It happens every Sunday morning! My son, Tim, who is one of the pastors on staff at Neighborhood Church Modesto, gets up at 5 AM. His son, Evan,
accompanies him. Can you imagine a 16 year kid getting up, wide awake and ready to go at 5:30 AM! Now one of the two Chinese boys, Tyler, decided to come along last
Sunday. They first dash to a Starbucks
for their wake-up breakfast, then go to the Modesto Christian School gym to complete
its transformation from a gym into a church.
Already the only paid help will have covered the entire delicate gym floor
with huge rolled out plastic sheets of floor protection and the stage will have
been set up. Now at dawn a large
backdrop curtain is raised in place, all the chairs have to be set out in neat
rows, then about 10 huge bins on wheels are rolled in with all the complicated
electronic set up with what seem to be miles of cables to be connected and sound
equipment put in place, special lighting arranged, the video screens lowered,
the music stands and keyboard put together, platform skirts and decorations…
and the list goes on and on. Evan always
helps his dad at this colossal job along with a team of about 5 faithful volunteer men from the church. Tyler, only a week
or two having arrived from China, was right in there helping this time.
Then at 8 AM the
music team arrives to begin practice.
Tim has served Neighborhood Church as worship leader for 16 years now,
at first as a volunteer with no financial assistance. Now he gets a stipend, but earns his real family
support by working as translator for the criminal court... English-Spanish, Spanish-English. His
life as an MK in Argentina prepared him for this. He has done this kind of work for at least 25 years…
while always been involved in ministry as well.
Service starts at Neighborhood at 10 AM and ends around noon, but Tim
and his faithful volunteer team, including Evan, stay to take down the entire scene and store it
all away. The final step is to roll up
the plastic floor covering. Whenever I
stay to help we are usually finished by 1:30 PM. Once again the school has their gym... and we are ready for a hamburger and a
shake.
This past Sunday I
took my Hawaiian lap-steel guitar for the first time to join in with the Neighborhood
Church band. Tim had invited me to
practice with the band on last Wednesday, so I was well acquainted with the
music already. He has some very talented
musicians that dedicate themselves to the worship service. I don’t know what we are going to do without 18
year old Michelle at the keyboard, since she is going off to university in a
few weeks. Anyway I truly enjoyed worshiping
while playing my instrument, just like I do in most services in Argentina.
By the way, I asked
the Lord to let me take my Hawaiian lap-steel guitar to heaven with me. I think I heard Him say, “No way, man! We’ve got a lap-steel guitar waiting for you up here that will make your eyes pop out and will produce heavenly music like
you have never heard!”
Ralph
