We have been back home for a few days now from our trip to El Paso, Texas for the Worship Invasion.
So: about time to write a little report about it. We are still recovering from jet lag especially after Frank got food poisoning the day after we returned and had to stay in bed for a full day. That did not help! But let's stick to the trip itself...

The El Paso Worship Invasion was organized by Cheryl Hernandez, a citizen of El Paso. El Paso and the neighbouring Juarez have been plagued for many years by violence, with over 1800 murders since 2007, mostly drug related.

The aim of the WI was to invade the region with worship and prayer to see the Glory of God come in and change the spiritual atmosphere in the city and see a transformation take place.

We arrived late on Monday the 16th after a long trip and were greeted by Cheryl and our dear friend Dave Bainbridge, whom we asked to join us to play keys. It is always a great joy to have Dave involved, the Holy Spirit moves powerfully when he improvises on his keys & guitar.

After resting a bit on Tuesday, we went to our first rehearsal in the evening, where we met up with the rest of the team. The next 2 days we spent rehearsing some of the songs we felt were key for the conference.

That was great, but also a lot of work, especially because some of the musicians were a bit unexperienced. But we had powerful times of worship already and were able to take some of them "under our wings" and help them grow into what we were about to do. The friendships that were formed during those days were amazing and we really hope, lasting! It was a true joy to get to know these dear friends.

On Thursday afternoon we went to the Convention Center for the first time to set up and get ready for the real thing! Big hall, big stage, big sound system. But we only had 1 hour to set up and get ready for the next day!
In the evening there was a dinner with many pastors & leaders from the region, Ana spoke powerfully on worship & prayer. Dave and I worshipped a little bit with violin (my own, fortunately!) and on the hotel's grand piano which was ready for the scrap heap... Poor Dave!

Friday started very early, 8 am with soundcheck for a 9 am start. There were about 500 people there, which was not bad for a first morning.
I started the worship time with reading Psalm 24 accompanied by Dave on keys: "Lift up your heads, ye ancient gates, and let the King of Glory come in!". People responded with loud rejoicing and off we went! We worshipped for some hours, with a tangible presence of the Holy Spirit. It was powerful.

Later I received a testimony by email from a lady who wrote: "From Friday morning after Frank read Psalm 24, the Lord just invaded me! A couple of healings were arthritis & I no longer need reading glasses to read my Bible!!!" Praise the Lord!
Someone else wrote: "El Paso has never experienced what we experienced because of the moves of the spirit upon the instuments of worship and voice. The mood changes were so beautifully executed. I felt the Lord's magesty in battle, I knew the Lord's love for me as bride, I felt I knew His fragrance, I danced and knelt and shouted and waved....all to the movement brought forth in the music. You were key to the experience. Your hearing and receiving from God so very much blessed me. You honored the Lord by all your prior preparation, by the execution and by just being in the position He placed you in.". Phew!

Emerson and Ana joined in and during the two days we had long - yet rarely :-) boring - times of prophetic worship. It is just so refreshing (as Dave commented as well) to really take time to worship Jesus in freedom and not worry about what people might think... More Lord!
Many blessings were released over the area, people's lives set free and spiritual strongholds over the city broken by the power of the Holy One of Israël.

As I wrote before, one of the highlights was the mayor of the city who joined us on Saturday evening. With a simple but powerful speech he gave the keys of the city to Ana & Emerson and dedicated the city of El Paso and his service to Jesus Christ. Amazing. People rejoiced, we blessed him and prayed over him. Then he grabbed a guitar and started to jam with us! How awesome is that for a mayor!

After the 2 long days we were tired but excited about what God had done in these 2 days. Thank you, Cheryl for inviting us, thank you Holy Spirit for doing your work in & through us. Amen!

Afterthought: The music of these days was recorded on 2-tracks. I will receive those recordings some time soon and see what we can use to put on a CD and/or on the internet. It always takes a long time to do this, so have patience and pray for us... Please!