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Print A cool November weekend brought several hundred people together at Elkhart Indiana’s Life Tabernacle for the 2005 Weekend of Worship. Commonly called the WOW weekend, it did not disappoint. Over the past several years this event has grown, attracting artists from around the region, including this year’s headliners¾the Indiana Bible College Chorale and Roland Baker III. While I was unable to attend the Friday service, which featured the IBC Chorale and Roland Baker III, from all reports it was a power packed night of worship. Jack Rorie and the worship team from Life Tabernacle opened the weekend up (Rorie also puts this together each year) followed by the powerful Hands for Christ Sign Team. Marci Johnson, Toni Askew, and Yalonda Feiler also sang on Friday night. The highlight of the night may have been when Roland Baker tapped the IBC Chorale and their band to back him up instead of using his tracks - a fitting way to end the opening night of worship. Saturday night opening worship was led by Joe Lake and featured the Life Tabernacle Youth Choir. The forward movement of the arts in Apostolic circles was evident throughout the weekend as interpretive sign, drama, and the spoken word were included as part of the worship. Elizabeth Cruz shared her passion for reading God’s word with Scriptures by Song, taking us throughout the entire Bible in just a few moments. Burnita Barnett shared a poem after giving her powerful testimony of God’s healing. Barnett shared how she had recently suffered a very serious stroke, and God brought her back and was allowing her to share her testimony with others. It was an emotional moment for her and many in the crowd, since prior to the stroke she’d been very involved in the music department at Life Tabernacle. The Pentecostals of South Lake Girls Ensemble showcased their powerful harmonies on the God’s Property track, You Are the Only One. Jason Miller did several drama presentations to music, including one to the song “Make Me in Your Image.” Using masks he struggled the entire song to remove the layers of “himself” until he was no longer “hiding” behind a mask. The Point of Grace Family Praise Fellowship worship team was next. Lead vocalist Adam Faulkner led what turned out to be one of only two acts with live music on Saturday night. After a high energy set, local artist Amanda Plunkett reminded the audience “His Strength is Perfect.” The Hands for Christ Sign Team then brought the house down with an inspired and visual take on Byron Cage’s hit, “The Presence of the Lord Is Here.” The Lord took over after the song was finished, and the room was filled with nothing but worship. It was an awesome moment as people began dancing, leaping, and crying. After about 15 minutes, Sharron Kay King shared a couple of Christian country selections before Roland Baker took to the stage to wrap up a memorable Weekend of Worship. Erin Dickson, David Nicodemus and Ryan Barkley also performed on Saturday evening. Had I been writing and reviewing more and worshiping less, you’d have more details on the 2005 Weekend of Worship. It was truly a Weekend of Worship and to be there and not participate would have been a waste of time. So for the details on the 2006 Weekend of Worship, I’d suggest a trip to Elkhart, Indiana. One final note from an artist’s point of view, the staff at Life Tabernacle did a nice job making sure that everybody was comfortable with their sound. From those using soundtracks to the bands with IBC and Point of Grace FPF, they had a lot of monitors, different instruments plugged up and multiple styles - not to mention different numbers of singers/musicians/drama team members on stage at times. They juggled it all very well.
ninetyandnine.com © 2005, Jamin Tuttle --------- Jamin Tuttle is from Madison Indiana and is the Youth Pastor at Point of Grace Family Praise Fellowship. He has also decided that while WOW was fun, he never wants to drive five hours for church, sleep five more, then get up and drive five to go to church again. |
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