Recently, we were in Philadelphia, Mississippi for a WFCA radio station concert. It started out to be like most concerts with three other groups. As people began to come in the building and come to the product tables, God began to work. One of the first people I spoke to was a lady that told me that her husband was a pastor and he used some of our songs in their church. She asked for prayer for herself because she had thyroid cancer and had had surgery. The doctors were unable to get all of the cancer cells and she was facing more surgery. I noticed she was using a walker and she casually mentioned that she also had MS. It struck me that with her obvious disability and her serious less obvious illness, she seemed at peace. I assured her I would be praying for her as I wrote down her request.
In just a few moments, a lady began to tell me about her church, located in Oxford, Mississippi. In a few weeks there will be a Presidential debate at Ole Miss and the world will be converging on that small southern town. A few people in her church decided they would use that event to reach people for Christ by renting every billboard in and out of the city with a gospel message without political or denominational connection. They have had other signs made to put in people’s yards and businesses all over the city. She was telling me about how God was providing finances to fund this project. She also said that two days after they had secured the billboards all over town, both political parties had called the sign company to rent them for the event, but God had already given them to their church for His purpose. She was requesting prayer for their church and their city that God would honor their efforts and use them for His glory.
A few months ago, I posted a story on this site about a little girl named Angel that was saved after a concert. I was helping some people last night with some product and I looked up from signing a picture and there was Angel smiling as if to say, here I am, you know me! Of course I did! I went around the table to give her and her mom a hug and to meet her little sister Dakota. Her mom told me that Angel has been listening to the entire new project on the website. I asked Angel what her favorite was and she said very enthusiastically Jesus You Are. We had not sung it since recording it, but we sang it last night since the author, Jarred Myers, was there. I noticed that Angel sang every word with us. What a sight to see a little girl that God saved at one of our concerts singing Jesus you are, you are our Lord, you are our King, the One we adore!
Only moments later, another lady came to me and said that a group of young girls from the French Camp Academy, a children’s home, were there and these girls ages 12 to 14 had adopted Orphans of God as their song. As I was sitting up in the seats of the arena listening to the other groups, a couple of the girls found me. One of them knelt beside me and said that she had written me a letter, but never mailed it. At 13, she had been abandoned by her parents and had come to live at the academy and Orphans of God had meant so much to her. I told her we would sing the song especially for them that night. On the second half, as Lauren introduced the song, fifteen young girls left their seats in the back and stood at the edge of the stage and sang it with us. What a moment, I couldn’t even sing on the first chorus. To see those precious young girls standing in front of us weeping and singing, there are no strangers, there are no outcasts, there are no Orphans of God, was more than I could bear. Before the night was over we had met each of the girls, hugged several times, took pictures and met the house parents. I asked for a list of their names and ages so I could pray for them.
Another lady told me that the Broken Ones had meant so much to her after losing her brother and his entire family in a house fire and then within two weeks of that, losing two more family members.
After I had talked about Roger’s mom having Alzhiemer’s a man came up with tears in his eyes and told me he had lost both of his parents to the same disease. He said he was uneducated and couldn’t read or write, but he was a multimillionaire and God had blessed him and given him a wonderful life even though he now has Alzheimer’s disease. These were only a few of the stories shared with us last night.
After the concert, Lauren and I were in the back of the bus talking about all of the things that had just taken place. There were so many stories and requests we spent about an hour just talking, sharing the things we had heard and witnessed. What did it all mean? Why that place, that night? Why so many in one night? I’m not sure, but I know that what started out to be another concert turned into, as Gloria Gaither puts it, a divine interruption. God used every one of those people last night to sharpen my focus. It’s not us, but Him. He is constantly at work all around us and we can be a part or we can stand by and miss it. Ministry doesn’t just happen on a stage or pulpit. There are opportunities in the moments of our lives. We can prepare to sing and deliver a song, but are we prepared to listen and respond when God whispers through the people we encounter? My prayer is, as Samuel said, Lord, here am I, send me.
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