Sunday, April 19, 2009

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!

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4 comments:

Steve said...

Dear Sis in law...

I don't want to come across as self indulgant,but this seemed like an appropriate time to write out the words to my song I played for you when you and Joe were staying with us during grandma's last days. I don't even know if you remember it, but the significance lies in the fact that the lyrics came to me the night after Joey passed, and poured out in less than 10 minutes. I strongly believe that he had something to do with it,as the music had been written for weeks, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to say. Thanks, Joey, for the help!

"Illuminate me"
Words and music by:
Steve and Joseph Johnson

Be a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path.
Lord, illuminate me!
Like the sun that shines above,
or a heart filled with new love.
Lord, illuminate me!

And every time I feel I'm
gettin' dim...
I only have to lift my hands
to him...
He'll fill my lamp,
and light the flame again...

Lord, Illuminate me!
Illuminate me!

Like the moon that rules the night,
or the stars that shine so bright,
Lord, Illuminate me!
Like the lightning in the sky,
as the thunder rumbles high,
Lord, Illuminate me!

And when the prince of darkness
walks about...
and tries his best to put my
candle out...
I'll stand upon your promises
and shout...

Lord, Illuminate me!
Illuminate me!

For where once my heart
was full of darkness,
now it's full of light
from you, dear Lord!

When you call me from this place,
in the glow of your embrace,
Lord, Illuminate me!
so that I can shine love down,
and show them all what I have found
Lord, Illuminate me!

Illuminate me!
Illuminate me!!
Illuminate me!!!

Anonymous said...

Karen:
Shout to the Lord is one of my favorite songs! It is so awesome that you got to see Darlene in person. The worship must have been awesome. We miss you here on Maui, but we are glad you are plugging into a church there.
Love you,
Marina

Jeri said...

Sounds like an amazing worship experience. Thanks for sharing with us.

Love & miss you,
Jeri

Liza on Maui said...

Steve,

Those words are beautiful. Yes, we can depend on the Lord to illuminate us in this dark world we live in. Thank you for sharing this song here on the Johnsons blog :)