A Month in the Life

This past weekend our church played host to the annual youth conference called Fusion. Approximately 1,000 12- to 18-year-olds gathered to hear music and preaching. Speakers included Tim Rutledge from Alexandria, La., and Paul Pamer from Barberton, Ohio. The music was lead by our music directors, Derek Arms and J.P. Bellamy. The overnight conference included fellowship and games until 1 a.m. at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando after the Friday night service, the same place the NBA team, the Orlando Magic, practices.

Jeff, my husband, did the crowd warm-ups before the services ... he's a ham. Friday night he and his brother, Gordy Davis, brought up some teens and their youth pastors for an embarrassing game of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" Saturday he had teams "mummify" a team member, then had the mummies try to whistle with three saltines in their mouths. The winners won a copy of our church's youth band's new CD, for which I helped design the CD artwork.

The highlight of the weekend was a live painting of Jesus from 17-year-old Eleanor Hawthorne from our church. Eleanor painted a huge canvas and worshiped during an extended jam session from the Fusion band. Eleanor and her youth group fasted and prayed for days leading up to the performance. It was a truly moving and worshipful act -- something so different.
The Fusion band was made up of some "all-star" musicians who flew in from around the country just for the conference including Jason Biggs from Dallas, John Hensley from Memphis, and Nate Sexton from Delaware. One of the keyboardists was St. Louis' James Simms, who has two CDs on his own (this one's reviewed on ninetyandnine) and he's written for ninetyandnine as well. If you'll notice in the picture, he's playing a keyboard that was placed inside an old upright that they spraypainted bright blue. So cool! There were so many unique touches and details that made the weekend so special by all those who helped plan and put it together.

The stage background included a huge 8x24-foot backdrop of the word "Fusion" all in lights - 1,476 light bulbs in all, built by Peter Johnson from our church and about four other guys. It made such a visual statement.

I was proud of our church and thrilled that our youth and others from around the state and country (we even had some international visitors) could enjoy fellowship and worship in such a great atmosphere. It proved that we don't have to settle for second best in anything we do.

My husband Jeff takes photos for the church, so I've posted a few of them here. If you'd like to see the rest, visit the slideshow I put together on our church's website.

Anyone reading this who was there or has been there in the past? What did you think? How was your experience? Post your comments below!




















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