Grand Central Station

We spent last weekend with Woodland Bible Church, and what a wonderful experience that was. Saturday we played for part of a fundraiser for a girl who will be a part of this coming summer program. She played with her worship team, then a separate group played, and then we closed out the night. God’s provision proved faithful in how much she was able to raise for this summer! During our mini-set, I got the opportunity to share about my summer trip to Taiwan two years ago. It was awesome to get to share with her supporters a real CTI summer experience as someone who’s done it before. In the middle of talking, I just got so excited for her and for everyone getting ready for a summer team.

The next morning we played a few songs for the worship part of the church service. We had the opportunity to learn a little more about the church through an adult Sunday school group and through the service. They don’t want the church to be a building that’s vacant 6 days of the week, they want it to be a community center of sorts. So something is always going on there whether it’s music (they had a sweet music setup that we got to use), youth events, or whatever. The pastor referred to it as a veritable “Grand Central Station”.

Something CTI is good at doing is revealing the importance of something that could be easily overlooked. An example of that is when they encourage us to think of time off-stage as ministry time as well. This goes under something else they talk about, which is stewardship of opportunity. We aren’t necessarily called to do huge things, but to be faithful to the opportunities presented to us. Much like what CTI encourages us to do, Woodland Bible Church has done a good job of stewarding what they have, their building. They see their off time (Mon-Sat) as an opportunity.

That church was great, and I hope to be a part of one like it some day. I also hope that one day I’ll naturally have that attitude as well.

Overseas, all the way to Missouri

We haven’t quite been on the road for a week yet, but we’ve been busy. We’ve been in one place and have been playing multiple concerts each day. Many of the rooms aren’t ideal for sound, and we’ve been getting pretty sweaty and gross through it all. On top of that, I’ve been sick for all of tour so far. It’s all reminded me of overseas touring, and for that I’ve loved it.

I only love all of these inconveniences because it reminds me of the reason I devoted a year to CTI: an overseas trip to Taiwan. But what about that trip did I love that makes me enjoy all this stuff now?

Something that quickly comes to mind when thinking about overseas CTI touring is all of the inconveniences: the temperature, the language barrier, the confusion, the busyness, etc. But in the midst of all that junk is the reason we’re there. The ministry of music as a means of sharing our hope in Christ is something that many have fallen in love with through CTI. It’s what unites total strangers for a few weeks in the summer, or for a whole year. It’s how summer teams can come back from their journey and talk about all of the challenges and struggles with nothing but a huge smile on their face.

Being with CTI stateside doesn’t create such a distinct contrast between ministry and everyday life – we’re used to all of the cultural nuances, we’re not as crazy busy, and we have more “things” to accommodate us. This, mixed with doing it all for a much longer time, makes it more difficult to have such a strong, fueling sense of purpose.

But that’s how “real life” is. We can't wait for the opportunity to be shocked into action and purpose by such a radical experience as being in another country. Everyday we should be radically trying to live out our passions and our purpose.

The past few days have reminded me to stay focused on why I’m here, and to not let little frustrations ruin something I’m working towards.

I won’t be going overseas this summer, but it was cool to have a little flashback of what it’s like. I can’t wait to train all of the summer teamers coming up for what will end up being an unforgettable experience for each of them!

Spring and Summer, How Different You Are

Spring Tour starts today, and it will be our last tour as a team. As it becomes painfully clear that this is it for us, I hope we will seize every opportunity put before us. In the midst of the inevitable exhaustion, and a bit of a “senioritis” feeling, I hope we will use all that we’ve learned up to this point to thrive in the ministry we’re a part of. Pray with me that we will follow God’s will for us in this ministry, that it would be for His glory and not our own.

After this tour will be summer. CTI will send six teams overseas to locations in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. All 14 of us fulltimers will become a part of the leadership/training community for these teams. Some will lead the summer teams, some will help out with the training aspects of the summer, some will support the kitchen staff, etc. I have the privilege of being a part of the music training team this summer. More specifically, I will be serving as the bass specialist. I’m very excited learn 6 repertoires of music and to work it all out with the six bass players for the summer!

On top of this, I’ll be playing guitar for the summer worship team as well. Each day we’ll begin by submitting our work and our efforts to God through musical worship. Then we’ll proceed to equip the summer team members for everything they’ll need for their several weeks overseas: music training, culture exercises, and spiritual discussions/seminars. It’s all very exciting and I can’t wait to share it all with you guys.

But for now, let’s focus on the mission at hand. See you soon Cali, Texas, Colorado, and all the less cool states in between.