Monday, December 24, 2007

ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!

I have been kinda on a blogging hiatus for the past month. Things have been so busy and hectic that I have barely had anytime to myself let alone time to blog. My body and mind is exhausted but my spirit is so alive. I wish I could explain it. I am so humbled and in awe of God right now. I am amazed at what he has let me be a part of.

Yesterday was the big Christmas at Cricket event. Elevation Church combined with New Birth Church in Charlotte to pack out the Cricket Arena for a phenomenal Christmas service that blew everyone away. The children were next door in the Ovens Auditorium to watch a full length production of Christmas in Sarsaparilla City. I had the honor of being able to be a part of that amazing event. I spent these past few months writing, re-writing, editing, re-writing, casting, directing, producing, stage managing and acting. I basically have been living in "Sarsaparilla City" for the past two months.

The week leading up to it was pretty hectic, but luckily God put some pretty amazing people in my life to help and encourage me. After the long day on Saturday without getting through a full run through or having a completely dressed set and once again not getting through a full run through on Sunday I was honestly kind of nervous. However the actual production went pretty well. There were a ton of kids who all seemed to enjoy themselves and have a great time. 15 kids responded to the salvation message and gave their lives to Christ. Praise God because we certainly didn't do that. The big people service at Cricket went off extremely well. I herd it was phenomenal and something that the people there would never forget.

Yesterday night and all of today I had this extreme sense of humility and awe for what God is doing. I am so thankful for what he is letting me be apart of. Elevation Church is on the move and is well on its way to Dominate the city of Charlotte with Christ's love. Yesterday was a big example of what we are capable of. I can't wait to see what's next.

I have always loved theatre and everything about it. It has been one of my biggest passions ever since I set foot on a stage in 9th grade. When I became a Christian last year I started struggling with how that passion was going to fit in with God's plan for my life. Within the first two months of my walk I felt God calling me into ministry. I felt like He wanted it to be with kids so I tried to engage myself with EKIDZ as much as I possibly could. Slowly that became my passion. I was a 3rd grade small group leader every week and absolutely loved it. Months later I figured that God wanted me to end up working with a children's ministry and that I should put my dreams of theatre on the back burner.

Then somehow I ended up getting an internship in EKIDZ this summer. I worked at learning more about how things were run in EKIDZ on Sundays and helping Heather and Rachel out however I could. Then Summer Blast happened. We had to help Rachel plan Elevation's first vacation bible school. However since this was Elevation there was no way it could be like any other VBS. It had to be "VBS on steroids" (I think Larry Brey coined that phrase). I had no earthly idea what VBS was when we first started planning so it was kind of weird for me. Long story short when I was helping plan the production side of it the woman who was suppose to direct suddenly pulled out and somehow I had to step up (totally a God thing!). It was hard, but I loved every moment of it. Somehow once again God pulled it off and it was a big success.

Shortly after I was asked to turn Sunday mornings into that same experience for the Motion kids. Slowly God started showing me that this passion for theatre and my passion for children and EKIDZ that He put inside of me can go hand in hand. Now I can't wait for what's to come. I have a feeling that this Sunday was just the beginning.

I am so humbled that God allowed me to be a part of this Sunday. I am so incredibly thankful that he allows me to be a part of this incredible movement he has started in the city of Charlotte. I am also so thankful for the people he has put in my life to help me through all of this. I am so grateful for Jessi, Heather and especially Phillip, all of my amazing actors and production guys, all of the volunteers, and my phenomenal entourage that helped keep me sane through all of this.

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