The arches of the chapel on the grounds of Lake Junaluska is beautifully adorned this time of year with bursts of flower-color. All the photos in this album were taken by my new friend Beth Richardson who works at Upper Room Ministries and spent the week putting together the visual stage designs. Hey, Beth, how come you are not in any of these photos!? Oh... I guess because you are taking them!
I love to wake up at Lake Junaluska (in western North Carolina) and see the mist on the water. Here is a shot during the day... we had sunshine and great rain showers... the lake looked different hourly!
Here is where 500 gathered each morning and night for worship at SoulFeast. The backdrop was created by Todd Pick and the visuals stage settings were designed by Karla Kincannon (karlakincannon.com).
SoulFeast is about spiritual pilgrimage and during the week there are many ways to practice spiritual disciplines. The grounds of Lake Junaluska are perfect for this.
Rudy and Juanita brought deep, deep wells of Spirit to their preaching AND modeled for folks the necessary vulnerability that the spiritual path sometimes demands. I've had the privilege of leading in worship with them before and it is always a blessing. They are pastors at St. John's UMC Downtown and give sustenance (physical and spiritual) to hundreds of people there. Check them out (http://www.pastorrudy.net/index.php).
Stephen Bryant is the head of Upper Room Ministries and Marjorie Thompson is Director of Pathways for Congregational Spirituality. They both brought wonderful insight and teaching to the gathering and between them have written and produced so many of the wonderful Upper Room resources.
Dean (and little drumming buddy), Justin and Cary brought amazing talent (rhythm, guitar and vocals) AND heart to the band at SoulFeast. Thanks so much, guys!!
Elizabeth was part of the band as well as one of our featured soloists. At only 17 years of age, Elizabeth has been traveling all over the place singing her original songs to raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief (she is from the Gulf Coast). Check it out (http://www.elizabethcumbest.com/) and donate by buying a CD (she's raised over $50,000 so far!).
Tommy Van was one of our vocalists and did an amazing solo one morning. Elise Eslinger was our pianist extraordinaire and my consultant on planning music for the event. Elise is the editor of one of my favorite music resources - The Upper Room Worshipbook. Buy it now (http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/description.asp?item_id=284278)!
We built a wall out of boxes for the youth to do a drama about tearing down the walls that divide us during worship. Here's George on "wall duty!"
This youth drama to music started with a youth bouncing up and down on a mini-tramp from behind the wall, yelling and waving his hands, trying to see over the wall and get our attention. Hilarious! And then quite poignant as youth from both sides began to tear down the wall and make connections across the divide (it eventually got rebuilt as a house as we sang "Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live...."
One night we did a "Global Trek" with songs from around the world and we prayed for folks all around the world and for the healing of the planet. (Everyone had to strike this pose for the cameras during set-up!)
HOW many boxes did you need???!!! Those of you who have worked with me on worship for a conference know that it takes a village to pull it off and I'm always grateful!
A metaphor that wove its way throughout the week's worship was that of bowls. Each service they had different elements in them: water (remembrance of baptism), bread (communion), salt (you are the salt of the earth), oil (healing and commissioning), etc. When people started dropping and breaking the bowls on accident, I had to find a song about brokenness for us to sing. Hey, that'll preach!
Those of you who have studied with me know that I talk about worship leadership as spiritual direction. At no other conference is that more in tune with the purpose and mission of the gathering than at SoulFeast. Thank you, Upper Room Ministries, for being a spiritual guide to so many people for so many years!