2014 Tour Blog Week 4 & 5

2014 Tour Blog Week 4 & 5

This week started with the drive from Wisconsin to Michigan, which meant we had to drive through Chicago and cop about 8 tolls. Considering we’re not local, we don’t have a toll pass and had to stop to pay cash at every one. What a good opportunity to get rid of some pennies!! The toll operators absolutely love it when we hand them a fist full of 1-cent coins to count. After one happy tollbooth operator sent us on our way, I was pulled over by some state police officers for some questioning about who we were and what was in our trailer. After discovering were Christians from down under, they asked if we knew Hillsong and we were on our merry way.

It was so great to be with Pastor Mike and Jill Schoeplein at Road To Life Church in St Joseph, MI again. Our first stop was Thirsty Thursdays at the Com-House for their young adults meeting. The worship was so inspiring with not one idle tongue in the room. Micah Schoeplein smashed it out on the bongo and shared an inspiring word. After a fun day off we had a Saturday training day, which Lish Schoeplein had put together, inviting people from all around the region. It was very impacting with people already getting excited for one next year! Saturday night and Sunday morning services were a blast with Arianna joining us for Wake, absolutely nailing it with her powerhouse voice. Sunday afternoon we packed up and drove a few miles down the road to Lakeside Family Church for a worship encounter. It was our first visit there and the place was packed out.

After a packed weekend we got up early on Monday morning to drive back to Columbus and set up for a training night at Faithlife Church. Every time we come back we are so blessed to hear how senior pastors Ps Gary and Drenda Keesee are taking the church to new heights. We had such a great time with the team and 30 minutes before the Wednesday night Worship Encounter we decided that we would do a live recording of Worship Encounter 3. The pressure was on as we changed up the flow of the night and ran around to make sure everything was set right. Luckily we had already planned to multi-track with our Digico SD11 and there was a video team rostered on for the night. Right from the start the people at Faithlife church we so passionate about praising and worshipping God. The night finished with a bang when Haley Sunderman, the youth worship director, joined us to sing Wake. After packing up the next day we were blessed to spend some quality time with our good friends Eric & Lisa Traylor. They are always so encouraging to stay with and we enjoyed an inspiring game of Cashflow, a life changing board game developed by Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad Poor Dad) to teach life and financial principles

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Friday night we were up in Cleveland for a joint worship night with His Name High. The band had previously toured with IMG_4792PsIMG_4792Andrew so it was a great night of catching up and enjoying great worship. A highlight of the night was when we had both Sam and Tylor on the drums absolutely going for it! There was such a sense of unity between the 2 bands and it was such an honour to be able to minister along side with the boys from His Name High.

A 4 am start put us in Portage, IN at Citypoint Church for a regional worship training seminar on the Saturday. Ps Mike Hendon and the teams represented were so engaged and inspired with the ministry Andrew brought. After various topics and workshops throughout the seminar, the Worship Encounter that evening solidified everything we had taught with the addition of healings and salvations that night. We ministered throughout the 2 Sunday morning services and saw 7 young women from the local prison saved. Having the night off, we took an adventurous trip and explored downtown Chicago.

After packing up on Monday morning, it was onwards to Kansas. We stopped half way and spent the night in St. Louis before finishing the drive to Augusta KS. We arrived to set up at Life Church with Ps Paul & Laurie Andrews. Their team we so accommodating and had such a heart to see the next generation of worshippers succeed. It was so fun showing some new and exciting sounds available with MainStage 3 and I’m looking forward to seeing how the team develops as they incorporate it into their sound over the next 12 months. The Wednesday night worship encounter was packed out with people coming from all over the place for an explosion of faith filled worship and 10 young people being saved.

This past 2 weeks of the tour puts us to half way. It is absolutely mind blowing looking back to see all the amazing things God has done in the lives of the people throughout this nation. Looking forward to seeing what God can do over the next 5 weeks.

Chris

13/Nov/2014