Berea Celebration, Part II
In Exodus, Miriam and other women took tambourines and
danced before the Lord. In 2nd
Samuel, David leaped and danced before the Lord. In Psalm 149 and 150 it talks about praising
the Lord with dancing.
I write this because some Christians are going to read my
blogs where I talk about the people of Berea dancing, or the youth jumping in
worship services. What they are doing is
quite biblical. You might not see it in
your church, but maybe your church is not as on fire for God as it should
be.
Berea is a church on fire.
Percy and Debbie became pastors of this church 20 years ago, a young
couple with a little baby girl. There
were only 25 members at the time and the church seemed doomed. Lots of prayer and lots of time devoted to
discipleship has transformed Berea into a church with around 400 members, a
dynamic youth group of several hundred, two full morning services, hundreds
participating in church services every night of the week, except Fridays, and
many young men becoming leaders of the future.
I mention about the young men, because most churches seem to be
dominated by women who take up the slack when the men aren’t there to do the
job. Berea seems to be overflowing with
young men with a passion for Christ.
I wrote an earlier blog about the yearly celebration. The combined morning service was packed to
overflowing. It wasn’t a preaching
service, rather a praise and worship service.
It was three hours long, but was not boring and dreary. I cried and I laughed. I was surprised when it was over that it
lasted as long as it did.
Well, the service wasn’t over. Everybody went home for a few hours and then
came back for part 2. When I arrived,
the parking lot was filled with tables and nicely dressed chairs. It looked like a catered affair, but
everything was organized by the church.
It seemed that almost everyone participated in either cooking, serving,
or entertaining.
The food was good, though the meat was difficult to cut with
plastic cutlery. There was a steak with
rice, yucca, and black-eyed peas. And
later a cake.
While we ate, we were entertained by dancing. My favorite was a group of girls and ladies
who danced to Hebrew music. In the
middle one young man blew the shofar. I
don’t know if they know that Rosh-Hashanah is a week away, but I could imagine
the trumpet being sounded to call us home.
I spent three hours talking with a missionary from La Paz,
and Pastor Percy and Debbie. The
fellowship was beautiful.
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians that everything should be
done in an orderly way in a worship service. The dancing here was well-done and
orderly. It was meant to enhance the
beauty of the music and lead the worshiper into a deeper appreciation of the
music. I left feeling refreshed. Tired from a busy weekend, but refreshed in
my walk with the Lord.
I invite you to try my first novel, The Spartan Sisters. I need several honest recommendations on Amazon.
Spartan Sisters
I invite you to try my first novel, The Spartan Sisters. I need several honest recommendations on Amazon.
Spartan Sisters
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