2006, Worship and Lamar Boschman!

In 2006, I had an encounter with God that changed my life forever (Which would be the trademark of an encounter with God, right?). 2006 was a horrible year for me. All of the issues that were going on during that year pushed me to my limits and then some. My tribulations ranged from my mother realizing she had diabetes and high blood pressure, my car’s motor dying when I had to commute in between Chico and woodland (a 2 hour drive); my “best friend” abandoning me when I most needed her, the betrayal of one of my disciples as well as countless financial struggles that at one point literally left me in the dark for two months. Did I mention it was a tough year?

At that time my own personal spiritual relationship with God was hanging by a thread (mind you I was still youth pastor back then). I truly felt alone at that time and I had nobody to talk to. Many of my trials were embarrassing at the time (namely financial struggles) and so I truly felt as if I was going through that time alone. Because of this I fell into a period of depression that was very difficult for me. This was my valley of shadows of death. The interesting part wasn’t that it didn’t last for a few days or even weeks, but months. I felt my joy seeping out of me until there was nothing left.

One day my sister invited me to go to a worship conference called “Frequency” at a church called “The Fathers House” (coolest church I’ve ever been to, http://www.tfh.org/ ). While I was there, I decided to go up front for the worship portion of the event even though the last thing on my mind at the time was singing about the goodness and greatness of God in a time when I wasn’t even close to seeing it. Well I went up and my worship seemed so fake to me, so I could only imagine what it was like for God, or at least that is what I thought.

While worshipping God gave me a very clear word saying that I was playing a part in something greater than myself and greater than any song I could sing. I was participating in a worship performance where my soul endeavor should be to please God. Regardless of what I was going through. (Choked up even as I write this.) And so I began to worship! I put my circumstances aside and I remember praising hard, with all of my strength. When I did this (and please excuse me if you don’t believe in the supernatural side of what God does but this is what happened.) Something began to happen. You have to imagine the atmosphere, a few hundred people all jumping and singing and dancing together. This made for the air quality and temperature being very hot and sticky. Through the midst of all of this as well as my depression and honestly my low view of who God was at the time, God began to do something crazy in my life. I remember that as I worshipped, God began to breath new life into me. I remember breathing in what seemed to be a very cold air, (mind you once again in a very hot room) and when I exhaled, It was all laughter. Inhale cold, exhale laughter; inhale cold, exhale laughter! I didn’t know what in the world was going on but it was then that I realized that God had returned joy into my spirit as well as giving me a fresh and real perspective on worship.

And that was only the first day, during the next day God ministered to me in a different way, through a man that taught me a new perspective on worship. Certainly God confirmed in my heart that I was to worship even through my bad times. But also God spoke to me through a man named Lamar Boschman. Pastor Boschman once asked God to give him a sign of how to worship him in a better way after which God spoke to him in a revelation. He spoke to him precisely about the book of Revelations and the model of worship in heaven. Specifically he spoke of returning to the essence of worship and worshipping as if the king were right in front of you. He spoke of the power and potency of the sovereign creator of all and how you should worship him regardless of all else. Those words literally changed my life. God used that man in a great way and you would think that that was the end of the story, but it isn’t.

Earlier this year Lamar fell into sin (wasn’t necessarily defined but I believe it was an extramarital relationship. It ended his ministry, his marriage, his financial well-being and his tenure as Dean of the international Worship institute. As a result of all of this he fell into a time of depression, isolation and into complete brokenness. Lamar Boschman, the man that taught me about “Songs from the Other Side” fell face down before us all. “How the mighty have fallen” was my first thought when I heard of this. Slowly but surely, Lamar as well as his wife Teresa beginning to rise up. They are returning to the promises that God has for them, despite the dreadful setbacks that they suffered. They are separated and haven’t stated whether there will be hope again for their marriage. The ministry however has remained intact in faith That God will once again lift up Lamar Boshchman to speak and sing His anointed praises again.