Pulse Outreach - Day One Performance

Day One Performance



Monday Night
Day One of Pulse was really great. We went to Valley City State University in North Dakota, and we performed in their auditorium. We had about 60-70 people out, not including us, and the approximate order of the show was as follows --

7:00 - Sonstruck (Worship set)
7:30 - Testimony (Someone's story about Jesus in their life)
7:40 - More Sonstruck
8:00 - Nick Hall gave an evangelistic message/challenge, video follows
8:35 - DJ Sterf tears up the stage floor on his dance mat
8:50 - Hybrid Soul (Their own songs/concert, mainly)

Hybrid Soul and Sonstruck switch out daily as to who does worship and who performs their own set, however, both (mostly Sonstruck) mainly consist of worship anyway.

It's been great to tour with the guys from Hybrid Soul and Sonstruck, as well as the Pulse Outreach team. We all jump in a 15-passenger van loaded with all our stuff, with a trailer hitched to the back, and we cram in and drive across North Dakota.

I'm still wrestling with my set, though here are some good things --

(1) People want to see me play, so they stay until they do, however, I wish more would stay for the whole Pulse event (instead of leaving at around 9). Most do stay, though, because it's a good show!
(2) I get to play and then speak about something encouraging/challenging from Scripture. My heart is really for preaching, so in the opportunities I get, I want to preach at least something solid.
(3) I have gotten to lead a few devotionals, and people have been very encouraged/energized by the Holy Spirit through those. Acts 3:6, 4:18-20, and 24-32a are SWEET.

I may as well give this some serious effort while I still have strong knees to play, so I'll be thinking and praying about that. I'm The Dancing Preacher of sorts, though my heart is weighted so much toward the Preaching that I'm really just The Preacher.

I will update this slowly but surely as I get back. I'm currently in a hotel with decent internet (though it shuts itself off every hour or so, so I can't transfer anything massive).

I'll update more on the bands, the people, and the rest of the tour performances later. They've all been excellent, high-production, super high-energy, and the like. However, most importantly, the Lord is bringing a lot of increase to His Kingdom in people turning to the Lord as well as returning to the Lord.

More updates as I can get them done!

1 Corinthians 3:4-8 [ESV]
4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

Pulse Outreach - Second and Third Day Recap, Sans-Video (Slow Internet)

Ok, I'm in the midst of trying to upload this YouTube video of the First Day's Performance. I think the second day was the best of mine so far, but 1 and 3 were also good.

This tour is amazing. So far, 14 people have accepted Christ for the first time, well over 150 recommittals. Sweet.

A lot of people stay to watch. I'm going to pull out the chair tomorrow, HAHA.

God bless. More later.

Pulse Outreach - First Day Recap, Sans-Video (Slow Internet)

The first night of Pulse, we had 2 people accept Christ for the first time and 25 people recommit their lives to Christ.

The Internet is weak everywhere we go, so the video performances will be uploaded whenever I can possibly find an internet connection capable of loading Gmail efficiently!

Tonight we're performing at Jamestown College.

I pretty close to nailed the first performance. Songs were Power! [Expert] (1 non-Perfect) and BabyBlue [Expert] (3 non-Perfects), both by Renard and his aliases (99.69% on a sans-Great SuperNOVA scale -- would probably have been 99.84% on a full SuperNOVA setup). Thanks, Renard, for letting me use stuff from Mungyodance/2 for the tour, that really helps, and there are a lot of songs/stepcharts that I like on the mix.

My brief message/homily last night was about setting your hearts on things above (Colossians 3:2), and not storing up treasures on earth, but rather in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). We need to walk by faith, not by sight, relying on Jesus as opposed to material things (2 Corinthians 5:7).

I'm honestly really depressed right now in my mood, but I know some things. I know that the things of Heaven are worth seeking, and regardless of how I feel, I'm going to press on in seeking God and serving Him wholeheartedly, no matter how much I'm hurting.

Even when I'm in the deepest valley, the Lord is literally my Good Shepherd (cf. Psalm 23 & John 10:10). I'm thankful that whenever I am frustrated or down or grieving, I have a Lord who listens and answers prayer miraculously.

I really wish the sun were out today.

But think of two things --

(1) God is good, despite of who I am
Regardless of my character or past, He is still the same unchangeable, amazing God. From everlasting to everlasting, He is God (Psalm 90:2). From age to age, He is the same. He is a God of Love (1 John 4). He is a mighty God (Psalm 93). He is a God who heals (Isaiah 53, Psalm 103). He is a God who CARES for us and wants us to come to Him (2 Peter 3:9). He is more wonderful than we could ever express, regardless of anyone's opinion of Him.

(2) [In our perspective] God is good, because of who I am
Because I'm a sinner, and I fall short of God's glory, as we all do, He shows His Goodness in His response to us, as well (Romans 3:23). He gave His Son Jesus for us so that we could have eternal life through Him (John 3:16). Because we're imperfect, IN OUR PERSPECTIVE, we see more and more of His wonder as we live life. Happier is he who has been forgiven MUCH than he who has been forgiven little (Luke 7:47).

And regardless of how I feel, I love the Lord with my whole heart, and I will serve Him forever.

So keep praying for Pulse as well as me. God bless you, and if you haven't decided to follow Jesus Christ with your life, please consider. He gave His life for you so that you won't have to take the punishment for your own sins ('missing the mark'/disobedience against God's Commands in thought, intent, or even motive).

Pulse Outreach - Day Zero

Today, I took off from Chicago-O'Hare and landed in Fargo, North Dakota for a full week of ministry with Pulse Outreach.

I checked my bags in, and the lady realized that one of my suitcases was really light. It was full, but all it had in it were my arcade shoes, a DDR pad, and the hard foam inserts (hahahaha). She told me, "Wow, this is light, you must be going shopping!" I told her that it was a DDR pad for an evangelistic tour, and I think she was skeptical as mess. haha, but my suitcase was indeed very light.

Our landing was very interesting -- we went down to land on the North runway, but there was a massive flock of birds that started to fly up as we came down. In order that we wouldn't crash and burn, the pilot jammed the plane up drastically, and we made another approach. After a few nauseating tight turns of the plane, we realized that the birds won.

We had to land on the East runway, which I thought was hilarious since we just got owned by a flock of birds. Thankfully we had no crisis or complications from the birds, and praise the Lord, we landed safely.

Tomorrow's brief homily will focus on the temporal vs. eternal -- what matters in life. See the video for a brief outline of what I'm thinking.

I also rocked out at an Assembly of God church up here in Fargo. It was bangin'. I generally love Assembly Churches, especially ones with order, Spirit-led worship, and especially solid Scriptural teaching. This one definitely had the first two, but it was a ministry show-and-tell night, so I actually went out with Jordan (a full-time Pulse Outreach worker) to another college service and listened to that message.

Know something cool?

All or Nothing

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
John 15:5 - I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

So are we being strengthened to completion, or are we trying on our own strength and doing nothing significant? What really will last? Are we trying to earn our way into Heaven?

The price has been paid for us -- Jesus has already paid the price for our sins. As Paul and Silas told the Jailer: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31a).

Christianity is so basic. How much do we complicate things?

Jesus gave His life for us, so let's devote all our being to Him. Just as Romans 12:1 states, Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God!

Prayer

While we do that, please pray for the Pulse Outreach tour, that many would be encouraged and blessed, but mostly that lives will be changed through this event.