(This post was written by Michele Stephens, Worship and Creative Arts Director)

I’m writing this blog from a different vantage point.  Just last week I was in Thailand on a mission trip to provide a retreat for missionaries from another nation that is closed to the gospel.  Leading them in worship was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve had in a long time.

The first day there did not seem to be much participation in worship.  It seemed like they barely sang.  As the week went on, I began to see tears, lifted hands, enjoying being with friends, and some just absorbing the atmosphere of worship.  This may not sound like anything any different from a weekend worship service until you know the background of these missionaries.  They are missionaries in a place where it is illegal to worship openly.  When they meet, they meet in secret, and when they worship it is quietly so as not to be turned in.  They do not get the fellowship of being with friends in the faith often, yet I listened as they shared life experiences of the privilege of sharing the gospel and what God was doing in their ministry, whether great circumstances or ones of trial and tribulation.  As I was leading worship, the call God has put on my life to lead others to experience His presence, I was wrecked – humbled at the very freedom I have and take for granted.

What would you do:

• If our freedom was gone tomorrow to meet corporately and worship
• If you were not allowed to talk openly about your relationship with Jesus
• You could not sing in public about Jesus for fear of being put in jail or penalized in some manner

The kicker is they are perfectly content and happy where they are – no regrets.

Seize the day Church.  Worship like there’s no tomorrow.