That one weekend was so much more significant in my life than what I was prepared for or could imagine. God had done more than plant a seed in me, He had taken me face t0 face with the ugliness of humanity so that I could understand the Human Condition and our true need for Justice.

After 12 years in the prayer movement now I’ve spoken to many churches and groups about the need for prayer and intercession. How Jesus proclaimed the words of Isaiah, “my House shall be called a House of Prayer for all Nations!” I’ve talked about the beauty of God and the intimacy of our Bridegroom King, I’ve talked about the “Fire on the Altar” never going out. I’ve explained how prayer is ‘relationship with God’ and how He longs for fellowship with us. While all of these things are good and have produced results, I’ve never seen more people come together in specific, focused and scriptural prayer than I have with the cause of Modern Day Slavery.

Over the past two years I’ve been honored and humbled to serve as and Ambassador for Florida Abolitionist, and since that time I’ve seen first hand the importance of the place of prayer when it comes to ending this evil. William Wilberforce, who was an abolitionist who lobbied in the British Parliament to end the African Slave Trade in Europe identified 3 areas of importance when it comes to being an Abolitionist. 1. Prayer 2. Awareness 3. Funding. Indeed, all three of these things are just as relevant today, and I’ve found that prayer ALWAYS leads people into greater Awareness and drives them to generous giving.

As YOU pray for Justice in Human Trafficking please remember to pray for these specifics:

Victims – Pray for their safety, their identity and sense of self-worth. Pray for divine encounters with God that will sustain them and give them hope. Pray for their rescue and restoation.

Traffickers – Pray for God’s righteous Judgement. Pray for a softening of their hearts to see humanity and have compassion. Pray for a divine Encounter with Jesus Christ. Pray that God would tear down their God of materialism and need to feel ‘empowered’. That they too would have a greater sense of identity and self-worth, seeing life and destiny in the eyes of their victims.

Customer – Pray for a breaking of their addictions and for compassion in their eyes to see the true plight of the victims they are using. Pray for a Fear of God and Justice to rest upon their hearts, that God would soften their hearts and heighten there conscience. Pray for divine Encounters that would led them to repentance.

Law Enforcement – Pray for greater education and awareness of our law enforcement as many of them are unaware of what is taking place in the streets – having the traditional mindset of Prostitution and Brothels just  being a part of crime and vagrant society.

Legislation and Judicial System – Pray for tough and specific laws to be put in place that punish the Trafficker and the Customer. Ask God to convict the hearts of our prosecutors to actually help ENFORCE the laws.

Ministries and Organizations – Pray for protection, purity, a continued tenderizing of their hearts so as not to become numb to the topic. Pray for financial support and volunteers willing to serve.

On this National Human Trafficking Awareness Day I pray that each of you who reads this are encouraged and blessed to know that YOU can be part of the solution through prayer.

Antonio on drums

What a beautiful thing it is to bring in the new year praising and worshiping God. Granted, my eyes were heavy and my feet dragging as I forced myself out of bed to get ready for church, yet as soon as I stood behind the keyboard I realized what an amazing privilege it is to be able to bring in the New Year with my family in Jesus Christ. All over the world this morning Christians dedicated this year to the glory of Jesus. With too little coffee in my system, I found the greatest source of renewed strength that any of us can have, the presence of the Holy Spirit. My son Antonio laid down the beats beautifully on the drums, a young teenage bass player named D.J. stood over my shoulder laying down the groove and a diverse and beautiful group of singers (including my lovely wife) sang their hearts out along side of us. With my daughters dancing in front of me with their banners waving, and Keliah who is 8 interrupting her dance to go lay hands on some people and pray for them, our pastor and his wife engaging whole heartedly in worship and my mother and father-in-law worshiping along side of our amazing fellowship of believers I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect picture of worship to kick off 2012. Then it happened, out of no where, they keyboard cut out. With no guitar player to keep things moving I came face to face with the real importance of what worship is truly about. Too many times we as musicians and worship leaders put too much stock in the things we ‘think’ we are in control of. Whether it’s song choices, tempo, instrumentation or just simply sound coming out of the speakers – we have made the worship experience something it was never truly intended to be. It was in that moment I had a to make a choice that many of us don’t realize we often are faced with every day in life. Do we stop to ponder the mishaps and struggles that are staring us down? Or do we let the beat go on, so to speak? I must admit that more often than not, when tribulations come against me I find it easy to get caught up in what’s going wrong and try to fix it. This morning however, God reminded me what most of are truly missing in life and in worship. As Worship leaders it’s easy to think that if we get off track somehow then we are ruining the ‘experience’ for other people. We couldn’t be more wrong. The hallmark of any true leader is to realize that it’s our responsibility to EMPOWER others to lead. When I lead worship, I no longer think of it as my responsibility to ‘create an atmosphere for other to engage’ but rather ‘Give them PERMISSION’ to worship the way God created them to.

The saying “Learn to let go and let God” is often used, but do we truly understand the full extent of what that means? From the very beginning of time God was not looking for a singular person to say Yes to Him, but has been looking for a People, a collective Bride to stand in unity and say “Lord we Trust in You together!” This was the passionate prayer of Christ His last night on Earth in John 17, and He who was raised from the dead to stand in intercession is still praying this same prayer today. This morning as the keyboard cut out, I chose to Let Go and Let God, and watched as He moved through the collective body of leaders who were worshiping Him. It was overwhelming to watch as people were still dancing, singing, my son continued pounding on the drums, the dancers continued waving their banners and the sound man Kyle went into action taking care of the problem. I stood worshiping even more intensely than before understanding what it really means to be confident in the Lord, confident in who Christ is within each and everyone of us and knowing that when problems arise in life, we must choose to continue keeping our gaze fixed solely on Jesus Christ and trusting in His leadership, knowing that we are part of a royal family of priesthood believers will stand with us in eternity. So the next time you are faced with unexpected difficulties, just let the “beat go on’, knowing it is the heartbeat of God moving in and around your life. Ultimately, this is what being a worship leader is all about.

So as you get ready for this year, get ready for new miracles and new insight into God’s Holiness. Those who have set their faces and their gazes upon the beauty of the Lord will truly reflect His perfect majesty in Love and Authority. May Christ be Glorified upon the Earth in 2012!

It’s amazing how so many people get worked up into a passionate frenzy when the discussion of music in church takes place. From arguments of hymns to contemporary to what exactly is contemporary? It’s too fast, too slow, loud, not loud enough or the color of the font on the screen should be yellow not white! It’s enough to drive a person crazy. Because in the end, it’s just another song to sing. And that my friends, is where the problem lies.

“Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Luke 10:27 paraphrased

When a congregation has no revelation of exactly who Jesus Christ is, then how can they be expected to passionately praise Him? No matter what size the church when it’s people ardently pursue God in song and worship it’s usually a good sign that many of them have a relationship with Christ and want even more.

Dead worship often means something vital is missing. Unfortunately many people think this can be fixed with a different song, style, leader etc. That’s like telling the man who never hugs his kids that he can fix it by taking a vacation with them. A person can say they love someone, but if they don’t show it then you have a hard time convincing others. The biggest mistake Israel made all throughout the scripture was missing that God is a relational God. He pursues us, desires us, longs for us and is a jealous God who wants the same in return.

To love God is to know God, and to know God is to love God. When we understand that praising His name is a scriptural and meaningful way of loving Him then suddenly we unlock doors of relationship and people begin to EXPERIENCE the fullness of knowing and loving the Creator.

If people have no revelation of who Christ is, and how God views them then every attempt to accomplish the commission to preach the hope and salvation found in Jesus Christ will fall short. So next time you’re at church, whether you’re a pastor, worship leader, a member or visitor ask yourself, “Is this just another song to sing?”