scott underwood - take my life
scott underwood – take my life

In His Presence conference – Day Two – Last Full Day. For the second day I seem to have a bit of a nervous tummy. I think I’ve got a handle on the breaks and eating patterns, etc., but there’s a definite anxious anticipation.

Last night was so great. The worship leader, Scott Underwood, had really prepped us to not limit ourselves to “the words on the screen” and to venture out and praise God as He spontanous led. I don’t think I’d mention this before but in the morning session there was almost one whole hour of just spontaneous worship. It was so incredible. The time went by without notice. More later….

Much later… so, we’d spent two days learning how to “be still” in our worship and let the Lord use our voices to praise him in a spontaneous fashion and not be tied to the words on the screen. But then for the final worship session of the conference Jeremy Riddle came on with everything cranked up so loud that … well, I couldn’t hear myself enough to be a part of what felt like a rock show. Believe me, I love my music cranked up and have had to be really careful with the volume of my guitar, etc., but this went way past that and I pretty much spent the whole time battling with a sense of betrayal.

Now the church was simultaneously hosting a youth conference, so this session was very much geared for them and not just for those of us who had come to the adult IHP conference. Thus the music was all about energy and volume and all that. I felt like an old fart. The kids were dancing and singing and having a great time, which is great, but it wasn’t at all aligned to what we’d been learning as far as having the whole body worship God and not just the worship band (or the noisy kids). Oh well. I shared this with my worship team partner and he said that he had a similar experience at a previous conference when the closing worship session included a fog-machine and all that. I guess no one complained. Onward and upward. It was still a worthwhile conference, but just ended on a note that didn’t fit what had come before. Funny thing is that I’ve been going to Sunday evening sessions, usually hosted by Riddle, and he’s usually all “atmospheric” with long open spaces for worship and praise. I guess I’ll know what to anticipate next time. JBB