When I was 14 I started singing in the youth band at my church. I helped lead worship for the first time, and there was even a night when I got to play an original song. I remember watching the video of my youth group worshiping, singing along to the song I wrote and I was overcome with awe. It was the first time I realized that I had the power to lead others to Christ and give him glory through the gifts he’s given me.
When I was a sophomore in high school I started leading secular music and worship for Gaston County YoungLife. I don’t even remember how this happened really- somehow I just got thrown into the front of the room with a guitar in my hands once a week. I got used to making a fool of myself in front of dozens of my friends and had a ton of fun with it. I forced myself to concentrate enough to be as good as my older brother was. He never failed to let me know when I wasn’t playing correctly; although, I think this helped me more than anything to learn songs quickly (nothing but love for you Jacob). I continued to do this until I was a senior in high school.
When I started helping with worship at my church, Christ the King, I knew I’d found a real passion. My senior year was full of driving 45 minutes (sometimes in the minivan) down the backroads of Clover to church twice a week to rehearse and play on Sunday. Worshipping alone in my car on those drives, windows down and the music cranked up, is one of the things I miss most from home. Especially on warm days and early mornings.
In the midst of a very difficult year, that music helped keep me connected to God in an intimate way. It gave me a way to pour out my heart to him and praise his name in the middle of my storms and troubles. Sunday mornings became the highlight of my week. Around this time the Lord started teaching me the “more” that there is to worship other than music, and prompted me to step into my leadership with more passion and fervor than ever before.
On my last Sunday at church before I left for the Race, the Lord gave me a vision for how he’s going to use me. He told me that I would help bring community together and bring passion and shamelessness in worship to Charlotte, that He will use me to help create an atmosphere of worship among his people. I know the Lord has many purposes for placing me on the Race and is using these months to prepare me for my future in more ways than I know. I also know that worship is a huge part of what he’s equipping me for.
I’m entering month 6 on the field and looking back on all the opportunities God has given me over the course of this journey. He has grown me and shown me so many things about worship that I will carry in my heart for the rest of my days.
In Swaziland I led worship at a women’s missionary retreat with ladies from all over the country. I was a part of worship services where people were leading from the crowd, there was no stage, sometimes no instruments, yet people were still pouring out their hearts to God. Swaziland taught me true humility in worship- something America often misses.
In Nepal I worshipped in a small room packed with people above a Chinese restaurant, singing praises to God in english while he was being lifted up in two other languages around me at the same time. And then again a couple weeks later in the tiny church of a mountain village with some of the most passionate believers I’ve ever met. Nepal was passion. I witnessed people worship through their actions in everyday life, honoring the Lord in a culture that is predominantly Hindu, living their love out loud with a fire in their hearts.
When the squad was feeling attacked by the spirit of complacency in India, we had an amazing worship night, followed by an all-night prayer burn, followed by another worship set in the morning in the library of the bible college we’re staying at. We worshipped until the Truth was restored in our hearts: God has a purpose for us here and we cannot stop choosing him. Worship is how we fight our battles.
These are just a few of the incredible moments the Lord has given me to share in with my brothers and sisters.
Two months ago I stepped into the position of a Worship Coordinator on my squad. Me and two others get to organize and oversee the worship that happens among our friends, but mostly our job is to help create an atmosphere of worship wherever we are. That doesn’t mean just musically. Worship is a position of your heart, a reverence and acknowledgment of who God is in every situation. The Lord has been so faithful in teaching, loving, and just simply being with me through worship. I know this is only the start of the journey he has set before me. I am excited to finish the Race – the World Race and the course of my life- using my passions to bring him glory.
