Sunday Afternoon Musings
I am in awe of the people of God down in here in Watseka, IL. Three weeks ago, I pitched an idea to them about taking the devotional book I wrote back in 2004 and doing something similar to what New Song Church in Bolingbrook had done. New Song had taken the book and created 14 stations or devotional points to help people enter into the passion of Christ, the last 18 hours of Christ’s life, as a run up to Good Friday and Easter.
New Song generously allowed me to plunder their storage of the materials for what had been called EXPERIENCE THE PASSION. I borrowed and carted the materials down to Watseka, IL and Connie Hustedt took over and assembled a team to execute the project. My thought, was the given the short time and no budget, Trinity Church might scale it down and do something that would be a dramatic learning experience for all members of the church as well as an outreach to the community. Phil Goja, a member of the church even put together a video promo for the event. (See here, for a 3 minute video)
Wow! They have outdone themselves. I can’t wait till tomorrow morning when the exhibition opens up at 5AM. It is going to be a profoundly moving experience for all who participate and I think it will be mightily used of God to grow people in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
If you are anywhere within two hours of Watseka, IL between 5AM and 9PM on Monday through Friday of this week, I want to encourage you to come. It will enhance your understanding of the gospel, stimulate you to love Jesus more and may even give you some great ideas for what you could do in your church to unleash the power of the gospel in the future.
The original devotional (pictured above) was written to coincide with the release of Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ. It is based roughly on the 14 medieval Stations of the Cross found in most Catholic Churches.
ChosenRebel's Blog 
I just want to say it was a challenge but great to work with Connie’s team, and while I know everything that went on behind the scenes, I had a few moments that moved me and it’s helped me put tangible touch; feel to what Christ must have experienced. Good idea Marty and thanks for pushing us to do it. I can’t believe how many people have wanted to go through it – I didn’t know what to expect and it was awesome to read through the guest book the other night after just a day or so.
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