Yesterday was supposed to be a second complete day of rest as we recovered from the weekend of preaching, but that was to change. Realize, when I say recover, that is exactly what I mean. The church buildings here are hot, very hot ... the people bathe in sweat during the service... and the services typically last 3 or more hours. They are very serious about their time with God. The congregational praise alone lasts for over an hour ... with the sermon lasting that long as well. The time of testimonies is always well participated ... the people here are serious ... and they are hungry. So by the end of the night, you are both physically and spiritually drained. Rest and recovery are vital.
We were asked to preach at a service last night, so it was determined that I should be the one. I am not looking for that but will not turn it down, I am here to do as they ask ... that is unfortunately something they are not used to foreigners doing (I will get to that later).
I was originally going to preach on love but I knew that I was to preach on the Spiritual Armor. You can get my outline HERE. The service started at 7pm ... the building was soooooo hot! I soaked my clothes. As I played with the worship team, I could literally feel water flowing off of my hands ... there was no escaping the heat ... but the people were there for business. Praise lasted over 2 hours. When I was handed the mic, it was 930pm ... the service had been going for over 2.5 hrs. My first thought was to just surrender the evening ... but I felt specifically led by the Holy Spirit to minister to the people .. in humor ... to get them laughing ... so I did. It must have been funny b/c I was already delusional due to my extreme lack of fluids ...
Why? Well ... the minster before me, supposedly a huge music success (that I have never heard of) that was invited by a local pastor (who now severely regrets it) beat up on the people when she was asked to sing .. which is what she does .. yet she always complains about being asked unless she gets the whole night. Her voice is amazing ... but her attitude is disappointing. This is the common attitude that the locals get from the foreigners ... I was so ashamed. So we laughed.
After a few minutes, I went to shut it down but felt compelled to teach the lesson ... and they desired me to continue so I did ... the response was amazing. I am glad I obeyed. The people were greatly ministered to. Many of them told me that they had never seen what I do ... that they had never laughed so much while being taught so much. Their leisure is my pleasure.
When I got home, it was after 1 am ... I was starving. I knew I had to go to bed b/c I was cooking omelets for breakfast ... I have been introducing these guys to some of our traditional foods. They treat it like it's a dead rat ... but end up wolfing it all down. It's funny to watch!
We were picked up by the TV station and 930 and brought to the studio. It was a rush. Ruth Robert (the interviewer and the daughter of Pastor Cecil Jacobs) heard that I was preaching so she made it a point to come out last night ... and felt greatly moved by it. I had mentioned some things that she had never considered .... and since there is no military here, it is difficult to discover the context of the passage on Spiritual Armor (Eph 6). She was also very moved by some of our philosophies of ministry that were very alien to her. For instance, I had stated that we view pulpit ministry as only 5% of what we do ... pastors fostering personal relationships with their member was more foreign to her than I was. That is sad. For times sake and for interest's sake I will not divulge too much ... I will have a link to the final cut when I get it for you on the website ... in short, it was a wonderful opportunity and a great honor. We are truly reaching the world!
I came back to some great news. Our time had run out at the Seaview Condos ... and it seemed we were going to be staying at one of the local church member's house ... which meant no AC. After the overheating last night, I was greatly distressed bc I did not think I could have cooled down without the AC. Ruth decided that as guests and ministers to the island, we should be in a more private location with AC ... that the churches here should do more to accommodate us (the Seaview was out of our own pockets) so she paid for us to have a condo down the street (the Seaview had reservations from months before) with AC!!! What a blessing ... I would have been more than happy to stay with Ken and Gill but I was concerned about the AC leaving it to God ... all is well.
Once we got settled in, we started to prepare for the evening services ... the commencement of the Grenada IPA National Convention. Hundreds of people gathered into the building ... packing it out!
Now it's after midnight ... and quite frankly, I have got to get some sleep. Tomorrow I have to get a new pack of strings ... blew out my high E during the first song ... no problem .. no one knew. We have some business and some playing to do in the morning .. then we must get ready for the night. I will be preaching the final service ... what an honor.
But for now, I must rest. So I bid you goodnight and thank you for reading along!
Til next time
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