On the Same Team

Words can't describe what we got to be a part of today. Today was the first day of the 2011 Brooklyn Tabernacle Music Conference and we were on the front two rows when the party started. It was about a 20 minute or so ride on the train to get to the part of Brooklyn where the Brooklyn Tabernacle (BT) is located. After standing on the sidewalk for a few minutes trying to decide which direction to go, we realized that the church was directly across the street from where we were standing. The BT meets in a former theatre that has since been converted into a church. This has to be one of, if not the most beautiful churches I have ever laid eyes on. We checked in, received our materials and headed to a reception. We then went to get our seats in the sanctuary. We grabbed a few pictures in the sanctuary before leaving for lunch.

The conference began at 1:00. I have never been part of a group so ready and thirsty for worship. The atmosphere was ripe. When the worship leader came out for sound check, he brought the crowd to their feet with Tomlin's "Our God." The funny part was he had closed his eyes to concentrate on the sound coming from the monitors only to reopen his eyes and see the whole place on their feet worshiping. He stopped playing and laughed telling us that this was only the sound check. The atmosphere reminded me of a barrel full of water about to bust at the seams, the water spraying from the cracks and about to blow. That is how ready the crowd was to worship.

The session began with Carol Cymbala, the BT Choir Director, and a time of worship with Sidney Mohede. That was an awesome and unbelievable time of worship. Sidney is from Indonesia. Indonesia is predominately Muslim and we were told that Sidney is actually on a list to be killed by Muslims in that area. After a time of praise and worship we were fortunate to get to hear from BT Pastor Jim Cymbala.

The title of Pastor Cymbala's message was "3 Things My Wife Has Modeled for Me." He spoke of the state of the church today. Pastor Cymbala said that being in ministry is hard. The church is slow when it comes to change. He stated that we need to focus on what the Bible says and do that. Don't do things only because that is the way you have always done it. Make sure that the things you do line up with scripture. One interesting point he made regarded denominations. Cymbala said that man created denominations, not God. We are all followers of Christ and on the same team. We don't need to bicker about how we do this and how we do that. He also said we should never seek to gain attention when serving God. We are to emulate Christ at all times and in all situations. When we let our pride slip in, sin enters the picture. If God knows you are truly seeking to bring Him glory, He will see to it that it is done. We should seek to be obscure. Second, Pastor Cymbala said we should always seek to be led by the Spirit. Don't get caught up in a schedule or routine when it comes to worship services. Cymbala said, "If God can lead the Israelites for 40 years, don't you think He can lead us for one service?" We need to get close to God and follow our hearts. This led to his last point. "If you want to be sent on errands for Jesus, you have to live close to Him." When it comes to church, Cymbala said if you want to see a show, go to Broadway. Many churches today have institutionalized backsliding through our worship services. We are afraid if we go too long, people won't come, so we cut back our services. We are afraid if we hold a service at times that may conflict with people's secular desires, we reschedule. It is all about Jesus. He should be the center of it all and we should follow His lead, no matter what. With that, we closed with a time of worship with Alvin Slaughter, a former BTC member who now is touring on his own. After a few songs from Slaughter, we broke for dinner.

Our group chose to have dinner at Juniors. They have awesome burgers, but the cheesecake is to die for. After dinner we went back to the church for the final session. We started the session off by taking the stage with the BTC to record us singing Happy Birthday to Reverend Billy Graham. Rev. Graham's family asked if we would do this. Needless to say, we were pretty pumped. We got to sing Happy Birthday to Billy Graham!! After that, we started our rehearsal with the choir for worship on Sunday. The choir uses no music to learn music and neither did we. They don't have a screen at the back of the sanctuary with the words on it either! We learned two songs before being treated to a concert featuring the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. What an awesome time of worship! I can't describe the atmosphere other than to say that God was there! When the concert finished, we headed back to the hotel. In the rain. A cold rain. Now, you are probably thinking I thought you took the train. Well, we did but it was a cold wet walk to the train and then from the train to hotel. Thank you God for the R Train!

When we got back to the hotel, we spent a few minutes in prayer and called it a day. God is good and He is doing great things! We have some new songs to teach our fellow choir members when we get home. They are pretty cool! I can't wait for tomorrow! Thank you Jesus for such a wonderful day of praise, worship and teaching.