The Ephesians 3:20-21 lesson...again.

I'm wondering how many lessons it may take before I begin to really believe this verse:

"Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen."

I just spent the past two evenings at the Gallagher-Bluedorn being totally amazed at a God who did immeasurably more than I dared to ask or that I could imagine.


Friday night's Salvation Army Benefit, featuring Trin-i-tee 5:7 and a children's choir from Salvation Army, brought a diverse crowd together at Gallagher like I've not seen before. Black and white, Cedar Falls and Waterloo... filled the whole main floor and the worship atmosphere was tremendous. It was awe-some! And very real....the fact that it wasn't ultra-polished helped the audience feel even more of a part of the evening. It felt casual and conversational. And when one of the 11 year old soloists was up there singing "God of the City", people were urging her on when she started off


a bit shaky and off key, and whoopin' it up when she began to nail it and bring goosebumps. In the van ride to the concert, I was sharing my low expectations for the night with my husband...believing the Gallagher-Bluedorn would not be the venue that would draw people, and I didn't think there'd be all that many more people than were at the June practice concert at East High. I forgot to really add God into the equation, and He blew it out of the water.

Last night's concert with Trin-i-tee 5:7 was just as inspiring. SHOUT friends Chassidi Ferguson, Dante Means, Travis Lloyd, and Ellaysa Newton were able to share their tremendous gifts from the stage as a part of the concert, and Trin-i-tee 5:7, well, their voices and sharing were outstanding.
Here's my ongoing lesson from God as I walk with friends from SHOUT and Harvest: Leadership principles are good, it's true. In fact, I'm currently reading a book from the Drucker Foundation called The Leader of the Future with many helpful essays from top leaders on leadership. But, what's even more true is a God who shows up in transformational ways through people who are humbly seeking hard after Him, praying fervently, and very actively anticipating God's blessings in faith. I'm becoming more and more aware that I have become somewhat dulled in my faith as I've grown to rely too heavily on things like effective strategies, guiding leadership principles, tightly wrapped programming, etc. In other words, people. All of this learning about how things seem to work best is fine only to the degree that I'm on my knees anticipating God to show up and do HIS work. Over and over again, God is showing me His work through people and circumstances that could be explained as "only God", as there is no other explanation if you took Him out of the equation. He uses the weak to lead the strong, the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; He is continually challenging the gods of self-sufficiency and pride that live within me. Praise be to God for His amazing power and His surprising ways.

photos: (top) Dante and Travis meeting folks after the show. (middle) Justin Moe getting photo with Trin-i-tee 5:7 (bottom) a few of the Salvation Army choir kids in line to get some autographs from T57.