Friday, January 30, 2009

Whole Hearted Worship in the Mall of God

It's now been 5 days since the Travis Cottrell live recording at FBCW and I am still feeling the residual effects.

I have decided this is not due purely physical stresses and strains, although there were many.

I am not sure my feet will ever forgive me for leaving them in high heeled boots for two days
while spending the majority of those 24 hours standing, walking or rockin to beat the band.
My toes have the strangest curves to them makes me wonder if they ever be flip flop worthy again?

No, the exhaustion is about more than just shoe stompin.

Nor is the fatigue due to the constant flow of adrenaline that was spent during the days leading up to the final recording on Sunday night.

It was the worship.

God just showed up all over the place.

I can truthfully say I have never been in a service at my church and not felt the Lord in a big way. At different times in varying degrees maybe, but always there.

It's the Mall of God for goodness sakes!
Let me explain.

Shortly after joining FBCW I was asked by an acquaintance where we went to church, to which I replied 'FBCW'

Her response was, 'Oh, you go to the Mall of God '
And simply at the Holy Spirits leading and because it is true I passionately replied,

'Yes, God is there all right, He's all over that place!'

The gal was left speechless had nothing more to say.

It was not until later I heard from others that some in the Atlanta area used the 'Mall of God' and other put downs trying to insinuate that God could not possibly inhabit a church of that size with a congregation so large.

Whatever does anyone think Heaven will be like?
Good time to sygway...

A smidge of heaven on earth is what this gal and the thousands that joined us experienced.

I am convinced it is the pure whole hearted full out worship that nearly slayed us all Sunday.

I will never sing or hear 'Victory in Jesus' the same way.

Folks, we will need those new resurrected super-bodies we are promised once we are in heaven.

The very presence of God would quite simply slay us otherwise as these tired old pieces of clay would be pulverized to dust at the thought of getting that close to Him.


Sunday - His being there, getting that close for just the briefest reflection of a glance at our Father totally wiped us out.

No wonder there were taping difficulties - too much power folks, way too much power!

I pray the concert translate with each and every CD and DVD and to God be all the glory!

As I was privileged to sing along with over 300 others for this, I have few performance photos to share, except those shared by my Siestas in the audience. The girls were in the audience and many have posted stories about all aspects of the weekend.

Check in with each of these girls, you may find you get a good dose of what this past weekend was about from each in a different way.

There is Nikki along with her best friend Tammy


Nesha and Melinda

Fran and Cheryl


Kim


Sherry, Sheryl and Melinda

Deborah

Mary, Robyn and Gayle

Jan and Melinda

Fran , Charlotte and Stephanie

Nikki, Stephanie and PattyJenny, Deedra, Brooke and Lisa

Lavonda and Angela
Angela, Stephanie and Kara






12 comments:

Patty said...

It was a wonderful weekend! I am with you about Victory in Jesus, I loved singing that new version of the song and praise God we got to do it twice!! Thank you for inviting us and for setting up the lunch, it was so good but I wanted to tell you that I was very impressed with the 3 women who go to your church that came into the lunch. I can't remember their names but one of them came to our table and was so sweet and asked us if we needed anything to let her know.
Rest your tired feet this weekend!
Love,
patty

ocean mommy said...

I am still floating. That arrangement of Victory in Jesus totally redeemed that hymn for me. :)

Can't thank you enough for what you did...it was incredible. ;)

hugs
steph.

NikkiPoppins said...

Hi dear!
I totally agree with Patty and Steph about Victory in Jesus...That's always been one of my favs and my Tammy is the pianist at the church I grew up in. Man! Can the girl tear that song up!! Its so weird for me to even hear someone else play it when we sing it at church. She is just awesome! I leaned over when we were so blessed to get to sing it again and asked if she thought we could get Fairview (church back home) to do it this way...she looked and said"Oh yeah! No prob". Fairview is a bit on the traditional side...and by bit I mean, living in the traditional capitol of the world. Small town, Southern Baptist church what do you expect? But I loved it and so did she.
Rest you little feet dear...you may need them one day! Lol!

Love you!
Come to Nashville sometime! I would love to have to you come to my church and here my choir! Return the favor you know!

Holly said...

I totally "get" what you mean about large churches. We are very near to New Life church here in CO. And this past week's interviews and such have brought about some unkind talk about this dear family of God (huge church), with a big heart for Jesus. I pray that the Holy Spirit will give them words, as He did you when people try to malign their church body.

So glad you had a wonderful weekend of worship! Wish I could have been there, too.

Love,
Holly

Three Fold Cord said...

SO MUCH FUN!! You were such a great, joyful person to meet and I loved how touched you were by the Spirit of God when you prayed over lunch. HE is good and I am looking forward to the friendships and things He has in store for the Siestas!!

GratefulinGA said...

Girls I promise you, this weekend will find me in more suitable footwear for gettin my praise on. I really will be sportin a pair of clogs, just not cloggin unless the Spirit moves me to LOL!!

Holly, Wish you could have been here too, maybe next time whether in the south or hey, even the Rockies :)

As for New Life, i just heard some of those interviews yesterday and have had such a heavy heart for that body of believers, said prayers for those taking the heat in the wake of that mess. God can bring them through that fire with not even a whiff of smoke smell on them and wait hoping to see the glory He can bring from ALL of it.



Praying for all you sweet girls.
Philippians 1:3

Unknown said...

Tammy,

Beautiful post. God showed up...in a HUGE way! Didn't He. He's so good to be present and give us everything we need to praise and worship Him. It's amazing that everything we give Him, He has given to us previously. It's a beautiful circle of God and His majesty, power, grace and mercy.

Thank You, LORD!

Sheryl

Deedra said...

Tammy, Inga, whatever your name is...haha! (I'm still cracking up at my thinking you were Tammy, then Inga..then confused!...funny!)That was such an incredibly powerful service Sunday night! I am so thankful that God used YOU to bring so many of us there that otherwise wouldn't have been a part of this night! I also enjoyed the morning service immensely! The praise band in the 11:00 service was incredible! I felt the spirit moving in that service in a great way too! Negative comments about your wonderful church could only be made by someone who had never experienced it with an open heart!

Thank you so so much for all of your hard work! I had such an amazing time! I hope we can do it again really soon, and in the meantime, I look so forward to getting to know all my new "siestas" better via their blogs!

Deedra

p.s...your comment on my blog cracked me up! I guess I was kind of quiet that day! Taking it all in, I guess!? Plus, my 9 month old was up half the night, I was a sleepy head! :)

Gran Jan said...

Tammy: It was the most wonderful weekend and FBCW is AWESOME! I am so blessed to have been there. We need to come back again and have another Southern Siesta gathering - of just pure fellowship. You.girls.are.amazing!

Love much,
Jan

Pat said...

Tammy,
This event looks like it was not only full of God moments but full of friend moments! I so hope that I get to do one of these blog-girlfriend get-togethers someday!
I am so glad that you were blessed!!
Pat

Melinda said...

Girl, are you still floating? I am! Thanks again for all you did to make this happen - counting the days until next time...


Big ol' hugs this day,
Melinda

L.L. Barkat said...

The Mall of God. That made me smile.