This past Friday I had the awesome privilege of going back to Winona for the night to lead worship at Celebrate Recovery and hear my friend share her testimony of how God has been working to transform her life. Jake was able to come with me (I love that we get to experience these kinds of things together!) and we were both so touched by how we saw God working. I was blown away by the amount of new faces in that room since I had last been there in May. God is drawing so many new people to Himself!! Praise God for a ministry that is growing and thriving by God's grace!

We started the evening singing and praising God as we worshiped Him together. One thing I love about Celebrate Recovery (CR) is how strong the community is in this ministry. It truly feels like you're among family. For me, being able to lead us in this time of worship just made my spirit come alive and I felt right in my element. There was such a freedom in the room as we worshiped- free of judgment and criticism....freedom for God's Truth to move and stir in hearts. People came eager to meet with God and lift up praises to Him-- and we sang loud for all to hear!

I also sang one of my original songs that I wrote called, "Identity", which you can listen to here: Identity video

My friend Chantel also shared her testimony of how her faith in God has transformed her life. I have known Chantel for many years and have gotten to be a part of her faith journey as she has asked questions about faith, started reading the Bible on her own, and learned more about who God is. I remember having many conversations together about these things and sharing in her joy that she experienced as she allowed God to have control in her life. On this night at CR, we listened to Chantel share about some immense trials and pain that she has walked through in her life--but how God has always been faithful to her and has even redeemed and brought healing to many of those broken relationships and hurts. What an amazing testimony to God's transforming power!


Thank you for all your support and encouragement to me as I get to minister through music in this way. Thank you for joining with me as you invest into the Kingdom through your prayers, giving, and encouragement!

Thank you prayer warriors for praying for me while at Urbana! It was a huge encouragement to have such strong prayer support for me while I was there. Thank you for being part of my Urbana journey in this way. This event was life-changing for me and I am beyond grateful that God extended an invitation to me to be part of it. I experienced a new freedom in worship where I felt unleashed to lead the way God designed me to lead in my specific giftings. It was incredible to lead worship in front of 16,000+ people and declare Christ's name in that stadium! I feel very fortunate that my fiance', Jake, was also able to attend- and he loved it! He really felt God lay it on his heart to be part of a Bible study in the new apt complex we'll be moving into, so he's already started meeting with a future apartment neighbor and friend of ours to chat more about this . We are both thankful that we got to be in St. Louis together and Jake has already asked about going to the next Urbana together in 2015!
For a glimpse of what our week was like at Urbana, check out this summary recap video and the photo album I created on facebook. Also, here is a video of us singing "Revelation Song" in multiple languages (I am leading the verses in this song).  It was an awesome sound to hear 16,000 voices praising God in all those languages! If you have more time on your hands, here is a complete video of our worship time one of the nights (25 mins. of music).

Here are some statistics and a note from the Pres. of InterVarsity of what we saw God do at Urbana:

"This was a very special Urbana. I suspect that twenty years from now, Urbana 12 participants will be spreading the Kingdom of God all over the globe – proclaiming the Good News, healing infirmities, fighting injustice, and discipling new believers."

Many deep commitments were made at Urbana '12:

To serve at least 2 years in missions – 4,224 (2,676 in 2009)
To lead an evangelistic Bible study – 6,434 (5,034 in 2009)
To follow Jesus for the first time or to make a recommitment – 96 & 3,740

In addition, I praise God for the sheer amount of resources mobilized: 32,000 AIDS caregiver kits made, $800,000+ in offerings, and social enterprises launched.

The comments of three exhibitors spoke volumes to me:
“I need to say this: BEST. URBANA. EVER.”

“Quality of students is the highest I’ve ever seen in all the four Urbanas I’ve been to.”

“Our high-quality conversations in this one Urbana surpassed the TOTAL of the previous two Urbanas combined!”