I can't really explain in words how different this worship experience was in comparison to others. But, i can say that when the room was filled with the rising cry that went from "Glory Glory send your Glory" into a literal shout, scream, cry, or whatever else you wanna call it that was singing "SET THE CAPTIVES FREE." God was so evident, every heart, every voice, every body was in complete and total surrender to God. I nearly lost my voice on that one. We cut out all the music and so loudly continued crying out "SET THE CAPTIVES FREE!" Now, we'll never know for sure what that cry did but we do have the promise that if we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that our requests will be granted. I can't say i know this, but i have faith that chains broke at the sound and sincerity of this worship. Doors were opened and hearts were turned to the LORD in the darkest of places. I don't know for sure but I feel so strongly that it's true.

I apologize for the length but i'm probably not even halfway through. I must also admit that this is as much for my own good as for my loyal readers. I've been so full of this experience ever since and it MUST BE SHARED. so yea...

Now for the thing that has affected me the most. Being USED!!! somehow i "led" 70 kids and my Brother's and Sister in Christ in the worship team to a level of worship that i've never experienced. Now, clearly it was not my "leading" that had any profound affect but CHRIST IN ME?! as if I deserve that? and what's even crazier is that it felt like the most natural and right thing i could ever do. In every moment of worship I was solely focused on the words, the people, the presence of the Spirit. Nothing else mattered and I was so content in that. It was truly a high.

C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity- "The point is, God wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself.And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble-- Delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life."  Couldn't have said it any better Clive! and then he finishes this bit with one last beautiful piece of imagery. "To get even near this, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert." YES YES YES! I literally struggled to put what it was like into words until i found the words of C.S. Lewis and adopted them ;)

Well goodness gracious where do I go from here? well, many thanks to all who I have led in any sort of worship. You've all helped me in realizing what it means to be a leader in that context. I have literally been able to "Forget the channel, seeing only HIM." even though I've been the channel?! That's something I've learned only by the grace of God through the community of His people. So thank you dearest friends!

I'm so excited about the youth in this Church, the Faith of the upcoming generation, I'm so excited for them, I've seen their faith and strength! So, let's get behind our younger brother's and sister's in Christ!
Ok, thanks for reading if you actually finished... you're wonderful.

Spread the Love,

-Ethan Pierce