Hillsong Shouts to the Lord

This is Darlene Zschech. She is the little woman in a blue dress on the stage, and the powerful worship leader on the center of the screen over her head. She is the worship leader for Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia and she has written some of the absolutely most inspiring worship music ever. "Shout to the Lord", "Hosanna", and "The Potter's Hand" are just three of my favorites. She is a world class worship leader and sings to stadium-sized audiences throughout the world every week. So, you can imagine my delight that she was here at Wave Church in Virginia Beach last night! It was glorious!

This shows you the size of the crowd and how far back we were sitting-- but with the jumbo screens, it really didn't matter. The kids eventually went down to the front of the stage so they could jump with the rest of the true worshippers! We are really liking attending Wave Church on Sundays. Though it is the largest church we have ever attended, there is a lot of energy and excitement about God there. It always lifts us up and inspires hope.

This is the Wave's Aussie pastor, Steve Kelly, and he's preaching for all he's worth. I am the shy reserved type, but he's not. Here he's asking people to raise their hands if they want to know Jesus and a minute later he asks them to come down the aisles and stand in front of the stage. At least 200 people went forward and prayed to receive Christ. That was wonderful!

I love the heart with wings behind the drum booth. It looks like my "Joey" tattoo on my arm. Jesus helps my heart to soar on wings, too.

Here we are in full-concert mode with the lights and the crowd in silhouette. It reminds me of a scene from a movie and I've dubbed it "Close Encounters of the Spiritual Kind". We all had a close encounter with the Spirit last night, reminding us again that our God is an awesome, powerful, loving Father, who is worthy of our trust and our praise.

Here are some of Darlene's lyrics, the chorus from "Shout to the Lord":

Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing,

Power and majesty, praise to the King,

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of Thy Name.

I sing for joy at the works of Thy hand.

Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand.

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

Ps 66:1,2 Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious!