Last week Sarah and I went on an adventure to find a keyboard for Burlington Community Church. Sarah is very energized about leading worship and will be coordinating our efforts, selecting songs and allowing daddy to guide her. For all intent and purpose, she will be the worship leader and has been prepared as such through her youth group efforts at Fair Oaks Church and Velocity Student Ministries. We decided that we needed a keyboard since that is the only instrument any of us can play and there is no piano in the Tansley Woods Community Centre. We found what we were looking for and getting ready to buy it when we needed to leave for a weekend to get Sarah and Ceilidh to camp.
As the girls were off to Virginia to go to camp with Velocity, Tracey and I were to visit a friend in Michigan and help in their church on Sunday. This is a church plant about 10 years old. They have not had a keyboard player and asked if I would jump in the band for them. I was happy to do that and after the service was over, they gave us the keyboard! Isn't that cool?! They said they had if all this time and it just sat in the closet for 3 years. What a nice gift. Sarah and I are done shopping and we have a keyboard that God supplied! This is great because we can use money in other ways now.
In my conversation with this friend, he talked of a mutual friend because his teens were going to the camps he runs called LIFT. Back in 1999, this man let Sarah sing at a teens camp in Gettysburg, PA with attendance of around 800. Sarah was only 3 at the time and was determined to sing on stage. On 4 occasions, I told her she would not be able to but she insisted. Finally I said, "honey, daddy is not is charge of this camp and if you really want to sing, you will have to ask Dan Brown." I thought for sure this would be the end of it but she said, "where is he?" I pointed him out on stage and she walked straight up to him and asked. She got to sing and was not afraid! As a matter of fact, all the teens sang the song with her and did so a few other times that week. She became a favorite for the week and it was not uncommon to watch her being body surfed through the crowd during the music. She was having a blast.
When I heard my friend would see this guy at camp, I asked him to let Dan know that a little 3 year old girl he let sing at camp is now a 15 year old worship leader for her father and their new church plant. Pretty cool, right?!! You never know what kind of impact it will have when you let someone take a first step in service for Christ.
I am grateful for others in her life who encouraged her and gave her opportunities to grow and become the leader she is and will be. Her youth pastor, Christian Gaffney, gave her the latest opportunities and I am a thankful father and pastor.
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