Blessings And Bars

Some of the folks in the band tell me that I tend to glorify some of our performances a little more than I should, Maybe I do - Maybe I don't - you won't know unless you come out and see for yourself sometime, but I promise you that this next update is the truth and nothing but the truth with no glorification what so ever.

Sunday Night October 1st X-ALT! Went to church! In a small chapel with no adornments, no crosses, no robes, no suits and ties, just cold tile floors, benches with no padded seats and guards at the door. But God was in that room and it was felt by all that attended. We were in the chapel at Nashville's Riverbend Maximum Security Prison where along with our good friend Ben Houston from the 23rd Psalm Ministries, we hosted a church service for approx. 25 prisoners. I really didn't know quite what to expect before going in and I have to admit I was a bit nervous as I waited in line to get searched before we were allowed through the gates. Then as we waited as gate after gate was opened for us I started thinking that this was really a great analogy for what we as a band have been through in the past months - how many Gates has God opened for us? How many locked doors have we been allowed to pass through? But this was the biggest gate of all, God seems to like taking this band out of it's comfort zone and he did just that last night.
I think that as people out in the free world (the guards referred to us a free world volunteers) we get a conception of what prison and prisoners are like, some of those conceptions, for me at least, were shattered yesterday. Riverbend is really quiet an amazing place with well manicured lawns and some of the most beautiful rose gardens I have ever seen, all surrounded by fencing, razor wire and armed guards. As we walked across the grounds with our escort it would have been easy to forget that behind these wall have lived and still do live some of the countries most hardened criminals. Across the yard from us prisoners could be seen being led to and from some of the different buildings. I assume that it was dinner time for some of the inmates and that others may have been being taken to exercise areas or for other activities.
Our sound equipotent arrived at the chapel before we did and I was shocked as we walked into the chapel to find two prisoners quickly hooking up our stuff! My first instinct was to yell "Hey get away from that!" I mean these guys were prisoners right - they were the "Bad Guys" and couldn't be trusted. But I held my tongue and just walked up to them to see what was going on and what greeted me were two of the friendliest folks I have ever met, Gerald was a guitar player and often played for their services and the other man whose name I missed was a bass player and they had been the first to arrive and just wanted to help, and they did. We got the sound system together in record time and the service was under way. As Ben started to introduce us another prisoner came from a side room carrying cups of water for us. These guys seemed so happy to have us there, it was really starting to sink in that we were a part of something special. We opened with one of our original numbers "Jesus We Worship You" and followed it with "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" and we could tell that these guys were there to worship. Tommy kicked in with "Piggy Back Ride" and we were off and running, later in our set we did the old standard "Lean On Me" and you could see in these guys eyes that the spirit had filled them. Some were singing along and others were clapping their hands while others just swayed to the music and let it fill them up with the spirit. We took a break and the speaker for the night came up during which Ben came to me and told me that the guys really wanted us to do "Lean On Me" again, so after the message we did. The rest of the set for the most part was filled with gospel standards like "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", "I'll Fly Away", "He Touched Me" and "Down To The River To Pray" as we were about to go into our final song Ben came up and asked us to hold off a second because some of the prisoners wanted to do a song, so we set down and five of the guys came up and sang, I wish I could remember the name of the song but I got so caught up in the sentiment and sincerity that came from these men's voices that all I could do was listen and be filled, Brooke (My Wife) told me afterwards that their song had brought tears to her eyes, it was just that powerful a moment. Ben then took prayer requests and we closed with "Amazing Grace" with Ben and the group that had just sang joining us for it.
afterwards we had a few minutes to visit with the men that attended, we laughed and prayed with them, shook their hands and hugged them. We were in a higher place, a prison had become a church for those two hours and hearts had been touched and at least in my case lives had been changed. We were witnesses to what the glory of God can do. As we were escorted out I couldn't help but think "I can go home now to my nice bed in my nice house, I can kiss my kids goodnight and then settle in, where as the men we worshiped with tonight are returning to a cold cell where they will be locked in for the night and many of them will be doing that day after day for the rest of their lives. Quiet a contrast, but for two hours we were together, brothers and sisters in Christ and filled by what each had brought to the service. I'll be praying for these guys today and I hope all of you that read this will do the same, because as Ben said during the service there were no black people and no white people at that service there were no prisoners and no free people, at that service as at any church service we are all the same, we are Christians that believe in God and in his care we are all one.
Vince