‘Ever, Only, All for Thee'
How can one possibly describe this year’s Worship Arts Retreat? If you speak with any of the nearly 100 music and creative arts leaders who attended the weekend event at The Salvation Army Camp Hoblitzelle in Texas, they will probably struggle to find the words to explain what this time meant to them. I am certainly finding it complicated to define the beauty and significance of our time together.
The weekend had a difficult launch, coinciding with Hurricane Helene smashing through the Southeastern United States. In spite of the storm and travel delays, most of the staff and attendees still managed to make it to Camp Hoblitzelle, though none of us was truly prepared for what was to come.
In the opening session, following a quick welcome from Territorial Creative Arts Director Bethany Farrell and Territorial Music & Creative Arts Education Secretary Nick Simmons-Smith, the worship team invited the Holy Spirit to attend the weekend with the song “Spirit Come Down.” As I sang the lyrics “You make my heart pound when you fill the room,” I became breathless. I had to stop singing as the sweet heaviness of God’s presence settled on the room, almost physical, making my heart pound just as the song’s lyrics requested. I began to pray in my spirit, tears filling my eyes at the overwhelming beauty and graciousness of our God choosing to be present with us.
Katie Luse, executive director of ConnectUp ministry, then led us in our first reflective prayer of the weekend. “Sometimes it takes no noise for us to really listen and hear what’s going on inside. I want to you to pay attention to what you feel is going on in God’s heart towards you in that time of silence.” We were led to present our feelings to God, receiving back from Him what He thinks of us, simply sitting in silence and spending a special moment with Him. Then we read together the beginning lyrics of “Take My Life and Let it Be,” turning them into a personal prayer. Katie concluded the time of reflection with prayers of blessing over us. “I bless you to transition now from your roles of leadership. To remember that you are first a son and a daughter of a loving Father who’s so excited to spend the weekend with you.”
We then sang the words to the tune penned by Commissioner Paul Kellner, claiming them as our heartfelt prayer for the weekend: “Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.”
Special guest speaker John Copeland, camp director for The Salvation Army’s Camp Tecumseh in New Jersey, then spoke on Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (ESV).
“If you delight yourself in the Lord, He’s not just going to fulfill what’s in your heart, He’s going to reveal to you what’s really there and what’s been there the whole time.” John challenged, “Can we start this weekend engaging in the Lord’s imagination, not being limited by the possible, but having a posture and a desire to jump face first into the presence of the Lord and delight in Him?”
We then broke out into our first workshops, options ranging from worshiping through movement to building a choir, worship planning, utilizing Canva, and bringing scripture alive in our Sunday services.
In Saturday morning’s main session, John spoke on Luke 22:7-13, the passage where Jesus sends His disciples to prepare for the Last Supper. Jesus tells them they will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water, then they are to follow him to the house where they will find the upper room for the Passover meal.
John explained that culturally it would be humiliating for a man to be carrying a pitcher of water, and that this small detail is worth noticing. Sometimes we’re not called to be the main character of our story. “I don’t know what humiliations you feel like you’re going through, but can I suggest to you that there is power in carrying the water? You don’t know who has been asked to follow you so they can get to where Jesus needs them to be.”
The rest of the morning and afternoon held a plethora of workshop options to choose from. Delegates could learn the basics of working with sound systems, creating community partnerships, praying through coloring, choreographing through scripture, discipling those in our worship teams, ministering through theater, dismantling leadership stress, and many more instructive and edifying options.
Delegates also had the opportunity to sign up for a personal prayer experience with the teams from ConnectUp ministries. We were encouraged to sign up for a 30-minute time slot at any point over the weekend to be led in a time of specific reflective prayer. Though most attendees had never been involved in this type of ministry, the time slots filled up quickly, and many people bravely chose to dive into a new kind of prayer experience.
I was one of the many privileged to opt into this ministry opportunity. Though each session was a deeply personal time of prayer, I would like to share a bit of my experience and encourage others to look into ConnectUp ministries and their many online opportunities for prayer.
I arrived in our tiny meeting room a couple of minutes before my session and was warmly greeted by Jessica and Michael, chatting lightly to get to know each other a little. Jessica prayed over our time together before asking if there was anything God has been working on in my life recently. I explained that I have been feeling like I need to have God in all I do, not wanting to lose sight of Him in my day-to-day. I want my everyday to be all for Him.
Jessica then led me through a listening prayer. I repeated what she prayed and then spoke aloud God’s response to me while Michael wrote down what God was saying for me to read afterwards. God spoke truth into my heart and mind, and speaking it aloud gave it power in my soul. He showed me easy ways to keep my heart and mind on Him throughout my days which will allow me to keep Him in everything I do. He showed me that He is already present in my everyday, even when I don’t notice. We then dug deeper, and I confronted lies that I had been believing about myself, inviting the Holy Spirit to fill the spaces within me vacated by those banished lies.
These powerful moments gave me time and space to commune with God on a level I don’t often experience. I would encourage you to visit www.iconnectup.net if you are interested in experiencing this personal prayer ministry for yourself and strengthening your connection with God. The ministry offers online personal ministry sessions as well as in-person events and workshops, helping people deepen their relationships with God and experience His presence in new ways.
During Saturday evening’s main session, John spoke on Hebrews 12:1-3 and the importance of focusing on God. “We’re created in the image of the Creator. We’re created to create. And everybody here gets that. Whether you write music, whether you choreograph dances, whether you write scripts, whether you’re involved in those. You’re creating a beautiful testimony of the love of God.”
John prayed, “God, we long for your presence, your unfiltered, concentrated presence where we will be changed and where we can overcome because of the cross. Thank you, God, for your presence. Help us be focused on you.”
The worship team then led us into a time of praise, seeking God’s presence, and He answered. In my notes for the evening I wrote, “I sense the Holy Spirit as a softly swirling wind tonight flowing through the room, gently touching, being breathed in and out by those seeking holiness, those opening their souls to drink in His goodness. As we surrender places within ourselves we’ve stubbornly held onto, He fills the vacuum with the flowing light of His glory.”
The time of worship continued long past the scheduled end time, people lingering for over an hour, drinking in God’s presence and pouring out their praise.
During Sunday morning’s worship service, John spoke on using the gifts God gives us. “If you really want to see the value of your gift, you have to share it with someone else.”
He reminded us that our gifts are to be used to serve others. “He wants your gifts to be made whole and made complete and honed and sharpened and fulfilled and full of substance. But not for you to consume them yourself.”
“If you’re going to really use [your hands] to do the Lord’s work, you have to get involved. It’s not a spectator sport, pursuing holiness. If you’re bringing people to focus on Christ, and if you’re staying true to what He has for you to do, you have to understand He’s going to ask you to get your hands dirty. It’s a beautiful kind of dirty and a necessary kind of dirty.”
“Make it your ambition to live a life that focuses on Christ. Make it your ambition to be about what the Lord has given you… Get involved, first-hand, even if it’s messy.”
The leaders blessed to attend this year’s Worship Arts Retreat were poured into all weekend by the inspired messages from John, the reflective prayers by Katie and the ConnectUp teams, by the wonderful workshop leaders from around the territory, and by the presence of a holy and loving God. We return to the work ready to get our hands dirty, to serve where God has called us, and to make sure that everything we do is for the Lord, declaring, “ever, only, all for Thee.”