Worship

Tonight, Joe and I went to Southside Church to watch a video, that he edited for an Inside Out event (the North Point name for their high school ministry), on the big screen. The video opened the event and the crowd loved it. (To find out more info on this awesome video and performance by Joe and the Southside high school director, Greg, click here.) After the video was over the high school students participated in a time of worship together. The worship leader was great. He had a lot of excitement and it was obvious that his focus was praising God. What really impressed me, though, was the fervor and passion of the high school students. There was quite a number of students there and I think about 30 of them had their hands in the air and were singing loudly. Now, I know that outwards actions are not necessarily a reflection of the heart, but let me just say that it would be hard to find 30 adults, at either the church we attend now (which has a congregation of thousands) or the church we attended in New York (which has a congregation of over a thousand), that would feel free enough to lift their hands in praise to our Lord. (Just so you know I'm not judging I can be included in those that do not feel comfortable enough to lift their hands.) This isn't the fault of the worship leaders, who at both churches gave their all trying to lead the congregations into worship of the Creator of all things. It was so inspiring to see students all under the age of 18 years being so enthusiastic about praising God with their hearts and their bodies. Maybe it's because "grown-ups" have more stuff on their mind that prevent them from entering into complete surrender of worship, or maybe it's because some have been jaded by friends, family, the church, or life in general and so are afraid to become so vulnerable in a place with so many people. Whatever, the reason, all I know is that I felt more comfortable worshiping around these passionate high school students that do around most adults. They were able to surrender to God and show Him that He was their focus for the evening and nothing else. That to me speaks true worship.