A few weeks before Thanksgiving this year I was at our church late one night to play and sing and work out some tension/unburden my soul and wow, did that time in worship on my own prove to be something special and good. I felt like every song was something that resonated with my heart, every lyric and note were important for me to get out. I remember having heard about worship gatherings around the country over the past few years, or of our own region’s Healing the Land, ReviveIndiana, and OneCry worship events, or of Bethel/Elevation/Hillsong’s New Years’ Eve Praise Parties where God’s people chose to gather together and worship out the past year/in the new, of times when there was no agenda to complete for a service- just time dedicated to praise and prayer, listening and responding. I remember sighing in my soul and saying to the Lord, “I wish there were a bunch of people here tonight,” and how no sooner had I sighed that prayer to Him than the reply in my Spirit came as clear as day, “Invite them.” It was the same feeling I had in the past when I was ready to mourn something and I'd never thought to just try.
“Invite them,” He said. But I wasn’t sure who… or when… so I sat down and listened more intently and once again as clearly as only a few other times in my life I could see it: no denominational ownership, no single church possessed endeavor, all colors of folk, all Kingdom passions, all in that sanctuary on New Years’ Day reflecting on and praising God for His faithfulness in the past year and leaning into His promises, dedicating the coming one to His Name’s glory as well. People leaving behind their pain, releasing their offenses, confessing their failures, receiving His grace. People unconcerned with being too loud or too quiet, too out in front or too out of sight. People there to worship together. Like I’d heard about elsewhere- but here- if we would try.
I reached out to a local worship-passionate friend to spell it out- he was in instantly. We reached out to a mutual music ministry connection that could truly own this kind of vision- they said yes. The leadership at BMC said this is what we’re all about and we can host it no problem- so it’s happening.
In the same theological vein as Old Testament feasts, when God’s people gather and testify to His faithfulness, we want to give space to the public reading of Scripture and testimony.
In the same spiritual warfare necessity as the healings of the New Testament, we want to make room for people to unburden their souls with intercessors and exhorters who can help them cast their cares upon the Lord and receive His care for them.
With the same contemplation as Mary we want to offer a heart without reservation, pierced, yet magnifying the Lord.
With the same reckless abandon as David we want to offer our full lungs' worth of breath and leave a place ringing with the echoes of our praise.
So we're going for it.
We're going to praise in the New Year with Kingdom family from around Michiana! May the body of Christ unify for a few hours of rowdy worship and intentional prayer as we dedicate the coming year to the Lord's glory. This will be a time of rowdy (read: loud) worship and intentional prayer (read: both spontaneous and directed individually or with others) so come ready to sing with full lungs and pray with full hearts!
Featuring the Music Ministry of Marcus & Marketo!
Marcus & Marketo’s worship leadership is marked by a deep commitment to serve the church by bringing unity through sound. They instinctively blend old and new, gospel and contemporary, hymns and choruses, with careful attention to both Biblical truths and the leading of Holy Spirit. Along with their violinist, Rachel, as well as other rotating musicians, the group is known throughout Michiana for creating musical environments of Spirit-led worship where Jesus is exalted as King at the good pleasure of the Father. This comes from countless hours of worshipping regularly together without agenda and without crowds, before an audience of One, over the years.
The duo also seeks out opportunities to communicate the love of God outside church walls. They recently won Oaklawn's Got Talent at the prestigious Lerner Theater and have performed multiple times at Acorn Theater, where Grammy Award winning songwriter Jim Peterik shouted, “Amazing!” from his seat. “...honestly I got goosebumps.” Their original song, Call Upon, was also a top ten choice for the International Worship Ready Songwriting Competition.
Check them out more fully here!
This is going to be awesome. We want to do this together so we hope to see you there!
-Pastor Greg
