IWC Day 2

My name is Mat Weddle and I’m on the IWC staff this week as the music leader. We are missing a big part of our group (who are joining us later tonight!) but those of us that are here went to a couple Brazilian churches to worship. I got to tag a long with a group that went to a church in a neighborhood called Plataforma. There were a ton of people there - the church was full! They had a special service planned in anticipation of us being there. They had about three different choirs sing, they did a lot of worship songs and even had some surprises for us! When we got there they had put up red, white and blue balloons on the aisles (I wondered to myself if they were for us.) At one point in the service they said that they had a surprise for us as the youth choir came in wearing red, white and blue t-shirts. When they got to the stage they put on red head bands made out of crepe paper that said "USA" and they brought an American flag down the aisle. Then they sang “Shout to the Lord” in English! After they sang a verse or two they gave us yellow head bands that said "Brasil" on them and had us come on the stage and sing with them. It was obvious that they had put a lot of work into welcoming us so beautifully and we were really touched.

I got to sing a couple worship songs for them in English (while Jared Schiarelli jumped in on drums) and Robin Dahl and Dan Melton shared their testimonies (and did a great job!). Then we did a puppet show to a Brazilian kids song. It was really cool to be able participate in their service and share out stories and talents. The whole night was a huge reminder of how big our God is and how His Spirit unites us in purpose – to worship Him and to spread His love throughout our world!