Just like in 1908, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Church of the Nazarene by walking around our tent waving our hankies :) The day started with a celebratory service in our church in Taytay. We had a big choir singing the songs written specifically for this celebration. There was a big brass band (about 25 people), the children marched in with all the flags of the countries the church of the Nazarene is in, then we had a presentation by the Color Guard. We had the pleasure of taking in 100 new members in the morning service, 94 as profession of faith, and 6 as member transfers. What an exciting moment! Just the Saturday before, there were 103 people baptized. We were challenged by Dr. Silvernail to live a life of Holiness! And we were reminded that the old fashioned idea of waving the hankie was done in surrender to our Savior and Lord.
After the morning service, we took a lunch break and re-convened on the APNTS campus for a district wide celebration. Just as people were arriving, the rains also arrived. The four tents that had been carefully placed over the desired seating just wasn't enough. Quickly another two tents were raised in order to house all the sound equipment and the expected 1500 plus people. The rain plus all the people made quite an exciting walk through the slippery grass. Some folks just took off their shoes and quit fighting the mud.
There were several presentations by churches from the district. The youth group that meets in our back yard was one of the presenters. It was a real treat for us to watch as the teens did their presentation of "Shout to the Lord" with sign language and choreography. Rather than spending money on gloves for each person, they came up with the idea of taking water base paint and making their hands white. Genius! We also had a 100+ person choir that presented the "One" song created for the occasion, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and the Hallelujah chorus. We were again challenged by Dr. Silvernail. We ended the evening with a wonderful time of prayer for God to move among us and to empower us to be Holy! As we waved our hankies, we walked the muddy, slippery perimeter of one of the tents and sang together "It's a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb..."
