Day 6 – May 24th
June 7, 2009
Day 6: Two weeks ago to the day I was in Jerusalem Baptist Church in Ft. Liberte, Haiti getting ready for a crazy night. The Haitians had been asking the past few years for us to bring down a worship band to lead a night of “American” style worship. So we did. We were able to put together a band full amazing musicians; Cameron King, Sarah King, Aly Thompson, Lee Wilkers, Ryan Scott, Meredith Hill, and myself. We also had two amazing people on board to make sure all the technical stuff went well; Valerie Hulme and John Bennett (who is a great musician and worship leader as well).
A night that should have been simple and smooth turned insane from the start. Moments before we were to begin a huge rain stormed moved in and the power went out. We waited. In the dark. With 200+ Haitians. About 30 minutes later the power came back on. We picked up our instruments and right as we started into the first song, the power went out again. Standing in the dark in front of hundreds of Haitians we decided to sing, and sing we did. As loud as we could and in whatever language we spoke. We sang “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art”. To say that this is one of the most beautiful experiences of my life would be an understatement. No power. No electric instruments. No projector screens. All we had was a room full of people who would not be denied the opportunity to worship together because of a few technical problems. We sang, loud.
Shortly after we finished “How Great Thou Art” the power came back on. Cameron spent some time talking to the audience with the help of an amazing woman who was translating for us, Alberta. Alberta is the daughter of Pastor Andre & Justine Jean. We continued the music with the song “How Great Is Our God”. Colleen King had worked for two days teaching the children from the orphanage how to sing the chorus in English. So sure enough, right when we got the chorus the power goes off again, but there was no stopping. In a church illuminated by a handful of flash lights and the flash of cameras the band and the children continued to sing…”Name above all names, Worthy of all praise, My heart will sing how great is our God.”
Simple. Beautiful.
As soon as the song ended guess what happened? That’s right, the power came back! We continued on, teaching the Haitians the song “Marvelous Light” and encouraged them to get up and dance during the bridge that says “Lift my hands and spin around.” Everything was going perfect and then we came to that bridge, and as soon as we started to dance…NO POWER! So we danced in the dark…not giving up. Just picture a huge room filled with Haitians and Americans singing at the top of their lungs and dancing in the dark, bringing praise to the only One who deserves it.
A few minutes later the lights came back on for good, but we didn’t care. On that night one thing was going to happen regardless of weather, power, or any other obstacle: that was worship.
It wasn’t polished.
It wasn’t fancy.
It wasn’t perfect.
It wasn’t always in key.
But it was beautiful.
It was pure.
It was honest.
It was for God.
Cameron speaking to the audience with the help of Alberta...What an amazing lady.
***More pictures and videos from this night will be coming shortly…I have to track down some of them from friends, but I will let you know when they are posted***
Andy- what a beautiful description of that night! I was outside for part of it, holding Shellie, who had a fever- and I will never forget hearing everyone singing Steve Fee’s “Glory to God” …”pou tou jous” in Creole, at the end. Glorious.
I loved that part of the night, singing in Creole…I catch myself singing that chorus in Creole all the time now!
Andy!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! That was truly an incredible night. Man, the spirit of God that was just blowing in that place! Thanks for this reminder!!!!!
Incredible is a great word to describe the night. So much craziness, just the way it should be haha