To be honest, we have only been in Ireland for a month and a half so far, but we already have so many testimonies of what God has been doing here. So instead of listing them off here, I will limit myself to what God has been doing in the worship ministry at Alive Church in Enniscorthy, Ireland. One of the primary reasons for Molly and me leaving our beloved Texas is to start a self-sustaining worship ministry at Alive Church. Having felt called to worship ministry, this has been my personal project from day one.
After observing how the church did worship and planning with the pastors, I jumped into the mix and have been leading worship for the past month. Since the church was used to listening to recorded worship songs, we have been splitting the worship songs between live worship and recorded worship to ease them into having a person facilitate worship. To be fair, there have been a few hiccups (the monitors not working yet and my guitar unplugging halfway through a worship song) but God has made worship such a joy every single week.
Before I jump into the incredible things that God is doing, I want to make this clear: all of the favor and blessing that has been found in starting this worship ministry is a direct result of God’s grace to answer the prayers of Alive Church for the past several years. There is no other way to say it. The fertile ground I now get to stand on was not my own making, and I am privileged to be a part of this movement of God. This church has been ready to worship like this for years. First of all, I have learned many things about the Irish people in the past few weeks, one them is when it comes to singing any song the Irish people to not hold back. So why would worship be any different? From the oldest man to the youngest child, all will belt out their praise to the Lord with gusto. It is truly wonderful and you will have to come visit to experience it.
Second, God has been putting the songs we sing on Sundays into the hearts of any who enter into the church. Even a few visitors have told me that they cannot get the worship songs out of their heads so they would look up the songs, purchase the albums, and listen to them all throughout the day. The children will just start singing them randomly in their homes and the parents hum the songs as they drive. We have even heard of a child from our crèche (nursery) who will only stop crying if Hillsong’s “Cornerstone” is playing.
Lastly, people have begun to want to be a part of our worship team. So far the worship team has been myself and a female vocalist, which has been just the right size for this kind of transition. But each and every Sunday I have more people come and offer their services for worship, which is an incredibly exciting thing to know that the purpose of worship is catching on.
It does not matter how many times I read God’s promises, and His fulfillment of those promises; they continue to increasingly astound me. Many months ago, as we were praying about whether we were being called to Ireland, God highlighted a passage in the Bible that has stuck with me for all of this time. Isaiah 61 is a passage first written by the prophet Isaiah, and then later fulfilled by Jesus in Matthew 4:17-21. The passage begins with “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,….”. How incredible that as followers of Christ, we too are called to be filled with the Spirit of the Lord and bring the good news of salvation to all of the nations. Yet, it has always been the ending of the chapter that has claimed my attention, “For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.” As a people redeemed by God’s grace, righteousness and praise spreading among the nations is the only natural response. It blows my mind how truly privileged I am to be allowed to watch the rising up of praise in the nation of Ireland.
If you would like to make a financial contribution to the Bass family, CLICK HERE.
