Glorious Over Us

Glorious over us
You shall reign glorious
Glorious over us
You shall reign glorious

We lift our hands in praise to you.
We lift our hearts in worship to you Lord
We lift our voice to you and say
Our greatest love will ever be
You Lord, You Lord.

It's been a great all around stay in Tennessee.

I learned this song this past Sunday morning at New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I'm not sure who wrote it and couldn't find it on the Internet. New Vision sent a team to Paris this past May to help with the Belleville Church's annual 4 day arts outreach. It was my goal in coming through here to reconnect with the team members and spend some time with the church.

I've been so impressed with New Vision's "new vision." It's not really a new vision, but it is a clear and compelling one that seeks to reach its neighborhood as well as around the world.

Tonight I participated in a missions celebration of what God has done this past summer through the 7 teams that New Vision sent out. I haven't come across any church so gungho about sending short-term teams as New Vision is. I'm really excited about what God is doing at New Vision. I think of it as being an example of when you make the main thing (God's heart for the world and for those who don't know Him yet), He honors this with all around growth.

We've been blessed and energized all around through our stay here. We were publically introduced at all 3 Sunday morning services and I got to share in 2 Sunday school classes. We were invited out spontaneously for the majority of the meals and probably could have been invited for all of them had we requested that. We stayed in the empty house of Janice, one of the church staff. It was nice to have our own space.

Yesterday we went to the Nashville Zoo with friends James and Barbara Evans. The kids loved it.

Today we went by Paulette Russom's barber academy and got haircuts, pedicures, and manicures. We also had lunch with Bill and Liz Gainey, then visited their daughter Beth at her employer Bible Pathways.

Tonight was encouraging and fun. It's an example of how churches should celebrate after the end of a mission project.

Tomorrow we head up north for the final 12 days of our trip. After a stopover in Ohio at Randy and Barbara Franklins' place, we'll be in Michigan for the rest of the trip. We'll be with Larry and Eleanor Sutton (734-676-6898).