Here is where I worship:

Campsite church. I loved Bonham State park. Our family would go up for a weekend to camp out with our church. We had a pop-up tent trailer that we always brought. All of the kids brought bikes and we rode the trails around the lake every day until sunset. I knew it all so well, just like a child knows the taste of sugar, extremely well and always gratifying. I liked going with our church because it was nice to know our "neighbors" at a campground. We could go from site to site and visit our friends in different tents or trailers. On Sunday mornings, we'd gather around as a group and have a church service. After breakfast, everyone would grab their chairs from the around the fire pits and gather in one spot for a service. Sometimes we'd sing and then have a devotion. As a child, I felt like the service was too long, especially since I was ready to run around the park before we had to pack up camp and leave. I didn't know it at the time, but those weekends were important and quite pivotal in my view of church.

Campfire church. In middle school and high school, I attended several mission trips with the youth group. Sometimes we'd stay in Texas, other times we ventured outside the state to Colorado or Georgia. On the way to the city where we were doing mission work, we'd stop to camp out. Either our youth leaders were trying to save money or they wanted us to work as a team (setting up camp, cooking food, etc), but either way I am grateful these times we camped as a youth group. One of my favorite parts about stopping to camp was at night. I loved meeting as a group at night around the fire to worship. There was something serene yet powerful about meeting under the stars around a campfire. I felt connected to the group when we all met there. I've always loved nature, so being outside at night was spectacular. It was remote and distant from any hustle of a city.

Desert church. Mexico was even more memorable. For four years, I went with the youth group to build homes in Juarez. We'd work from eight in the morning until the sun went down. It was such a relief when the Mexican sun finally dropped below the horizon. You never know true heat until you work under the sun for eight hours. At night, we literally camped in the desert. We set up our tents the first night we got there and spent a week going back and forth from the work site in the city to the campground. We gather at night around the campfire. Everyone was sunburned, windburned, hungry, sweaty and sleepy from the day. Camp food never tasted so good and sitting never seemed like such a luxury. When the sun set in Juarez, everything was dark. I have never seen darkness as black as this, but it made the stars shine even brighter. My youth pastor would play the guitar around the fire and we'd all sing together. Sometimes we'd sing with other camps and sometimes the pastors of churches we worked with joined us. Tired voices, foreign voices, young and old voices came together. It is astounding and saddening to look at the city of Juarez in the news today. My church has not been able to go there to build homes since the violence began three years ago. It pains me to think about where the families are today whose homes we built years ago. Pray for Juarez. The people there will always have a place in my heart.

City church. One of my favorite venues for worship was in Sydney, Australia. Mostly it was because of the circumstances that led up to finding the worship center. I had arrived in Sydney less than 72 hours before walking into Hillsong Church. The great city of Sydney greeted me with a drizzling rain and dark skies. I had anticipated a hot and sunny city, but my flight that landed in July 2006 reflected none of this. I came to study for a semester in Sydney with a couple friends from Hardin-Simmons. My roommate Kmy had come to Australia to go to Hillsong Church. We were all studying at a university there through our home university in Abilene, but she had specifically chosen the location in Australia for Hillsong. At this time I did not know the extent of Hillsong's worldwide ministry and fame, but I was excited to find a church in my new residence. When she suggested that we visit the church right away and explore the city in the process, I was game. After (finally) connecting to the internet in our apartment, we mapped out the service location. The week we choose to go happened to have a service at an off-site location, a race horse track. It didn't matter to us since we were new to the city and anywhere was just as far as anywhere else. Sunday morning came and we dressed up, packed up and found our way to the bus stop. The city in a nutshell: vast and huge with an intricate bus system. We walked a lot. Thankfully we found nice bus drivers and helpful pedestrians. To this day, I cannot forget the overwhelming feeling that I had the minute Kmy and I walked through the doors of Hillsong in the City. The place was full of people. Daily churchgoers and Hillsong staff filled the hallways, seats and entire auditorium. Although it was all foreign to me, I felt I had arrived at home. The place was packed and it almost felt like a concert. When the music began, I felt even more familiarity. At a single point in the worship service, I vividly remember stopping to look around at everyone. People from every nation and of every age had gathered at this one place. I took in every minute of that day. My heart was so full: worship, joy, freedom.


Movie theater church. Eventually I plugged into a local extension service of Hillsong that was closer to our apartment. It was just a couple blocks from us and we walked there on Sunday mornings. The service was held at the Macquarie Center, a huge multilevel shopping mall. The service was in the movie theater. I had never been to a movie theater on a Sunday morning, but that semester it became my church home. We had service in one of the theaters, and there was a welcome lounge right outside the theater. Some of my first friends in Sydney came from the Hillsong Macquarie service.


Japanese church. Another venue of worship that I found in Sydney was at a country club in Chatswood. I attended this service for sole reason of bringing a friend to church. One of our good friends in the apartment complex wanted to come to church with us. He came with us to the Hillsong Macquarie service. When we discovered an extension service in Japanese, we asked Kez if he'd like to try it since he would probably feel more comfortable talking to people in his own language. He agreed and our adventure of getting to Chatswood began that Sunday. While we definitely got lost and walked in the rain for a good distance, we made it to the service. The Japanese service was so alive and active and friendly! It was enjoyable to meet everyone. I even learned a couple Hillsong songs in Japanese. I love worshiping in another language and it was powerful to hear a sermon in Japanese even if I don't speak the language. It was not just Hillsong or the Japanese service, but my friend became a Christian that year and to this day he serves at his church in Tokyo.

Gazebo church. Another precious moment of worship that I truly treasure was when I was in Spain. I studied for one month in Salamanca during college. On the weekends, I would take trips around the country. I immensely enjoy traveling, and on this particular weekend I traveled north to the border of France with a couple of friends. We stayed at the coastal town of San Sebastian. Since it was only us girls, we spent the weekend exploring the beaches and shopping. On Sunday, we had a train scheduled to take us back to Salamanca in the afternoon. That morning, we woke up and checked out of our hostel. We walked toward the bus station and stopped for breakfast at a street cafe. We filled our small table with perfect cappuccinos and buttery pastries. Yum. I remember the weather was perfect that morning, unlike every other cloudy day that weekend. After breakfast we walked over to a beautiful gazebo in the middle of the square. We sat in a circle under the stained glass top of the gazebo and that's where we worshiped. We opened our Bibles, shared the Word of God, encouraged each other and prayed.


Theater church. My brief trips to London have always given me the impression of a busy but stylish and hip city. I love being there and I always want to stay just a little longer. For some reason I get the impression that everyone is going somewhere important and everyone knows someone famous. I may be wrong, but for the sake of this post please join me in my assumption. Our return trip from Spain took us on a short three day lay over in London. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, and I was more than determined to make it to Hillsong London. I dragged a couple my friends down to the tube station and through the crowded streets of London to make it to the Sunday night service. Although we missed most of the worship music, we arrived on a crowded street to find the church right in the middle of the busy city. Hillsong London was functioning out of a theater in the city. It was masterful. We sat in the balcony. If you have ever been in a theater in London, you know that they expand the seating vertically and therefore our seats were almost on top of the stage. I enjoyed this experience so much and it brought back wonderful memories of my time in Sydney. What I remember most about this service was the lights. It had theater lighting and everything glowed, even the audience.


Amusement park church. As I think back to all the places I've attended church and to the ones I've called home, I have a strong and personal connection to each. They have all played a role in my spiritual growth. By no means have I covered all the places I've ever worshiped, but I believe I've draw enough of a picture for you to see how vast worship venues and experiences can be. The commonality in each place is the presence of God's people. Part of my history is in each of these places. I know that God never changes and no matter how we come to worship or where we are He is the same, yet some how I get this feeling that I am knowing Him in a new and different way each time I gather with other believers. I remember my home church, my college church and my "after college" church. Now I have a new home church. Today I attend church in an amusement park. I walk past carnival rides and a mini train to reach the worship center. The building is rented from the amusement park, but the venue is not an issue to the churchgoers. Although it has moved twice since it's inception a couple years ago, attendance is rising. The heart of the church is huge, and they are rapidly expanding. I have only been attending for a couple months, but for now I call it home.



"All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. " Psalm 22:27

go team!

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Philippians 2:1-7

Paul's writings are inspiring and encouraging. Even when he was in pain and far away from the church, he was able to encourage the body. He clung to the cross and encouraged them to live as followers of Christ- as one. This is the benefit of being a believer in Christ. We are not alone. I have to realize this every week. As part of the body, I am called to encourage and uplift those around me. Are we not all in this fight together?


I grew up playing sports- volleyball, basketball and softball. I enjoyed working out and training my body. I enjoyed moving as a team. It was powerful to have people behind me, pressing me on and believing in me. I learned a lot about what it is to be apart of a team working toward one goal- winning. If you were to ask me if I was competitive, I'd say yes because I'd worked so hard and I was determined not to settle for second. But as far as individual competitiveness, I'm not so sure that I would have told you that I was competitive. (I'm not saying that competition is a bad thing, it just wasn't in my blood). I was concerned with perfecting my game and working hard and learning new things, but at the end of the day, I knew wasn't going to be recruited to play in college or offered any sort of scholarship, so for me it was about seeing the team succeed. Competition is everywhere in our culture and I believe that it can be healthy. More importantly though, during my years on the team I learned what it is to excel in my own talent. I was a slightly versatile player in softball and my coach sometimes moved me to different positions, but in volleyball my position was pretty clear. At 5'5", it was clear that they weren't calling me in to block at the net. I was a setter in junior high and by the time the game became more competitive, my skill was in a defensive back row position. Honestly, I was pretty good at it. I could get lower, move fast and cover my hitters. I focused on moving my feet and knowing the court and picking up the short tips off the front row. When my coach first moved me to the position, she taught me the things to focus on and encouraged me to work the position. I knew I could do it and so did she. My team knew I could do it. When I would come in for other players to take over their back row position, they had confidence in me. I had skill back there and it's where my talent was. I excelled. I stopped trying to jump higher or perfect my block. It's not that it didn't matter to the game, but it was not my role on the team. I was satisfied and the team succeeded.

This is not only true in sports. It can happen wherever natural talent is found and encouraged. When you know what you are good at, you can focus your time and energy. More importantly, when you know what someone else is good at you can encourage them. I would not have been as disciplined in my game, if I did not have teammates and my coach and my parents telling me I could do it. I thrive off encouragement. If you want to see me raise my game, tell me I can do it. True, selfless encouragement is powerful. For the sake of the body of Christ, encourage your friends! Find what they do well, whether it is smiling, sorting bottle caps or selling cars, and speak encouragement to them. Grow their talent, show them where they work well, tell them what they do best, and make an effort to let them know how you value their gifts.

Last week I finished a book that exemplified this idea. Though it was not Biblical, the principle applies. Our Creator has given us unique gifts that feed our spirit. I believe that through these we are able to know our God in a deeper, more personal way. The book I read was a biography of a young boy and his family living with his diagnosis of Tourette's syndrome. This changed his life and from that day forward, the family was searching for an explanation and cure for the disease that interfered with their son's mind and body. Cory Friedman began seeing doctors at age five. The different medications that he took further confused him and his family. One day a few years after his diagnosis, Cory runs out of the house in frustration and begins to climb a tree. It is dangerous because his tics cause uncontrollable body movements, but he climbs. He slips a couple times but when he reaches the top of the tree, he feels free. He feels enlightened. He engaged in an activity that not only stimulated and challenged his body, but it fed his soul. He felt alive and real. The description in the book says that years later this memory would prove to be a small part of what he used in overcoming his fight.

I believe that when we know our Creator, know what we were made for (God's glory) and know where we find our biggest victories, we are able to do the work of the kingdom. Be encouraged! We are one body of the same mind, having the same love and living life in full accord. Please find your friends and tell them what they do well. Show them the gifts God has given them and encourage them in it. I know that part of who I am today is because of the loving friends I have who know how to encourage my gifts, and sometimes discourage my non-gifts!

For the sake of the body, love each other well.