Sunday August 30, 2015
Every month that has five Sundays means that the children here at our church are featured on the fifth Sunday. August 30th was such a Sunday. BUT, sadly, no songs or presentations were prepared for the Sunday morning service. As leader of the children’s department, I was responsible for the morning message. I spoke a bit on a passage from Luke where folks addressed Jesus as “Good Master”. We talked about one of my favorite subjects, the goodness of God. Then we looked at images from Old Testament stories. It’s something we do with the kids almost every Sunday. We want them to know the Bible stories. AND, by the way, those images were purchased by ASAPH Teaching Ministry! Thanks to you, our sponsors for providing us with equipment to teach God’s word. Immediately after church, a motorcycle taxi driver whisked me to Labaleine, a community in the mountains where a church was celebrating it’s anniversary. Already that morning, six ASAPH brass players had presented a pair of songs in the program that began at 9:00 and lasted past 2:00. (Wow! Imagine an American congregation sitting for a six hour program!) I was unable to be with them due to my obligations at the local church, but I was proud that they were able to respond to the invitation on their own. It relates to one the reasons I chose the name ASAPH for this ministry. In the book of Ezra, years after Asaph was in the grave, the author mentions the ‘children of Asaph’. Bible scholars think it is a reference to his ‘students’, his music students, who continued to minister after his death. That’s my goal with this ministry as well, to have folks who continue on without me. Sunday morning was a first opportunity for that to happen. Three trumpeters, two trombonists, and the tuba player made the trip…on their own. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.
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ASAPH Teaching Ministry has a sound system (mixing board, amp, speakers…). A music ministry needs a sound system. We bought one piece by piece over the last years. BUT, I didn’t really know the details of how it works. Advice from friends and family had it working, at least.
THEN, an organization here in town announced a seminar. It was a seminar on ‘how to use a sound system’. A gentleman from Germany (an expert) was coming to teach the seminar. I agreed to have the first two days of the seminar here at the ASAPH Teaching Ministry, as it fit in so well with my ministry. I also agreed to translated for the German teacher for two days (he speaks English). At the end of the first day, we were already using the mixer. The students picked things up quickly, and many many of my own questions were answered during the first two days. God works like that. Who would have thought that a man from Germany would come to Passe-bois-d’ormes to help ASAPH Teaching Ministry better use a tool that was already in place?!?! God. P.S. - In the days after the seminar, I was too busy to set up my sound system for a rehearsal. In the past, I would have just skipped using it. This time I just asked one of the seminar students to set it all up for me, knowing he knew how to do it carefully and correctly. Nice. |
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