Oil of Gladness is always excited to do ministry together. A month ago, an invitation came for us to come and lead worship in Lira... 130 km away. The plan was to lead a few songs during the 10 am worship service, and then host a praise rally in the afternoon.
Every night last week, we practised in my home and Wednesday evening was dedicated to prayer. We had a vehicle lined up, but that fell through... so at the last minute I went to talk to one of the Pastors from the Anglican church here in Soroti town, and he kindly offered us the SuperCustom van, since we were traveling for ministry.
We were a crew of 10 musicians and singers... and one up-and-coming child. :) I drove both directions... I love it that I get to be the driver!! Although, fighting my way back through the pouring rain with only one headlight was a little tiring.
At the end of the day, we took a few group photos, but I don't have any of the official shots.
We arrived just in time on Sunday morning. A few of us had time to grab a bottle of water before finding our way into the church. And there we found out that no one really knew we were coming. The messages didn't get passed along correctly... the missions co-ordinator never informed the priests that we were there to do music ministry. But when the priests saw 10 bright orange people coming in to the service, they pulled one of us aside and asked us what we were about.
Quickly the service was rearranged so that we could set up a few instruments and we were given the time of praise to a very full church. People were excited to be led into the presence of God.
After the morning service, a few groups of people met us outside and two men took us all out for lunch at a local restaurant. Word started spreading that we were coming back for an afternoon praise rally. We let go of all of our expectations and just knew that we wanted to worship God that day!
The instrumentalists and sound guys did their best to make sure everything sounded great in the big echo-filled church.
Around 2:30 pm we began... I sang so much, I lost my voice part way through.
When in Lira, we had to jump and dance in Luo style.
The crowd was small, but worshipful. God was in this place!
The vicar and a young priest were with us the whole time... singing and video-recording the afternoon. They inspired the small crowd to take up a collection for us, and it exactly covered the cost of fuel for us to travel. Praise the Lord!
I love being a part of this team and look forward to many more ministry opportunities with them in the future.
On Monday we received feedback from one of the congregants:
Voices - great,
design - superb,
team - wonderful
and set-up - wowest.
Now only tell me who manages the team, otherwise you've got a fan
We don't really have a team manager... we are just a strong team, and everyone pulls different loads. Some are great at getting the sound equipment ready. We all choose the song list and encourage each other in leading. A few are strong prayer warriors. Some are truly dedicated in time and energy. We've had our ups and downs as a team, but all in all, a true blessing!
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