One of the things I most appreciated while in Honduras was the Hondurans inhibitions when worshipping God. At every church service I attended while I was there, the people sang with all their hearts, prayed with fervency, and listened to the Word of God intently. It was quite refreshing. Here are some pictures about what I am talking about (click on picture for larger image):
Before every service, people would come forward and use the stage as an altar and lift the service up to God. Even before I taught at the Institute, there were men and women up front praying for the day. In the picture above, the church has laid down a little strip of carpet so people can kneel (the floor was rough concrete).
Here is a man at Pastor Moises' church before Sunday's worship service.
Additionally, at every church they had a worship team. They may not have lights, they definitely did not have air conditioning, but they had a great sound system and instruments and musicians who played them. In the previous two pictures above, you see drum sets on the stage. In this picture, the pastor said these men who played for this church's worship team didn't even know what a guitar looked like six months ago but their worship leader taught each of them to play and sing. They did a fine job leading worship. I thought it was interesting that they all coordinated by wearing pink shirts with black pants. They obviously had thought about leading worship for that evening.
The reason they were to effectively lead worship, in my opinion, was because they realized they had an audience of One. They were not playing for those in attendance; they were worshiping the One True God. This is evident in the fact that when they were finished tuning and practicing, they gathered to pray. Again, you see how prayer is integral to the worship service in Honduras.
I had to include this picture. They would use whatever they could as a musical instrument to praise God with. The man above is using a turtle shell as a type of cow bell (I have a disease, and the only cure is more turtle shell....I gotta have more turtle shell).
In each church, the people responded in worship with passion and loud, unhindered singing and praying (I will note here that I realize worship is more than singing but I am just focusing on the singing part of worship). There was a point while at the church in this picture where the electricity cut off and the piano stopped and the microphones cut off. This did not stop the people singing their hearts out. It was so beautiful to hear them singing acapello, with all the parts present. I tried to record it with video on my camera but failed to do get it.
Here is another worship service and you see the people praising God unashamedly, raising their hands in praise to God. Their worship services were really celebrations of God and His grace given to us. I would encourage you listen to Louie Giglio about this phenomenon of raising hands in worship (just click his name to watch a video - if you do not have an hour, then start at about 28 minutes and listen for about 8 minutes - it is worth listening to).
I was so glad to be able to experience worship in another culture. It is a great thought to remember that Jesus' grace is spread around the world and it is not just America that impacting the world for the Kingdom of God. Nations around the world are ministering to those in their country and bringing people to Christ. It was also refreshing to worship with Christians who are not stunted in their worship but instead pour their hearts and soul out to worshipping God in a manner in which He deserves.
More pictures coming...
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