They say there's a first time for everything. For us, PS 7:17, these last ten months have definitely held quite a few firsts for us. There's so many that we could talk on and on about, but in the interest of keeping this blog a short enough read, we'll just stick to one day of those firsts.
It was last Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 at Fincastle Baptist Church Summer Fest. We are a rock band by nature and it was our first huge electric show (we've focused mostly on acoustic worship music for the last ten months). It was the first time we've used a professional sound system with subwoofers and tons of monitors and sound options with Matt's drum kit rigged with microphones. This was our first outdoor performance and our first festival. This was the first real stage we've gotten to perform on. Our special guest, Amy Whiting, used her electric violin with us for the first time. There's so many more firsts, they can't be all listed right now. But one thing is for sure, God definitely blessed us with that day and that day happened for everyone because He wanted it to happen and He willed for it to happen. Thunderstorms that were in the forecast didn't show up to stop the evening. We also got to share the stage with some awesome local talent like Ashley Cummings, Mike Lee & Friends, the FBC Praise Team & Band, the Burlesons, and Austin Simmons of American Idol and the X-Factor. We just couldn't find adequate enough words to describe the spiritual high we were feeling, especially at the end of the night with the fireworks. We were so ecstatic and pumped for that day and we're still talking about it with excitement amongst ourselves as a band and will continue to talk about it for quite a while.
This all happened not because we planned it. We never had anything like this in mind. Our plan as a band was to play the Botetourt/Roanoke area hard this summer while we were all off from college. We thought "let's play as much as we can and build up to a moment at the end of the summer where we work our way up to play at a bigger church than we're used to." And we got to play at a church much larger than the churches we were used to seeing. It didn't happen at the end of the summer after having had a ton of experience playing other venues and churches in the area though like we had planned. We had our plans and the perfect God, Creator and King of the Universe had His. He put us in the position to get ready and practice hard, stretching our limits and our health, and to play at a place we weren't used to at the beginning of the summer, coming straight out of summer classes, work, and not as much practice time together as we wanted. And we had originally planned to see if we could play worship for a Sunday morning church service or a youth night somewhere. He had planned for us to open up at an outdoor festival, with a projected crowd of between 2 and 3,000 people over the course of the evening. And it worked, because He made it that way and worked through us for His glory.
One thing is certain: you can have your plans. But in the end, God's are what are best for us. Sometimes His plans will stretch you beyond what you know, but it is guaranteed it is for something much bigger and better than anything you can ever come up with on your own. Austin Simmons, the man who turned away from his pursuit of fame to answer the call to become a worship pastor closed out the evening with Elevation Worship's "Give Me Faith." Before he closed the evening and the fireworks lit up the night sky, he said: "sometimes God has to break you before He makes you." God's broken down a lot of walls for us over this last year and has challenged us quite a bit. And we can't wait to see what else He has planned for us.
--Rob Smith
It was last Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 at Fincastle Baptist Church Summer Fest. We are a rock band by nature and it was our first huge electric show (we've focused mostly on acoustic worship music for the last ten months). It was the first time we've used a professional sound system with subwoofers and tons of monitors and sound options with Matt's drum kit rigged with microphones. This was our first outdoor performance and our first festival. This was the first real stage we've gotten to perform on. Our special guest, Amy Whiting, used her electric violin with us for the first time. There's so many more firsts, they can't be all listed right now. But one thing is for sure, God definitely blessed us with that day and that day happened for everyone because He wanted it to happen and He willed for it to happen. Thunderstorms that were in the forecast didn't show up to stop the evening. We also got to share the stage with some awesome local talent like Ashley Cummings, Mike Lee & Friends, the FBC Praise Team & Band, the Burlesons, and Austin Simmons of American Idol and the X-Factor. We just couldn't find adequate enough words to describe the spiritual high we were feeling, especially at the end of the night with the fireworks. We were so ecstatic and pumped for that day and we're still talking about it with excitement amongst ourselves as a band and will continue to talk about it for quite a while.
This all happened not because we planned it. We never had anything like this in mind. Our plan as a band was to play the Botetourt/Roanoke area hard this summer while we were all off from college. We thought "let's play as much as we can and build up to a moment at the end of the summer where we work our way up to play at a bigger church than we're used to." And we got to play at a church much larger than the churches we were used to seeing. It didn't happen at the end of the summer after having had a ton of experience playing other venues and churches in the area though like we had planned. We had our plans and the perfect God, Creator and King of the Universe had His. He put us in the position to get ready and practice hard, stretching our limits and our health, and to play at a place we weren't used to at the beginning of the summer, coming straight out of summer classes, work, and not as much practice time together as we wanted. And we had originally planned to see if we could play worship for a Sunday morning church service or a youth night somewhere. He had planned for us to open up at an outdoor festival, with a projected crowd of between 2 and 3,000 people over the course of the evening. And it worked, because He made it that way and worked through us for His glory.
One thing is certain: you can have your plans. But in the end, God's are what are best for us. Sometimes His plans will stretch you beyond what you know, but it is guaranteed it is for something much bigger and better than anything you can ever come up with on your own. Austin Simmons, the man who turned away from his pursuit of fame to answer the call to become a worship pastor closed out the evening with Elevation Worship's "Give Me Faith." Before he closed the evening and the fireworks lit up the night sky, he said: "sometimes God has to break you before He makes you." God's broken down a lot of walls for us over this last year and has challenged us quite a bit. And we can't wait to see what else He has planned for us.
--Rob Smith