A Twin Dad's Ramblings

After we finished at the maximum security prison, and had a quick lunch, we headed over to the medium security prison to visit with the inmates there. We had to follow pretty much the same procedure of being searched and stamped as visitors as we did at the max security prison, except it was much more relaxed. There were no huge steel gates or holding rooms – we just had to get past a pat down and a small security desk and we were cleared to go.

As I entered the prison, I was paired up with an inmate who carried an umbrella for me to provide some shade from the sun and to lead me to the small chapel where we would share with the inmates. The chapel was much smaller than at the maximum security prison, but it was filled to capacity again, and had tons of guys standing around the outside of the building to see what was going on.

The band was scheduled to lead some worship music as we did in the max security prison, but we began to run short on time and our instruments did not arrive in time. Thankfully, there was a   and a guitar in the chapel, so Curtis hopped up, grabbed the guitar and tuned it up as best he could while I made my way to the drum kit. When I got to the drums, I found that the drum throne had been tied to the drum set so it wouldn’t “sprout legs”; however, it was tied at a distance for a Filipino player, not a taller (however, short by US standards) player. So I wiggled myself down behind the drums, picked up the sticks and Curtis and I played as best we could. Even at that, it was still pretty cool! With just 2 instruments leading, the place sang along with us and just had a great time worshipping the Lord.

Shortly after we stared, all the instruments arrived, and Curtis swapped out for his guitar, and Mark Peskir grabbed his Sax and got up there with us. The area was really too small for the whole band to join in, so we kept going as a  3 piece with Mark filling in some of the melodies and soloing a bit. I can’t really describe how the Lord could do so much with so little. It was literally half of the band, but the Holy Spirit was moving and the sound was full and everyone was enjoying praising Him!

After the worship set, Pastor Brett brought a message on Daniel and how he showed his faithfulness to the Lord, even in the face of being thrown into jail and threatened with death. Not everyone was an English speaker, so Pastor Neil served and Pastor Brett’s interpreter. I had a great time listening to both men speak and Pastor Neil mimicked each of Pastor Brett’s vocal inflections and hand motions. I still knew very little Tagalog, but just from the way Pastor Neil spoke, I almost understood exactly what he was saying.

Following our time at the chapel, we were treated to a tour of the prison and were shown the School of the Arts that is inside the prison walls. At the school, the students performed a musical number for us that had an interpretive movement that coordinated with the song. It was very impressive! The students wanted us to play a song, so the band trundled up to the instruments, and at Pastor Neil’s prodding, Pastor Sean came up to sing with us. We sang “I WIll Follow”, an awesome song written by Pastor Sean. Unfortunately, the rigorous schedule of concerts had taken it’s toll on Pastor Sean’s voice, so he had a hard time singing it like he normally does. However, it still sounded pretty good for an impromptu performance on borrowed equipment. I found the drum throne tied to the drum kit again, and was even closer this time, so I really struggled with being able to play the kick drum with my gigantic feet! I noticed when I got to the kit that the drumsticks they had were pretty beat up, so I left a set of my sticks on the kit as a gift to the students. The ones I left had been used, but they certainly were in better shape than what was there, so hopefully they could get a little more use out of them. Sticks are relatively cheap in the US, so it didn’t really cost me much to leave them behind – I can always order more.

Before leaving the prison, we stopped by the art gallery that hosted the student’s artwork. The were carvings, word burnings, paintings and all kinds of art there. These are some very talented students! I only wish we had been able to take our cameras in to be able to snap a few photos of these art pieces. They were incredible!

We were now ready to head across town to our final crusade. Our van ride to the venue was interesting to say the least. By this time, we were all getting very slap happy from exhaustion due to the rigorous schedule we were keeping. I’m also thinking that the constant fumes from all the cars on this ride helped contribute to the slap-happiness of the ride. Mark Peskir, JD, Curtis and Heather were all on the ride with me, and we died laughing the whole way to venue. This is also the van ride that originated the issuing of “dork stamps”. We were talking about something and Mark went into a very detailed explanation about Star Wars, or Star Trek, or something like that and in my silliness, I exclaimed that he “just earned a stamp on his dork card!” Which in doing so, the van erupted in laughter, and from that point on we began issuing each other “dork stamps” as just a silly thing to pass the time. We even went so far as to equate them to the Starbucks Gold Card program and came up with levels of the dork card – all the way up to “free drink status”. Yes, it was silly, but it made us all laugh and was all in good fun.

The venue for our final crusade was down a very narrow road, and Tatay Larry drove our van like a pro down the narrow winding road to get us to the venue. The venue was a small court area that had a very small elevated stage area. The entire stage was concrete – it was going to be loud, and we were all going to be crammed on top of each other – but we were all excited to play another worship concert. Pastor Sean’s voice was not up to doing the concert, so we all met before and went through the set list to figure out who could lead each song. Due to time constraints and other factors, we scrapped giving band testimonies and cut the set list a bit. After a time of shifting songs around and some serious prayer, we had a plan and were turning it over to the Lord.

Like several of the other crusades, we had an “opening band” that night that played a couple of songs before we started our worship set. Tonight’s band was a pretty awesome rap/metal band. They were very talented musicians and several of the members could rap really well in addition to sing. We later found out that they were all members of the local gang and drug dealers that had been saved and were now using their musical talents for the Lord. Such a great salvation story!

It was certainly an act of God when we got on stage that night. We were a man down and had divided up the singing responsibilities to those who could actually sing (yours truly excluded). However, with all that was stacked up against us, the first set went really well. Afterward, I was very happy that the first set went so well, so those that needed to hear the message could. The second set was another subject – it was, well….rougher. Musically, it was good, we all hit the right notes and riffs, but we weren’t 100% on the transitions, so it was really pieced together. Thankfully, we had saved a good chunk of high-energy songs for the second set, so even through rough transitions, we were at really high energy and volume, so it was able to be covered somewhat.

We had a good number of people come to know the Lord at the final crusade as we did at most of them, and it was so awesome and such a blessing to be part of it. But we still aren’t done – we’ve got a couple more stops to make!!

Today was a very eye opening day – we visited both a maximum security and medium security prison. So many things happened today, that I’m going to break it up into several posts to be sure to cover everything the Lord did today.

Our group was mostly men, but the women in our group were a bit apprehensive about going into the prisons. We all had visions of what we’ve seen maximum security prisons like in the United States – dark, dirty, filled with all kinds of ominous faces, guards armed to the teeth, random acts of violence breaking out everywhere, and the list could go on. Most of these things we did not even encounter.

Upon our arrival, we all had to be searched and any bags we were taking in had to be inspected. As part of the music crew, this was quite fun as we all had instruments to bring in. I was an honorary roadie carrying a guitar board along with my stick bag. The one time it was nice to be the drummer and have my instrument provided for me. Each instrument was carefully inspected and passed for us to take in. Then we had to have our photos taken, leaving our passports at the desk and head to pass our initial inspection. It was a pretty standard pat-down you would expect, still uncomfortable to have some guy I’ve never met before searching me for who knows what, but thankfully I passed and got my stamp of approval, literally. All the men had to be stamped as visitors so we could be identified separate from the inmates. Since it was an all-male prison, the ladies of the group got to pass on this tattooing.

Once past the first pat downs, we passed through a large steel gate and down a short hallway to yet another pat down area. We had to do the same thing all over again, get patted down by a large security guard then upon passing, we were given another stamp of approval and led down the hall to our final gate of entry. Just before entering the prison walls, there is a large fenced room that no more than 10 people are allowed in at any one time. 3 guards are in there at all times, so essentially only 7 visitors at a time. We entered this holding area and awaited for the door to the prison to open. While waiting, we noticed a poem on the wall that had been written by an unknown prisoner on his cell wall entitled “The Man in the Mirror” (or something similar) in which he described himself through his own eyes while in the prison. It was pretty moving to read just before entering the prison.

Then the door opened. What I saw was nothing like what I had imagined. I saw a park, vendor tents, large open spaces for walking, and prisoners just strolling by as if they liked being there. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I pictured Alcatraz when I thought maximum security prison, not Disney World. I was simply in shock of what I was seeing as we walked from the gate to the little chapel where the band was to setup to lead in worship.

Entering the chapel was eye opening as well. It was filled to capacity with men in orange shirts – all inmates – sitting in a hot, cramped room patiently waiting for us to arrive. The band was immediately ushered to the instrument area and we all began setting up. What I saw before me to play drums on was like anything I had ever seen before. It was definitely a drum set, but it was held together with so many layers of duck tape it was unbelievable. The snare head was more duck tape than drum head. The tom heads each had several layers of tissue on them to be used as ring muffles, the cymbals were cracked and missing pieces, and the “throne” was an old unused speaker cabinet. I thought to myself that this was going to be interesting at the very least.

While finishing our setup, one of the pastors welcomed our guests and explained who we all were, where we were from and what we had been doing in Muntinlupa City, and then we were ready to lead in worship. Pastor Sean had lost his singing voice from the 3 crusade concerts the nights before and was unable to sing with us, so Curtis and JD stepped up in his place and did a fantastic job. We all gave each other a look, unsure of what to expect as we had little to no sound check and no rehearsal time for a set list that required us playing without Pastor Sean, and clicked into the first song. We had sub-par amplification, sub-par drums and other equipment, no words up on a screen, but we had God! The next 30 minutes of worship was one of the best I’ve ever heard. These men, locked up for the rest of their lives, blew the roof off that little chapel singing their hearts out to the Lord. They had a joy on their faces that is indescribable. Even as bad as the equipment was, and how hot it was in that chapel (we were all drenched by the end of the set) we made a joyful noise, and it sounded as good as any other set we’d done that week. It was truly a work of God.

Following our worship set, the choir got up and sang. And by choir, I mean half the room. It filled the stage from side to side physically, and filled that room with sound when they sang. These guys were amazing, and if they sounded this good in a concrete building, I can only imagine what they may have sounded like in a properly designed concert hall. They covered all 4 parts of harmony, including soprano! It brought a tear to your eye to just listen to it. Absolutely incredible!!

We were also treated to something a little special at this service. Michael Lowry brought a message to the men. He had little to no warning he was going to do this. Pastor Brett was scheduled to speak, but he felt the Lord tell him that Michael needed to lead, and so he did. Listening to Michael speak was pretty awesome. He brought the message of the Gospel in a no-nonsense, conversational way and wove his testimony throughout the entire time. It was the first time I’d ever heard him speak and share the Gospel, and he certainly has the gift of evangelism – he was awesome.

Following our service in the chapel, we were able to meet with the director of corrections. He invited us into his office and we were able to speak with him and learn a little more about the prison, the prisoners, and what he was planning going forward. Pastor Sean was able to pray for him, the guards and the prisoners before we left and begin our trek back through the large steel doors into the outside world to gather for lunch.

Today started with a very early wake-up call. We went to Muntinlupa City Hall to meet with many of the local pastors from Muntinlupa City for an early morning prayer meeting. We all met in a large conference room in City Hall where Pastor Sean and Curtis lead us in a short acoustic worship set. The group I was in arrived a little late, so we came in after the worship set started. As we approached, we heard the worship songs coming from the conference room and echoing down the halls. As many other times during the week, I was amazed by the sweet sound of the Filipino people whole-heartedly worshiping our Lord. I was not surprised at all to enter to the room to see smiles on faces, hands lifted to heaven and each person singing from their heart.

Following our worship set, Pastor Neil spoke about the work that our team had been doing so far that week, and all that we still had planned to do. After he spoke, he asked each of us to get up and introduce ourselves to the group. This was probably the 3rd or 4th time we’d introduced ourselves to various groups, so we were getting pretty good at it after that many times. Following all our introductions, Pastor Ben spoke for a few minutes about the work the Lord is doing in the area and to encourage the pastors to continue the fight. Once Pastor Ben spoke, we prayed for the mayor and vice mayor of Muntinlupa City.

When we finished our prayer time, we went to the Mayor and Vice Mayor’s office to distribute Bibles to the office staff and pray with them and for them. It is still amazing to me that we can walk through a government building and hand out Bibles and pray publicly like we did in the schools. We would still never be able to do this in the US. We have people that want to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance, off our money, from our schools and remove the Ten Commandments from any building – and in Muntinlupa, we’ve gone into schools and government buildings and shared the gospel, distributed the Word and prayed publicly. Just crazy to think how “free” our country is, but yet we can’t as freely share Jesus at home like we can in Muntinlupa.

Halo-Halo

Following our prayer time and Bible distribution with the City Hall staff, we went to Chic-Boy for breakfast with all the pastors. At Chic-Boy, we were introduced to a Filipino specialty, Halo-Halo. According to Pastor Neil, Halo-Halo means “mix-mix”. Halo-Halo is a mixture of all kinds of different fruits and vegetables that is layered in a single dish. It arrives in nice layers, but you’re supposed mix it all up before you eat it. It is quite delicious, but unfortunately, I couldn’t finish all of mine due to eating so much already that morning. Our host family served us breakfast, then we had breakfast at Chic-Boy, so by the time the Halo-Halo arrived, I was just stuffed!

Due to all of our running around this week during the first few days of the Rally for Jesus, we were given the afternoon off to rest and recover a bit. Some of us made a trip to Festival Supermall to pick up a couple things to take home or to just kill some time and wander around and take in the sights. JD and I decided we’d wander around together and see what we could find for music stores. We found 4 or 5 music stores all of various sizes and qualities. The stores in the mall were much different from the “music superstores” we have here, such as Sam Ash or Guitar Center. We did find some of the same instruments we’re used to seeing at home, but also a fair number of others that we’d never seen. It was pretty fun to just go wander through all the different stores and look at the instruments and see the funny looks the store clerks gave us. Most were pretty cool and wanted to make sure we were taken care of. We did walk into one store that was blasting Slipknot on the radio and they could have cared less about us being there, which was cool too – it left us to look around and play with stuff.

One thing that blew me away about the mall was the four gun stores in the mall. JD and I found 3 of them, but the one we missed had an indoor shooting range. We have large outdoor shops that sell guns and ammo, such as Bass Pro Shops in our malls, but not dedicated gun stores. One store was pretty intimidating as we walked past 3 armed guards to get in the store – two had AR-15s and the other had a shotgun. It was pretty cool to be in the mall looking at drums and guitars in one store, then wander around another 10 minutes and find firearms!

Later in the evening after we finished up our shopping excursion and rest break, we all loaded up and headed off to the venue for the 3rd crusade. It took place at another covered court, that backed up to a large lake. The lake had a large growth of bamboo or algae or something floating on top of it, and the local kids would jump down and walk out onto it. They were all having a blast walking out there on it, but if they made one misstep they would slip down between the plants and get wet. It happened a couple of times, and all the other children burst into laughter when it did.

As we turned and looked the homes that surrounded the court and faced the lake, one of the pastors pointed to a water line mid-way up the second floor of the homes. He said that this area floods during the rainy season, and that line is how high the water gets. The water would completely cover the first floor of the homes, and most of the second. He went on to tell us that when this happens, the families just leave. He had no idea where they go, but they just leave and go somewhere else.

Once the sun went down there was a cool breeze coming off the lake as we started the crusade’s worship set and it was quite comfortable. We were all treated to the JLOHV worship band leading us in several songs in Tagalog. We all had no idea what the words meant, but they are a great worship band and great leaders. They had impressed JD and me when we had jammed with them for a while earlier in the week, and they certainly didn’t disappoint as worship leaders either.

After the JLOHV band wrapped up their set, the West Cabarrus band began our worship set. The crowd was fairly small as we started, but it slowly grew as we kept playing. After the first few songs, it was time for me to give my testimony. I felt a large number of blank stares as I spoke – I’m sure it was mostly my perception as the crowd was much closer than the night before. So I’m not sure how much of what I said was understood, but I’m sure the Lord took care of that in my weakness. We continued playing the set following my testimony and something just felt off to me. I’m pretty sure it was Satan trying to weasel his way in and shake me to interfere with the work we were trying to do. We had another break in the set where Curtis gave his testimony and I took that time to say a quick prayer and ask for strength to ignore whatever was going on with me and let the Lord shine through me and my playing so that the lost souls in the crowd would hear the message they needed to hear. Amazing how quickly God answers prayer – once we started back up, I felt completely different and took my head out of the equation and played from my heart and just had fun playing with the amazing group of musicians from West Cabarrus Church.

After our first set, my host pastor, Pastor Loreto Colcol, brought the message to the crowd that had gathered. He was on fire much like Pastor Ben was the night before. Again, I had no idea what he was saying as it was all in Tagalog, but he was certainly amped up about it! Following his message, a good number of people came forward to either accept Christ, or to get more information about following Jesus. It still blew my mind to see so many people come forward. As a “veteran” worship leader – I’ve been playing in worship bands for almost 15 years – I’ve never seen people flock to the front during an alter call like they have the last few days. It’s amazing the work the Lord can do when His people follow His calling and do His work.

Our second worship set was pretty rockin’, and following the message, they seemed to be a little more fired up, as was the band. We all just let loose and had fun worshiping our Lord and leading the crowd in worship. It’s such a blessing to be part of such a great group of guys and to be part of something so awesome. It definitely changed my mindset when leading in worship to focus on worship rather than the mechanics of playing. In my case, I just have to turn my hands and feet over to Him and let Him guide them around then drum kit, and take me out of the equation. It’s a lot more fun when I remember to do that!

Overall, it was another good day with a lot of good works done through all the team members, both from West Cabarrus Church and all of the local volunteers!

During the activities today, I was moved way outside of my comfort zone. I was part of the group that went to Southville Village High School to go from classroom to classroom to share the gospel. It was pretty cool to go in to the school and speak with the Principal and introduce ourselves and what we our team was doing in Muntinlupa. She gave us permission to go to each classroom and if it was okay with the teacher, we could take 10 to 15 minutes to speak with the class.

Under normal circumstances, I don’t mind public speaking, and in most cases, I enjoy it. The difference in the past has been most of my public speaking has been giving a speech or something else that I was able to draft, revise, practice and make any other revisions necessary. For some reason, sharing the gospel seemed different to me. Something so personal and important in my life was difficult to share effectively for me. I shared with Michael Lowry before we went to the school that it was definitely something that would have to be done by the Lord, not me. I said that it seemed to come easy to him and it amazed me how easily he could share with complete strangers. He definitely has the gift of evangelism. He gave me a few pointers on things to remember when sharing, and to be sure to pray, pray, pray before opening my mouth. Those few tips helped me tremendously – I was still nervous though.

Walking into the first classroom was completely intense. There was a definitely language barrier, and I had to force myself to speak slowly and clearly, as well as convey the message in terms they would understand. There were other things to get over as well – it wasn’t just the nerves, or not knowing what to say – it was hard for me to get over the snickering and laughing from some of the students as I shared why I was there to speak with them. I tried in each classroom to tell a little bit about myself – how far the flight was, a little about my wife and kids, a brief testimony – then went into a gospel presentation.

The only thing I can say is that I got more comfortable with each classroom I went into. It was definitely eye-opening to me that something so personal as my relationship with Jesus was so difficult to explain to someone else. I should be so happy and bursting at the seams to share it, that it should just roll off the tongue. I have no issue playing drums in front of hundreds of people, but speaking in front of a group of high school students was an entirely different story. I was way out of my comfort zone there.

In the afternoon, we went back to the high school with the group that went to the elementary school in the morning. We paired up and went back to some of the classrooms we missed in the morning.  I teamed up with Heather and as we went to each classroom, I shared my testimony in each class and then Heather shared the gospel message with the class. She presented John 3:16, which a lot of the kids already knew, and then led them in a prayer of salvation after sharing a little bit more about God’s love for us. During my portion, I shared my testimony and it was great practice for what I was going to share during the crusade services. I was a bit nervous about sharing at each crusade, but the school presentation really helped me hone what I was going to share that evening.

Once we finished up at the schools the entire team was sharing our experiences, and we were all amazed with how open the school was. We would have never been able to go into a school in the US and share the gospel message; however, in Muntinlupa, we just had to have permission from the principal and the teacher, and we could share what we wanted to. It was such an awesome experience to be able to freely share like that.

That evening, we had our second crusade meeting. It was hands down one of the most awesome (and loudest) experiences I’ve ever had leading in worship. The stage we were setup on was completely surrounded by concrete, and we had a ton of amps and monitors on stage and it just made it all super loud. But with all the volume, it was an amazing worship set. I could completely feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in that place all night. The worship band played so well together that night, and I think we all got fired up by the reaction we got from the people in attendance. I’m not sure how many were believers and how many were hearing these songs for the first time, but they went insane. I looked out and saw smiles, hands raised, clapping, jumping up and down and even dancing. That was probably the first time I’ve ever played any type of music and saw that kind of reaction. I’ve even played in some other bands in other venues and never got reactions like that. It was awesome – the more fired up they got, the more I got fired up. I completely let go that night and let the Holy Spirit lead, I played some fills, grooves and other things that night that I’ve never pulled off before. Several other members of the band even commented on it later, and all I could say is that it had to be the Lord.

Pastor Ben worshipping during one of the worship sets

Pastor Ben brought the message that evening. He was on fire! The spirit of the Lord completely filled him, and you could see his love for Christ and for the lost people of Muntinlupa. He spoke a lot in Tagalog and I know about 10 or 15 words, but it didn’t matter, you could tell what he was saying and could see the love pour out of him as he spoke. It was amazing to watch. After he brought the message, lots of folks came forward to make decisions for Christ.

Once we finished the invitation, the band played a second worship set. It was just as awesome as the first. One of the funniest things that happened during this set was JD shared his testimony. He got the words “Hi, my name is JD” out of his mouth and the crowd went crazy! He had to wait for them to calm down before he could continue. Then he played 10,000 Reasons with his dad, Mark. The rest of the band came in at JD’s request after a couple of choruses and rocked it out. We played a little beefier version than we normally do and it was amazing. I could look around from my perch and saw all the band members completely lost in worshipping our Lord during that song.

I was so proud to be part of the team from West Cabarrus Church that evening – not just part of the band, but part of the church. It’s rare to have churches so focused on sending teams out into the world to minister. We bring so much to the places we go, but we bring so much home as well. Some of the things I saw on this day alone have permanently changed me and my outlook on things. It has made me want to be a better Christian, a better husband, a better father, a better worship leader and musician.

Rockin' out with the WCC Band

Sharing my testimony

The band lead worship for Pastor Neil’s church this morning. The church meets at a local restaurant (the same place we had the dinner last night). We weren’t real sure what to expect as Pastor Neil told us that some of the equipment wasn’t going to be the same that we were using for the concerts, nor was it probably what we were used to using at home. In any case, it didn’t really matter, but more on that in a moment.

We went through our rehearsal and got the set list set and we were sounding pretty good and excited to lead in worship! The total attendance this morning was maybe 40 people – however, to hear them sing, you would have thought it was 500! They sing their hearts out!! They sang loud enough for me to hear over the volume of the drums! Granted, I was not quite up to “animal level” due to the small venue, but still, they sang louder than the drums, with huge smiles on their faces. Sometimes we’re lucky to get hands clapping at these songs – but we got clapping, singing and in some cases even dancing! It was awesome!!

Following Pastor Ben bringing the message, there were 6 to 7 people who came forward. Some were re-dedications and others were new Christians. That number of people from such a small gathering was pretty cool to see! Following the church service, we had a traditional Filipino breakfast that consisted of sausage, rice and fruit. It was delicious!

The band headed back to Pastor Neil’s house in the afternoon to work on preparing our setlist for the concert in the evening. We got a pretty good list together and were all looking forward to jamming in the evening. We headed over to the City Hall area to look at the setup around 4 pm, and we were surprised at the how awesome the stage and equipment setup was! It was very professionally done, and the sound guys were awesome! We ran through a good chunk of the set for sound check and when we were doing so several people stopped on the street to listen, which was pretty cool – I only wish we had some of our other team members with us to be able to chat with those that stopped.

The concert started a little late due to various reasons, but it was a great turnout. Most of the attendees tonight were  members of the local churches and they knew most of the songs we did. As I looked out during the set each of them was singing and smiling, and in some cases dancing! It was so cool to watch as they all worshipped along with us. Following the first set, Pastor Neil brought the message. Unfortunately we were all still fighting the jet lag pretty hard, so we were all doing the jello-neck-head-bob at some point. A term we have affectionately dubbed “the Peskir”.

During the invitation, many people came forward to rededicate their lives to Christ. I’m not sure how many were new salvations, but we had a large number of folks come forward. All with hands lifted, and a couple of cases, lying on the ground prostrate before our Lord, or so overcome with emotion, they fell to the ground crying. It was a very moving moment.

Following the invitation, we played a second set that culminated with being called out for a couple of “encores”. We would finish up a song and as we tried to wind it down, chants of “one more song! one more song!” echoed from the crowd. To cap off the night, we mustered the energy to pull off “Rise and Sing” – a very high energy song – that we had not practiced in sound check! It came off great! It was probably the best we had ever done that song since we introduced it at West Cabarrus. It was so much fun! There is a section that is supposed to be “busy drums” as Pastor Sean calls it, but we opted out of that and we kept the pedal to the floor with a driving punk/metal beat that kept the energy up, but also helped keep the band together. It was so much fun playing with this group of guys!!

After the concert, we had a little bit of “stardom” that I had not expected. Many people wanted to have their pictures taken with us – as a group, as individuals, anyway that we would stand still long enough for a photo. It was completely unexpected. Everyone loved JD – it was pretty funny to watch as everyone crowded around him for photos. Overall, it was a good start to the missions work of the week and really helped get us all pumped up to keep going the rest of the week.

Spent a good chunk of today planning for the rest of the week. It took us almost 2 hours to go over the schedule for the week. It was amazing to watch Pastor Neil quote the schedule from memory. We had several items that were marked as questionable, but even so we went over them so we were aware of them if we ended up doing them. We found out today that the band will be leading worship at Pastor Neil’s church in the morning, and the children’s team members will be going to their host family’s church in the morning.

In the evening, we had a kick-off dinner where the local pastors and volunteers came together to fellowship prior to the week long series of events. We all felt very welcomed by all the pastors and volunteers. Pastor Neil asked each of us to get up in front of the group and share a little bit about ourselves and what our role was on the team. I was doing well with speaking in front of the group until I began to speak about Lilly, Emma and Rebekah. It hit me during that time that I had been away from them for 3 days. I miss all of them terribly and can’t wait to see them all again.

JD and I are staying with Pastor Loreto’s family and he’s the senior pastor at Jesus Lord of the Harvest and Victory (JLOHV) Church. His son, Mark, and daughter, Faye, are part of the worship band and they were having band rehearsal tonight. Pastor Loreto wanted JD and I to drop by rehearsal to listen in and visit with the band. The band is great – they are all very talented musicians! We enjoyed listening to their practice, and then they asked us to join in with them! We had a blast! It took us a little bit to find some songs we all knew – but once we did, we had so much fun jamming together. We closed out the jam session with JD teaching the band how to play “Happy Day”. They picked it up really quickly and we rocked it out. It was a great way to end the day.

Following the impromptu jam session, we headed back to Pastor Loreto’s house to turn in for the night. We were all struggling with jet lag and were in need of a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow is a big day – we have our first crusade/concert! I’m so pumped to rock out for Jesus!

Pastor Sean leading worship at Pastor's dinner

As many of my friends and family know, I recently returned from Muntinlupa City, Philippines from a missions trip with West Cabarrus Church, where I was part of one of the coolest events I’ve ever been a part of. During my trip, I journaled what was going on in Muntinlupa, as well as how the Lord was dealing with me in my life. I thought these journal entries might make good blog posts, and for the most part, they will be unedited from my journal. In some cases, I didn’t get all the details I would have liked to in the journal and I’ll be adding those as I write the blog posts. So, without further ado – here is Day 1!

Day 1 – January 26, 2012
Today was pretty uneventful – LOTS of flying. However, we did run into many other Christians on our travels that easily identified us by our T-Shirts. We got lots of well wishes for our travels and to spread the gospel message.

By far the hardest part of the trip so far was leaving my family behind. I have always been a caring, loving person and love my wife to death – being away from her before was difficult, but never to the point of bringing me to tears. Becoming a father has seemed to change all that – I had to fightback the tears as I said goodbye to Rebekah and the girls. The weight of what I’m embarking on hit me as I said goodbye. Daddy, the leader and protector of the family, was leaving the country for 10 days. Lilly and Emma are too small to know what’s going on thankfully. They probably have some vague notion that Daddy is gone – but it won’t hit them until I return and they realize I am home.

The span of this trip is the longest time that Rebekah and I have been apart. My best friend on the planet is 24+ hours away for the next 10 days. I am thankful she agreed that this trip was something I needed to do. I felt God’s calling to be on this one. He has a plan to use me this week and to show me His love. I am praying that God will protect my family while I am away and that He will calm my nerves about being away from them for so long.

I am excited to hit the ground and get started. I am excited to be part of this group from West Cabarrus Church and so proud of the group we have going. I look around and see faces on this team of people I have known for years, and several I’ve known for only several hours since we left for the airport. Somehow I know that the Lord will use this team for His glory. While we are 2 distinct teams, children’s team and worship band, we’re working for a common cause and will do His work.

When I stop to think about this it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. We get to lead thousands of people in worship to our God in the Philippines. How many people can say that?! Our band will take the stage and lead the Filipino people in worship, not a concert, worship to our Lord and Savior. It is so cool to be part of this band – we are all very talented, given the gift of music (or noise for us drummers) by God, and we get to use these gifts to lead others. I can’t wait to see Him move in these services. I have to admit, it’s going to be pretty cool to say that I got to go to another country, half way around the world, and play drums. It’s going to be such a cool experience – I can’t wait to get started!!

Day 2 – January 27, 2012
Due to travel across the international date line, Jan 27 has essentially disappeared, as I’m still flying to Nagoya, then on to Manila. However, I’ve now seen Siberia – it’s a bunch of ice and mountains. Seeing it from 30,000 feet is pretty cool and beautiful actually. It looked cold and desolate. Ice started forming on the plane window – I was glad to observe from 30,000 ft and remain warm and cozy in the pressurized flying tin can.

This is what we looked like BEFORE the 13 hour flight!