David Meece Testifies of New Rainbows! (10/14/17)

Renowned singer /songwriter David Meece performed “In Concert” at our church on Saturday Oct. 14, 2017. In many ways, it was like any other concert by a “celebrity.” Before the “show”, there was a table full of CDs in the lobby and bashful young ladies had the chance to meet the “star” backstage. When David took the “stage” he opened with a rousing performance of “Raise These Arms,” getting everyone to clap their hands and tap their feet. He went from one hit to another, sweating and pounding the keys with so much energy that at one point his finger started to bleed and he needed a band aid.

But at some point during the “performance”, something changed. The lobby turned into a church narthex, the stage became an altar, the audience turned into a congregation, and the music became a sermon. This evening went beyond the motif of “entertainment” and turned into inspiration.

David is an extremely talented musician, but he is also a gifted orator. And, more importantly, he is a man who has been touched deeply by God and he has a passion to tell others about this awesome God that we serve. Top hits turned into testimony. Worship of a music star turned into worship of our God.

And that’s probably just how David wanted it…

 

The Concert…

For many adults who grew up in the church, as kids and youth their Christian music experience began and ended with the hymnal. Wesley, Stankey, “How Great Thou Art”, organs, choirs, and “O for a Thousand Songs to Sing.” David Meece was at the forefront of the movement which gave us what we call “contemporary” Christian music. Since breaking into the “music industry” during the 1980s, he wrote over 30 top 10 hits, was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame, and won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Artists Music Guild. He’s played before thousands of people in stadiums across the country, and even played at Billy Graham crusades. Like any “celebrity”- he even has a Wikipedia page!

During the concert, he performed a selection of his many hits which were on the CDs selling in the lobby.

And so, we had a celebrity in our midst. CDs and selfies were a-plenty…

 

I Am the Reason…

Most “Music Stars” have what might be called their “signature song.” If one exists for David Meece, it’s probably his song “We Are the Reason.” Many artists have recorded their own versions of it, and many choirs (including our own!) have sung arrangements of it.

He performed “We Are the Reason” as his closing song during the first set. But before allowing the audience to head back to the lobby for some refreshments and CDs, he invited us to sing along with him- changing the lyrics slightly:

Maybe a bit cliche. Any experienced “church goer” has probably done the same first person exercise with passages such as 1 Corinthians 13 or John 3:16. But singing this song with those personalized lyrics set us up for what was to come during the “2nd set”…

 

Rainbows in the Night…

One of the songs he sang before the intermission featured the lyrics, “God’s promises are like rainbows in the night…” During the storms of life- during the night- God is present. After all: “I am the reason that He suffered and died…” But as we go through the “furnace of affliction”, we discover that Misery leads to Ministry, and Pain leads to Power.

After the intermission, the focus shifted from music to testimony. David told the story of his own “night.” His father was a drug addict and alcoholic, and he abused his wife and children. A continual series of terrible things riddled through David’s childhood, and he reached the point where he hated his father. Even while performing in front of thousands of people, singing the praise of forgiveness and love, he could not forgive his father.

After years and years of struggling, he finally came to realize the power of prayer. Not just of praying about someone, but of praying for someone. When you put other’s pain ahead of yours, you allow God to remove that “tar” of self-pity and unforgiveness from your gut.

Through a miraculous series of events and encounters with people who God put into his path, David was able to forgive his father, and even to love him.

 

And so, not only are there “Rainbows in the Night,” God also promises us a new tomorrow. There is a Day that follows the night.

He closed the evening (which by now had gone far beyond a normal “concert”) with a rendition of “My Father’s Chair.” The three verses open with the “empty chair” of a missing father, and then lead into the hope of a loving chair filled by the son who was determined to not repeat his father’s mistakes. But then the third verse turns our minds heavenward and speaks of a loving Father who is always ready to hear the pleas of His children.

 

Experience David Meece

The concert was advertised with the sentence “Experience the Ministry David Meece…” The evening started out as a concert, but turned into a special experience of this gifted man’s ministry. A ministry not only of music, but the witness of someone who had been redeemed from the “Furnace of Affliction” and brought into a powerful ministry of testifying to the reality of God’s Rainbows in the Night, and of His promise of a new Day to follow.

 

 

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For more details about this event, here’s the article which announced the concert…