Awesome morning service

I mentioned last entry that Dalan Zartman would be preaching on Sunday, January 9th. I gotta tell you, the service was something really special. I can say that because I played virtually no role in it. It started out with Dalan, Rob, Sydney, Dylan and Evan leading us all in worship. I'm so grateful for that team and others who also take part in worship and creative arts. It's such a vital part of the morning. Then Pat Kearney walked us through some announcements, the offering and introduced Lee Gentry. Lee was gave a testimony about what he was celebrating from 2010. He shared about having a brain tumor and how God, his wife Gayle, the kids and friends helped him walk through this trial. He told us that on Monday he would be having an MRI and we prayed for him. (since I'm finishing this entry a few days later I can tell you the MRI came back clear:-). I'm sure you will agree if you listen to the message, but God really used Dalan in the life of the people who were in the service last week. What's amazing to me is that it was just the second time he's preached...ever. The first time was last January on the same subject - Celebrate. It's the first of our four core values at Encounter and I figured the worship and creative arts coach should be the one giving the message:-). Dalan ended the message by giving everyone in the room the opportunity to come up to the front and place a Post It note on the cross. He instructed us to write down things that were "clouds" blocking our relationship with God and then take a knee and pray to the Lord asking for the strength to overcome these clouds. Most of the room responded and it was a very, very powerful moment.

I praise the Lord for men like Dalan who are transparent about their faults and who are capable of leading people and communicating God's truths.