You are a voice!

Recently, Altars Band was asked to be a part of the "Sound of the Now Generation" conference in Greer, SC.  We led worship for the weekend along with House of Prayer and members of AWC (from South Africa).  We had an amazing, life-changing, earth-shaking encounter with God!  Many profound and prophetic words came forth but maybe the biggest for us was the word given to Altars Band.  We received a word from the Lord that we were called to go to the nations and release an "Apostolic" sound!  This is not a common term or calling in music but it is a HIGH calling.  We are called to go and set up and play unto the Lord and release HIS praise, not ours, but HIS through us!  WOW!  This was all very heavy to me and I was praying through what this really meant.  The weekend after we were asked to come and play at an outdoor worship night in the nearby city of Clayton, NC.  God revealed what he meant in a BIG WAY!


We were scheduled to join several other area bands/worship teams from around the area.  We were  scheduled to close out the night.  The day was awesome with lots of great bands, the best being the bluegrass band which was Pastor Jay's FAVORITE! Haha HUGE exaggeration!  Great band none the less.  Throughout the day I was praying asking God what He wanted to release in the city and say to the people.  There was never a clear answer but I knew that He had BIG plans for this city and the people in it.  Our time came to close out the night and we all prayed and took the freezing cold stage.  We started the night with some good ol' fast songs, mainly to get some blood flowing to keep from getting frostbite.  About 20 minutes into the set, while singing "How He loves us", I heard the Lord say, "THAT is what I want my people to declare over this city! I LOVE THEM"! WHOA!! Let me tell you there is NOTHING like hearing the voice of the Father!  I repeated to everyone outside in the square what the Lord had said.  I also felt the Lord wanted us to walk to the edge of all four corners of the square and declare and sing over passers by and the whole city that "God Loves YOU!".  People scattered to all parts of the square and began to sing, declare, and bless the city.  The most amazing thing to see were the young people and the youth stepping out in faith, maybe not even realizing what they were doing, and reaching out theirs arms and hands, weeping, and blessing the city.  Yelling at the top of their lungs "HE LOVES YOU"!  People were driving by with windows rolled down only to be hit in the face by the screams and blessings of many generations and whether they realized it or not the very real presence of God!  This went on for some time and we came back together and declared corporately that "God is the God of THIS city".  We all walked away from the evening changed forever and we KNEW that God's will had been done and we had released His heart over the city.


This past Sunday Pastor Patrick, from Life Community Church in Clayton, joined us at our church for a luncheon.  Pastor Patrick was one of the visionaries for the event.  He began to share a few testimonies from the outreach.  He told us that there was a gentleman who that very night was evicted from his aprtment and had no place to go.  He HEARD the music from more than a mile away and followed the sound to the square where we were worshiping.  He walked all the way to the front row and just sat in the presence of the Almighty, not even knowing what was happening!  God ministered to the man and his life was touched.  He proceeded to tell us that there was another couple in his church that was not able to make it to the event.  He saw them at church the next day and said, "We missed you guys last night."  They responded to Pastor Pat with, "We didn't miss a thing.  We were five blocks away and heard the whole thing." 

THAT is the power and goodness of our God!  We are all called to release a sound somewhere.  I pray that this story encourages you!  NEVER think that your one voice cannot impact where you are.  Release blessings wherever you are and speak life to everything and everyone around you.  Be a part of what God is doing in the earth.  You ARE a part of the "Sound of the now Generation"!!

Love you all!

Josh Lambert and Altars Band