J ust as God spoke to Moses from a burning bush, the Lord faithfully met the throng of national delegates gathered at this year's annual worship conference, appropriately titled Catch the Fire, held April 2-4 at Christ Church.

The conference, widely known as "WorshipFest," included such
internationally acclaimed speakers and workshop teachers as hosts Pastor David Ireland, senior pastor of Christ Church, and his wife, Pastor Marlinda Ireland, who serves as the music pastor. Also on hand was Pastor Joseph Garlington, senior pastor of Covenant Church of Pittsburgh and worship leader of various Promise Keepers meetings. Using his signature wit and intellectually folksy charm, he not only fanned the flame of our corporate worship, but also set a powerful lantern for delegates' personal worship times.

LaMar Boschman, Dean of the International Worship Institute in Dallas, Texas, led the assemblage into an acute awareness of the awesome power and majesty of our Most Holy God and how we are to approach Him in a spirit of holiness in worship. Grammy Award nominee and three-time Dove Award winner, Morris Chapman threw prophetic logs on the fire of God's presence during the meetings with Spirit-inspired songs and piano melodies. Pastor Gary Nellis, senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Teaneck, New Jersey, rallied the delegates to continually burn with a desire to worship God beyond our moments together.

Other guest ministers included vocalist Judy Jacobs, whose compelling worship style led the delegates from the river of God's presence into the fire of His anointing and back again. Yvonne Williams, a former dancer with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, taught and depicted levels of liturgical worship that kindled a burning zeal among delegates to move into new expressions of unabashed delight in God.

Accomplished and renowned Christ Church ministers participating in the conference included Angel Lite Garrett, worship leader and choir director; Rick Carlos, music director; and N. Wayne Newkirk, media director.

Although the flame of God's presence was anticipated by members of Christ Church, its guest ministers and returning delegates alike, no one expected God's fire to burn in the area of racial reconciliation, as occurred on the third day of the conference.

Following a dynamic time of praise and worship, we again "caught the fire" of the Holy Spirit and were led by Judy Jacobs and Morris Chapman into realms of worship that simultaneously broke hardened hearts, mended deep wounds and poured out tremendous joy for many in attendance. Next, Pastor Nellis stirred the flames of our intense worship until they became higher and hotter. The sanctuary was ablaze with heartfelt worship that Saturday night. The delegates began pouring into the streets to send the spiritual fireworks of their worship experience up to the heavens. There, under the stars, we let the people of New Jersey know that Jesus Christ is truly Lord and the Spirit of worship was alive and on fire in our lives!

As the delegates filed back into the sanctuary, aglow with the glory of God shining on their faces, we discovered that He wasn't yet done. No, we had not just taken our worship to the streets for ourselves. God was doing a work of burning away the dross of racial division in worship. Jewish believers, Asian believers, Hispanic believers, African-American believers, Euro-Americans believers and others were compelled to forgive past hurts and seek forgiveness for the breaches in cross-cultural worship of which we all were guilty. It was a tremendous time of healing. 

Representatives from various racial backgrounds were drawn to the altar and gave tearful testimonies. Some told of long-held anger and deep-rooted grudges initiated by racial differences. Others told of cultural misunderstandings that had kept their particular race distant from the body of Christ at large. Still others told of a self-righteous pride held in their group's ethnicity that precluded other races from freely worshipping among them.

As the smoke of the healing lifted, we caught the fire of cross-cultural worship. Latinos and whites embraced, African-Americans and Jews wiped away each other's tears and Asians and Euro-Americans no longer saw their differences. Amid the music, the pageantry and the praise, God had ignited a flame of reconciliatory worship that will burn in the hearts of those in attendance forever.