Cedarville University

I must say, that coming off of a summer too wonderful, fun, hilarious, worshipful, Spirit-filled, humbling, and challenging to truly express in any adequate way, I could not fathom a new team and a new year that could compare to what I had just experienced. But, God is clever. And he cleverly manages to reshape and transform the ministry and its teams in new ways every season. Heartsong has had a bit of a makeover this year, now with five teams and two that specialize in reaching Junior High. So, we are excited and choose to embrace this change as we desire that God refine us and make our ministry more effective and relevant. One of the most exciting changes, yet one that can also be difficult to embrace, is the formation of new teams. Yet, every year God faithfully constructs new families within Heartsong, complete with new personalities, pasts, passions, and potential.
As I continue to discover these aspects of my team members, I get really excited imagining how it will all fit together for the sake of our ministry this year and this summer as we look forward to working alongside the LiFT camp staff. As one of the younger members on our team, I can’t wait to learn from the older members of my team. They seem so experienced and wise, having committed to many years with Heartsong and LiFT, and some having embarked on the entirely different journey of engagement! I love anticipating how God will pull from all of our various experiences, strengths, skills and even weaknesses to bring us to a deeper understanding of community while hopefully using it to bless others as well!
Even though we had not spent much time yet together as a team, traveling during our Fall Break Tour made fast friends out of all of us. We played for two separate chapel programs for rival Christian high schools in Toledo. All of us agreed that we had never seen so much energy at any schools we had visited with Heartsong. Students happily joined in the singing and motions of our music and even gave Taylor some pity laughs for his bad jokes while introducing us. During “Rise and Sing,” Hayden literally stopped singing and his mouth dropped open as one of the elementary students came out from the bleachers and did a round-off into splits in front of the entire student body. Though we don’t typically lead worship for that age group, the enthusiasm of the elementary students created such an enjoyable atmosphere that even the “coolest” high school senior had to participate.
Though somewhat sad to leave that atmosphere, our team soaked up the hospitality of the host homes and churches we stayed at for the next few days. One church’s youth group was trying to start up a worship band, so we were told our team’s arrival and music proved very timely and encouraging. We were definitely encouraged by the church, however, as they served us incredible Hobo Stoup (who knew if you threw a bunch of random stuff in a pot, it could taste so good?) and just thanked us over and over for our music and testimonies.
Pray for us as God continues to refine us and our ministry so that we can serve others better!
~ Dani and Heartsong Blue

This entry was posted on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.