NET Canada

Howdy!

This is James Richmond reporting in from the Massive Worship Team. I’ve kidnapped Brandi, our usual blogger, and locked her in our trailer (temporarily of course) so I could write this blog.

Summing up our ministry in a sentence I would say “we’ve been given’er”. We’ve been kept pretty busy which seems to be the theme out in the western provinces. At the start of the year I thought that it would be unlikely that we would be booked for a lot of Youth Rallies (basically a high energy concert with a talk, witness of faith, and drama) because they seemed so different than a usual NET retreat. I’m an athlete and I’m pretty flexible, but I never thought my foot would reach all the way to my mouth.

Recently we’ve been to Barnwell/Taber, St. Paul, and High River, Alberta. We’ve had so many Youth Rallies booked and I’ve been loving it. I think that this event really reaches out to the students on a different level than a regular NET retreat. Music is universal and crosses language and religious barriers with ease. It is so relatable and it allows us to connect with the youth on a whole different level. The first NET retreat that I ever attended (and one of the only) was when I was in Grade 6. I honestly don’t remember anything about the talks, skits, or even names/faces. What I do remember was that they were young, Catholic, and excited about it which witnessed to me and inspired me to seek a deeper relationship with Jesus. I think that we as a band can make that connection with those we are ministering to in an even bigger way because they can relate to us instantly as musicians. We’ve often gotten comments along the lines of, “They’re Christian? They’re good!”, or, “Wow, I used to think Christian music was lame; that was awesome!”

Often after a Youth Rally teens will approach us to chat, share what they got out of the event, or get autographs and pictures (funny? Yes, but it has happened several times!). In Taber, AB when we were putting on a rally for the students at the high school, it was originally just for grades 7-9, but then senior students were asking to get let out of class, and the Principal gave the okay for anyone who wanted to come to leave class. That was pretty cool, but what I found awesome was what happened afterwards. The crowd was a bit tough in that they didn’t really want to participate, but I remember keeping my eye on one girl who was bravely singing all the songs despite the fact that her friends weren’t. After the rally she came up and asked for our autographs. She had this big smile on her face and told us that she had had a really good time. I was taking down our equipment and didn’t get to talk much, but the entire team was talking about her afterwards. I don’t know how the rest of the teens took the talks and music, I know that at least one girl was touched and brought a little bit closer to Jesus that day. Also, a boy came up at the same time and was asking Paul how he could join NET. We told him he had to wait a few years, but it was encouraging.

Our team has been very blessed to be able to stay with many of our own families while travelling, and while in St. Paul we stayed with Rebecca’s family. The girls stayed at the actual house and we guys were in ye ’ol cabin a couple of kilometres down the road and through the bush. It was a beautiful log cabin and made us feel somewhat manly as we didn’t have running water or electricity and we had to keep a fire going for warmth. One night I went out to do a couple things and stoke the fire. When I tried to start up the Rhino (basically a glorified golf cart) to head back, it wouldn’t start. I was forced to hoof it through the pitch black forest with my little flashlight. But never fear, it had a built in Swiss army knife so I was ready to defend myself against wayward coyotes. Rebecca’s Dad was very generous and took the guys out on a snowmobile tour of his property our first night out. He warned us that they were very powerful machines and asked us about our experience. I fibbed a little and said that I was comfortable on one (I’ve only gone twice before and not very fast). Christian jumped on the back of my snowmobile not realizing that he was placing his life in my not-so-capable hands. Apart from getting stuck a couple of times and tipping over in deep snow I thought I was doing well and I was feeling pretty confident - I think my confidence was a tad premature. I pushed on the gas too hard and the sudden acceleration slid Christian and I backwards. However, because I had a death grip on the steering column and my thumb was stuck on the gas, Christian pulling on my body made me push harder on the gas and caused us to go even faster. We were plucked right off the snowmobile and dumped in chest-deep snow. You think we would learn but this actually happened a couple of times – t’was HILARIOUS!

I hope that this blog has given you a bit of an idea what is going on out west with Massive Worship. I really feel like we are pioneers and paving the way for future Massive Worship teams. The response to us has been fantastic and I know that God is working in this ministry. I can’t wait to see how God will use it in the future. I should probably go let Brandi out of the trailer. It does get cold at night I suppose.

May God bless you and your family – oh, and bless you with a coyote-killing flashlight (you never know when you may need one!)

James Richmond – Electric Guitar

Massive Worship

(isn’t that a cool way to sign my name!)