The Story, From the Inside

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God.

 

Our Christmas service at AC3 this year will feature 'The Story', an awesome, modernized musical rendition of the Christmas story. In true AC3 fashion it's imaginative, creative and filled with talented people expressing their love of Jesus through song and theatrics.

Our ironic God

 

For years, I've known that God gave me a voice for singing but I never knew what I was supposed to do with it, and frankly, I shied away from it as I have ZERO technical training and was afraid to get on stage and sing. Well, with some pushing from my immediate family and my church family (you know who you are!), I decided I would put myself out there and see what happens.

The audition was a few months back, I received good reviews and was told that they would let me know when there was a spot for me. A few opportunities arose but there were other family events on the weekends preventing me from singing on stage. When I received that fateful email asking everyone their availability for the month, I looked at the family calendar and realized that the only week in December that was available was the week of Christmas.

This is the way God works in my life, he finds my worldly shortcomings, like this one of being timid about getting on stage, standing behind a microphone and singing and gives me no choice but to put my faith in Him and push strait through my limiting beliefs.

So here we go, a child of the one true God, not singing harmony in the background of a worship service for our church (like I would have chosen), but thrown right in to sing a lead vocal in the musical climax of our CHRISTMAS MUSICAL PROGRAM!!

Thank you Jesus and thank you AC3!

 

With 3 rehearsals in the books, I feel incredible, like I'm doing exactly what God had intended for me to do, much like loving my family, completely changing my career path and starting this blog have felt since AC3 led me to the truth about our Savior. There's no possible way that I could feel like this without the amazing production team at AC3. It's unimaginable to have a more patient, talented, loving and passionate group of people than these.

The first 3 days, there's been a lot of "hand holding" so to speak, there's no doubt I need it as this is all new to me. On day one, I couldn't find my cues, I was running in the wrong direction half of the time and felt lost yet EVERYONE stayed calm and coached me to where I needed to be.

Tonight, after day 3, I'm filled with confidence and excitement to share 'The Story' of Jesus Christ, our Savior coming to earth in the flesh to redeem us from our sinful bodies. Being a small part of this story, His story in this powerful house of God that my family calls home is a great honor and I'll be praying diligently in the coming days for strength to perform well and to honor God well this weekend.

Go, tell it on the mountain...

 

So, AC3er's and non AC3er's alike, please join us as we tell this amazing story, the story of Christmas and how Jesus came to us in the flesh to save YOU! These people are amazing and 'The Story' will be enjoyed by all.

Now go! Let's fill this house up all weekend! Make sure everyone you know is invited, in person, on Facebook or wherever else that anyone will listen, it's a story worth knowing....

Click here to go to AC3's website for details on times for encounter services this weekend.

One Follower of Christ's Jackpot!

A Christ Follower's reward

I heard our leader, our Senior Pastor Rick Thiessen say at the end of the night, " To you AC3 regulars, use this as your pay day, know that this is why you spend the long ours serving, giving your time and your creativity to God and to this church and let it fuel you until the next".

Amen! That's what baptism night is all about for the people following Christ, it's the reward of sharing our faith so that others may know Him and can find their own walk with Jesus and ultimately accept Him as the leader of their lives and forgiver of their sins. This is the culmination of our work in the community, changing lives for eternity through the power of Jesus Christ.

This night was more than that for me, much more... 

It all started earlier this week, I knew my Mom was going to be attending the baptism class to learn what baptism means according to the bible and according to AC3's leadership. In typical Rick Thiessen fashion, he had the wheels turning in my Mom's head when she left the meeting. She knew her heart had been changed by the Holy Spirit, she knew that she'd accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior, but her thoughts went to how to tell the story of how God had touched her life and how she came to know Him.

Mom's Testimony 

 

I certainly wasn't prepared for the story that she would tell, Mom's a bit of a crier and knew she'd struggle with reading it in front of the crowd on the night of the baptism so she wrote it down for Rick to read.

There were four main points, the first, that my Grandma decided to break from the baptist church that she'd grown up in and let my Mom decide for herself about her religion, looking back, she was incredibly grateful for this as it was all part of God's plan to reveal Himself in her life. 

The second and third were holding the hands of two of her favorite people as they took their last breaths on earth and joined Jesus in heaven. My great-aunt passed on a few years back and my Grandma just this past February. These two ladies were the kindest, gentlest most loving people you will ever meet and both of them knew that they were headed to a room that the Good Lord had prepared for them. There is no doubt about the profound affect that these two women's faith had on my Mom, she was next to my Grandma for her entire fight with cancer and eventually watched it consume her best friend. One of the toughest people she'd ever met became as frail as could be and her faith in God never wavered.

Completely Breathtaking

 

The fourth, well the fourth was me. She said that in the past few years she'd watched me completely transform. The fact that I could even be mentioned in this testimony with two women whom my Mom loved dearly and witnessed them passing on to their eternal life is still blowing my mind as I write this.

She said that she'd watched me become a "true believer" and that the peace I'd found in my life was the final piece she was looking for from God to accept Jesus in to her heart for all eternity. My mind is seriously blown by this, all I've done is try to follow God's word. Try to be the best man I can for my family, my community and try every day to be full of faith that God loves us and sent His Son to save us. I'm certainly not perfect, my walk has had it's ups and downs like any other, sometimes more ups and downs.

Mom honored me in such a way that is unfathomable to my former self. She asked that I be the one that baptize her, that I get in the tub with her and not only witness her public declaration of faith, but to be right there with her through the beautiful display. I was infinitely blessed to do so.

There were 11 baptisms tonight, all are special, I love every one of God's children that proclaimed their obedience to Jesus today, but this one will stick with me for all eternity. The energy in the AC3 building was unlike any I'd ever felt, the music, Dan's sermon, all of it had amazing energy. The Holy Spirit was as strong as I've ever felt it at our church. Thank you for this night Jesus.

God's lesson in all of this for me...

Whether it's your Mom, a coworker, a friend, possibly a foe or just a passer by, how they see you living matters and it matters greatly. Be the light on the hill that Jesus called us to be, be the salt in the community and in our culture that desperately needs it. You never know who is watching and you just may be the reason that someone's eternal life is saved. Don't underestimate the power of just living the way God intended you to in a community that needs you.....

This wasn't your average Christian pay day, this Christian hit the Jackpot tonight!!

Thank you so much to my church family for being there to share it!