Stream Franklin

Lynn and I were at the Pepperdine Lectures in 1992 when a friend told us we needed to go to the late night devo service at Smother’s Theater. Between jet lag and listening to sermons (very good sermons) all day, we were tired and were planning on skipping the late night session altogether. But we went… and it was literally life-changing. This “contemporary worship experience” (which takes a lot longer to say than “devo”) was led by Ken Young and Hallal. I had never heard of the Hallal praise team… or of a praise team period. They began leading worship and I began to go through all the reasons why “this just wasn’t right.” Mainly what wasn't right was that it was so different from what I was used to doing. But by the end of the night my heart was softened and then broken. I would come to see worship totally different. I did a lot of study on worship and I read a lot of books on worship, but that night with Hallal really did change what I felt about worship.

Lynn and I just got home from Nashville after attending (along with Betty and Randy Tanner) “Stream Franklin,” a worship weekend led by Ken and Hallal and hosted by the Fourth Avenue church in Franklin. Mike Cope was the speaker, and he did a great job pointing us to the joy of the Lord and the responsibility that this joy brings us. Bruce Marciano, the actor who played Jesus in the Matthew video, was the special guest and he did a great job enthusiastically pointing us to the person of Jesus Christ. There were a lot of things going on during the weekend, but to be in a packed building lifting our voices in praise to God surrounded by many others who had also traveled long distances to be there—it was a precious time.

There were several highlights of the weekend, and I’m sure that I’ll write about several. Every time I go to one of these, there is usually one new song that captures my heart and that I can’t wait for us to learn here at Denbigh. This time the new song wasn’t really new, but a powerful cappella adaptation of Aaron’s Shust’s hit “My Savior, My God.” I don’t know why some songs impact people so much more than others, but this one grabbed my heart. You can listen to Aaron’s Shust’s version on You Tube. I understand that soon you will be able to preview and download Hallal mp3’s from their site at Hallal Music; right now you can order the CD there. Or just come to church in a week or two and we’ll be doing that song in church. Keri?