Expressions of Worship

I am so blessed to have a wife who loves God with all her heart and loves to express herself in worship by dancing for the Lord. I waqs so impressed with her dancing for the Lord that I asked her to dance on our wedding day. She danced to a song called "Dance With Me" by Paul Wilbur. You can see a picture of her dancing at our wedding below. Since it was a six minute song she told me I would have to join her for the last minute, which I did. When she dances solo she dances as led by the Spirit and it is a wonderful thing to behold. While on a date last night at a Chinese restaurant (of course), I asked her all about her call to become a worship dancer. Below you'll find the story of her call in her own words.

(Cary's call to dance) In 1992, I attended the Feast of Tabernacles at Christian Retreat in Bradenton, FL with my pastor and his wife. During the eight days of celebration, the Lord broke my heart over Israel and called me to be a worship dancer. Having two left feet and the coordination of a fish out of water, I knew God had quite the sense of humor. I was obedient, however, and in 1993 I was asked to dance with the Christian Retreat dance team during the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles as well as at a women’s conference. After months of grueling practice, I was nervous but so excited. The very first night while doing a very fast circle dance with nine other dancers, I came down wrong on my left foot and I heard and felt the snap in my ankle and knew immediately it was broken. I attempted to get the dancers to my left and right to release me so I could hobble off the platform, but they didn’t and I heard in my spirit the Lord telling me to continue dancing. I was in tears because I was in great pain, but I said “OK” to God’s prompting. I was basically trying to dance on just my right foot so I was really just hopping around in a circle with the other dancers. I then accidentally came down on my left foot and I heard and felt another snap, and immediately the pain was completely gone. I was able to finish out the other three dances that night and the numerous dances the next seven nights. God had healed me through my obedience.

I later formed a dance team with my pastor’s wife at our church in Englewood, FL and we became “Hearts of Praise.” I had the opportunity in 1994 and 1995 to be the dance minister for Christian Friends of Israel on two tours to Israel. I cannot explain the depth of feeling that went through me as I danced for the first time in Israel at the church in Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle! I also had the incredible experience and privilege of dancing on Mount Skopus overlooking Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, at the Garden of Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, along the Jordan River, and on the banks of the Sea of Galilee.

Cary Dancing by the Jordan River

Cary Dancing at Mt. Skopus Overlooking Jerusalem

Cary Dancing at our Wedding

It has been my prayer and deep desire for a number of years to once again be in a dance team, and I have had the honor and privilege of bringing together three precious friends to form AMBC’s dance team. I prayed and asked the Lord what we should call ourselves, and the Lord just kept prompting me to retain the name “Hearts of Praise.” It is my deepest hope and desire to be able to not only introduce worship dance to my “family” at AMBC, but to be used of the Lord to encourage men and women alike to freely express worship to the Lord in this way. There is such sweet intimacy with the Lord during times of free worship like this, and I truly feel I am dancing for an audience of One. Below are a few pictures from the dance team's first perfomance at AMBC.

There are many ways to express yourself in worship and dance is one of them! I am grateful to have a wife who worships!

Cell Conference in Virginia

God is so awesome! About 6 years ago I coordinated an International Cell Church Prayer Network. I coordinated prayer for about 100 Pastors from 70 Countries. I got to know many Cell Church pastors from around the World and United States. One such Pastor was Greg Mayo from Cornerstone In Virginia. This weekend I attended a Cell Conference in Virginia. When I signed up I didn't realize it was to be held at Greg's Church. I was so happy to meet him again and renew our friendship. He is the Pastor of one of the Cornerstone churches located in Augusta. Years ago God gave Gerald Martin a vision to multiply churches. Today there are about 10 Cornerstone Churches in the US as well as 5 planted overseas. Gerald is the network leader.

This is a picture of the facility which is located in the Shendendoah Valley at Augusta. What a beautiful setting!

The Friday night conference speaker was Joel Comiskey. I was so excited to meet up with him. He is our Cell Church consultant and God is using him in a great way. Bill Warren and I get to talk with him each month and what a Blessing. God has used Joel around the world to encourage and resource cell churches. Joel spoke about the two most important elements necessary for cell mulitiplication. It all comes down to prayer and diligence. These are two things that all cell leaders can do something about. Thank you Joel for the inspiration to never give up!

The greatest part of this trip was spending time with 4 men who love God with all their hearts.

Our times of worship were fantastic. Traveling in the van was great as we played, name that tune with Bill Dykes Ipod which had over 2000 songs. Matt Still was the champion and sure knows his music. Saturday we sat under the teaching of Dave Earley who planted a church in Columbus, Ohio and saw oit grow to over 2000 people with over 100 cells. He is now a Proffessor at Liberty University. He gave a leadership seminar and we learned much about how to grow as leaders! What a blessing to be entrusted by God to influence people. I am having the time of my life!

Experience of a Lifetime - Carry the Cross

I have travelled around the world and have had experiences that moved me to the core of my being. What I and 400+ people witnessed last weekend was one of those rare moments in life. The concept was marvelous! (Thank you Velvie!) We would transition from the old church facility to the new church facilty in a way to get everyone involved and create a memory. So 400+ people lined up on the 2 1/2 mile route. The cross would be handed to each person who would walk a few steps and hand it off to the next person.

What touched me the most was the sense of unity that we felt. The oldest to the youngest, sons and daughters, families, various backgrounds, everyone together involved in the transition. It was a taste of heaven on earth. Those of us who participated will never forget this day.

Picture Description

#1 Picture of first missionary who died on the field and whom the church is named after.

#2 Oldest member of the church 98 yrs old.

#3 Daughter of missionary the church is named after.

#4 The Cross in route.
#5 Joe Bruton takes cross from Pate Matthews

#6 Youngest member of the church and last hand off of cross.

To see a short video of this event you can go to our web page at http://www.allenmemorial.org/ and click on Carry the Cross or see video below.