Oh summertime! Rising temperatures. Cool air conditioning. Sitting by a pool with a big glass of iced tea! Not only have we been experiencing the rising temperature here in East Texas but also the high-paced excitement that comes with a summer at Teen Mania. 

The start to our band's summer was Extreme Camps at the end of June. Our band not only led worship for all the sessions for the teens and youth leaders but we also had a special School of Worship track for campers. The campers that were apart of the track were given a three day experience of sessions on worship and instrument lessons where we taught them the song Resonate, from our upcoming album Christ in Me. We actually put together a band made of just campers to play the song for the entire camp on the last day!

The second adventure for our band was Harvest Christian Camp in Lewisville, Indiana. We journeyed to the cornfields of Indiana, spent a week leading worship, and took part first-hand in the lives of the campers. Most of the members of the band were camp counselors and were responsible for about 6-10 teens aging from 13-18. Quite an experience of it's own! The days were filled with fun activities such as go-carts, archery, paint ball, an obstacle course, and water sports. Then we also led instrument lessons, sessions on purity, and devotional times as cabins. Living life with the campers and pouring into them throughout the day made leading worship for them at night an even better experience. We were able to get to know them individually, see what they are going through in life, challenge them, pray for them, and at the end of the week see how much they had grown. 

There was one night in particular where what started out as a normal worship session turned into a service that lasted for more than three and a half hours. We played our normal worship set, the speaker shared, and started to pray to end the night. But some of the leaders felt like God wasn't through so they asked us to keep going with the service. Within about two minutes of the continuation of worship the whole atmosphere changed. People were crying, falling on their knees, and praying for each other. The entire atmosphere totally shifted. What started out as the most normal worship service for the week ended up being the most powerful! Several people said that they either hadn't felt God like that in a long time or they had never experienced God in that way. The impact of that night was evident even the next day in the kid's lifestyle. Some of them were like totally different people. A week in the cornfields of Indiana not only impacted the campers but also impacted us as well. 

And so the journey of the summer continues..........

Well the summer is in full swing here in Garden Valley. During the summer Teen Mania puts on summer camps (Extreme Camps), and prepares and sends young people on missions all over the world (Global Expeditions). Since we have gotten off the tour with acquire the fire we have been working various jobs throughout the ministry as well as leading worship for all the missionaries coming through our campus for training. Its been an incredible opportunity and responsibility. Through worship we get to set the pace for what the rest of their mission trips will look like this summer. Like all people, us as individuals and us as a band are learning how to lean on God in our weaknesses.  I've found an entirely new definition of what it means to rejoice in trials, rather than it simply being an thing you do or tell yourself to do. I've found that in times of difficulty and times of weakness I HAD to lean on my Lord, and His glory was all that more evident, and I absolutely loved it. Being leveled down to a point of complete and utter dependancy actually brought me great joy. Leading worship on the platform and feeling as though I couldn't go on at all, and leaning completely on the Lord for everything I did brought about worship that I haven't seen in a while, and I think this directly translated out to the people we were leading worship for. I just pray now that they can take that with them to the mission field, where things can be incredibly difficult at times. I pray they seek the Lord for their strength and that they take great joy at being completely dependent on their Lord. Thats worship.

All glory to God

-Cody Merrill, Band 2

Well…the ATF tour is now over. It was an amazing opportunity for growth and experience. When I started learning guitar about three years ago, I didn’t expect to be leading worship for thousands of people. It’s a blessing, and quite humbling, to be used by God with as little experience as I have. I couldn’t have done what I did without God’s grace.

This band…well…an interestingly diverse group of people put together to usher people into the presence of God. I am blessed to be working with these people. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of musicians to play with and learn from.

One of my favorite parts of the entire tour is watching people worship…backing away from the microphones, stopping the instruments and letting the crowd lead worship. It’s powerful. I wish I could capture those moments and save them for later. When we were having tough times together, as a band, it was great to be able to remember those times and forget about the arguments and irritations. We hit plenty of rough patches, most of which, I believe, were due to spiritual warfare. Leading worship for large, impactful, events isn’t what it is usually perceived to be. Because God is working through us to affect so many lives, the devil wants to stop us however he can. He came at each of us individually and attacked our weaknesses. If we wouldn’t have, by God’s grace, recognized the attacks, they would have torn us apart. We spent a lot of time talking and praying together…many things were brought into the light, prayed about and dealt with. I don’t want to speak for everyone, but the growth I have experienced in the past six weeks was exponential. I couldn’t have imagined everything we went through would create as much change as it did.

It’s hard to talk about specific events anymore…they almost seem to blur together. Portland, Denver and Pittsburgh…a great ending for the tour. There was an overwhelming sense of surrender. People gave their lives completely to God. Lives were changed, bondages were broken, and God was glorified...

…God was glorified!

-Matt Kramer, Band 2