Weekend with Joel Weldon

This weekend Edgewood was blessed to have the opportunity to host worship leader, Joel Weldon.  He led worship at our morning services and did a full concert in the evening.  In addition to hearing him sing and share at our services, I was blessed with the chance to spend a lot of time with him in casual conversation as well.  It was nice to have someone who has "been there and done that" to really pour thoughts and encouragement into my life.  I was greatly refreshed and encouraged by his words, spirit, and heart for the Lord.

In the services, he really challenged our church to fully surrender to God's calling and direction.  He introduced a few new worship songs (that we will likely be using soon!) that really spoke to this message.  Arms Open Wide is one of them that I really connected with.  It says,

Take my life I lay it down at the cross where I am found
Take my moments and my days let each breath that I take be ever only for You
Here I stand, arms open wide, I am Yours and You are mine
My whole life is Yours, I give it all surrendered to Your name
And forever I will pray, have Your way, have Your way.

What a great message!  Hearing the congregation declare that together was so powerful.  I pray that we can be a congregation that stands fully surrendered to our God and His desires for our church!

It was also fun for me to get to see some of our regular praise team members singing and playing in the band with Joel.  I'm normally picking out details and fixing problems in the songs.  It was a joy to just sit back and listen and be blessed.  I was so impressed with our guys; their talent, their flexibility, their boldness, and their joy.  Edgewood is blessed every week by these guys and it was a great reminder for me to see and experience that for myself.

For the Edgewood folks reading this, I hope you were encouraged and challenged as well.  I'd love to hear any comments about how God spoke to you this weekend through Joel. 

For those wanting to see more about Joel and his ministry, his website is www.joelweldon.com.