On the set of Grace for Today on WTLW

My mom in front of WTGN

I’m starting to feel like I live part time in Lima, OH! I was up there just a couple of weeks ago, and this weekend, my mom and went back. Sunday night I sang a mini-concert to kick off a preaching series at Bluffton Baptist church. What wonderful people – I loved meeting their people, their pastor, and the visiting pastor who was preaching. Other than my GPS telling me that we had “reached our destination” when we were sitting in a cornfield with nothing around us, it went great. The pastor said that that happens to everyone who comes to their church – I told them they should put a sign with directions in the cornfield!

The next morning, my mom and I went and did “Grace for Today” live on WTLW. After that we taped two more shows that aired this morning and will air tomorrow. We didn’t realize we were doing so many! Should have brought a different shirt or something – everyone will think we only have this one outfit. 🙂 It was fun, and especially great to do the show with my mom. I’m really proud of her, and proud of what the Lord has done through her since my dad passed away. She’s going to come with me on my radio tour next month, and I’m blessed to have her.

Retreat at Skyview Ranch

Skyview Ranch in Amish Country

Getting ready to launch Kaleo in Columbus

Well, I told you all that I was going to do a worship workshop this weekend, and one of the things we were going to cover was how to be ready for the unexpected. Well, I needed the lesson this week! I was going to do a concert at a women’s retreat on Saturday night, and on Wednesday the director told me that the worship leader they had for the event was really ill, and asked if I would just be able to do the retreat. I had Friday night free, so I went early and did their worship on Friday and Saturday and the concert. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for Sunday as I already had my own church that morning, and I was teaching the workshop, but they got someone to cover that, and God worked it out. So, there you go, worship workshop participants, it’s always good to be prepared so you can step into any situation! Teacher voice off. 🙂

Had a great time at the retreat, and the extra time really gave me a chance to get to know some of the women there, which was such a blessing! Came home and led church, and then came back and did the workshop that afternoon. We had a small group, but that was actually great because we could really work on the practicum, and I can definitely see God using these people in worship in the future, it’ll be fun!

I also got to lead worship for the launch of Kaleo in Columbus yesterday. It was so fun to get to see the excitement of the planners for the event. Kaleo is a women’s group organized to help support ministries in local areas, and they are under the Columbus Stewardship Foundation. They had over 100 women show up to support this opening event, and I think that’s pretty incredible for a launch, especially since it was a lunch during the work week! I’m expecting that God will do great things through them, and I was blessed to be there.

I will be offering a series of Worship Workshops this fall at my church in Columbus. If you are in the area, I’d love to have you come!

The first one is this Sunday, September 26th from 2-5 pm. The others will be at the same time on Sunday, October 17th, and Sunday, November 17th. They will all be held at Faith Covenant Church, 3607 Dempsey Rd., Westerville, OH 43081 and are free and open to the public. You can check out the church website here.

These are going to be casual and hands on. I will be talking about WHY we do worship, and also giving practical tools to help people lead better. Some of what we cover will be geared to the people who come, so bring your questions! In addition, we’ll be doing a practicum, planning and leading a set together. Bring your instrument if you’re an instrumentalist and your voices and we’ll have a great time! If you are interested in being trained for worship leading, or improving what you are already doing at your church, this is for you. Hope to see you there!

The new building for Living Waters Church

On the morning show with Scott Young at WTGN

Prayer at Union Chapel Church in Lima

This past weekend I got to go to New Jersey and sing at my uncle’s church. They were celebrating the official opening of their new building, and it’s beautiful. It was great for me because I don’t get to see that part of the family very often, so combining singing with family time is great. Also, I got to see a couple of my cousins, and that was wonderful. Please pray for my cousin, Amy, who is fighting breast cancer. She’s amazing, and it’s hard to see her struggling and to see her kids trying to understand it.

I got home in time to lead worship on Sunday, and then Monday I went to Lima, OH about 2 hours northwest of here to do a conference and some stuff at the radio station WTGN.

I really like Lima, I have to say. Everyone I meet there is just so genuine. Union Chapel Missionary Church was having a conference for three nights in a row, and I did the special music on Monday and Tuesday. The speaker, Mike Wingfield, was really compelling, and I was touched by the whole thing. This is not a large church, but they were packed out night after night, and people were just excited to receive the Word. It was a great time!

On Tuesday morning in between I got to hang out at WTGN quite a bit. I sat in on the morning show (the only bummer – how do these people wake up for this every day!? It was a good thing for me that no one cared how I looked on the radio!) with Scott and Bob and recorded a few things for later. I also got to go and meet the director of Teens for Christ – they are doing amazing work – and then I had dinner with the pastor of Union Chapel and his wife. They were lovely. Altogether a great trip. I’m headed back to Lima next month, so I’m looking forward to seeing some of them again!

Young Life Benefit Concert at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church

Arin and Jasmine Luke, the new urban Young Life staffers

It’s been a big, big weekend! The new video for God Loved the World was released on Monday, and I am so excited about it. Godbeat.tv did an exclusive premiere of it, and we heard after the fact that it had something like 3500 views that day alone. So fun! I hope you will share it with all your friends – it’s the Gospel in 4 minutes. Check it out here:

Also, this past Sunday we had an awesome night celebrating Young Life in Columbus. Young Life is one of my favorite ministries – they are all over the world and they reach out to high school kids in the name of Christ. I have seen so many teens meet the Lord through this organization. In fact, my dad, Dave Chilcoat, started it here in Columbus (that’s why I grew up here), I was on staff with them in New York for a while, and now my brother Mike runs the metro area here in Columbus. I was so excited to get to do something for this awesome ministry.

They launched a new urban initiative this year, and so we heard from Arin and Jasmine Luke who are heading up that area, and we also did a sneak peak of the video – there were several Young Life leaders in it, so I wanted to thank them and let them be the first to see it. It was a great night – thanks to all who came and to Upper Arlington Lutheran for hosting us!

Monday I also got to do a radio interview for one of my favorite stations, WAFT in Valdosta, GA, so a big shout out to you too!

With the Japanese missionaries at Faith Covenant in Detroit

Incredible South Carolina beaches - we love you!

The Angel Oak - said to be the oldest living thing East of the Mississippi

Leading worship at UALC's XALT services

Sorry it’s been a while since posting – I’ve been traveling here there and everywhere, and took a trip with my family in between – had a great time.

First we all went up to Michigan to visit my husband’s family and let the kids have a few days with their grandparents. Then Nathan and I went back down to Faith Covenant in the Detroit area and I did the worship on their services in the morning. I’ve been there several times, and it’s always a joy to be with them! We also got to meet some new missionaries who have come to Detroit from Japan to minister to the large Japanese speaking population working in Detroit. Then home again and a surprisingly busy couple of days without kids (what would it have been like if they were home?!), a few interviews, and I drove back up to get them.

One day home and we left for a really great family vacation in South Carolina. We have been so extremely busy this summer, we really needed the down time and time to just be a family. It was a great mix of doing fun stuff and doing nothing, the best kind.

The day after we got home I sat in with the worship band and did some special music on the services at Upper Arlington Lutheran’s XALT services in Columbus. I’ll be doing a concert there next weekend to benefit Columbus Young Life, so it was great to raise awareness for that benefit, and fun to do something in my own home town!

Then straight into the start of school. Why does the summer go so fast? I love my kiddos and it always seems to fly by. It was a good end to the summer, but I wish it weren’t over so fast!

On the jumbo-tron

My kids watching, who have no clue that the president and one of the owners are right behind them.

Even the parrot removed his hat.

Watching from the outdoor seats at the owner's box

Last Tuesday I got such a fun opportunity – I got to take my family to Pittsburgh so that I could sing the National Anthem for the Pirates/Reds games at PNC Park.

What you probably don’t know is that my parents met at the University of Pittsburgh, and my dad grew up outside of Pittsburgh in Mt. Lebanon. His neighbor and best friend was the son of the former owner of the Pirates, and he spent many, many games watching from the owners box. Pittsburgh sports were huge for my dad – to the point that the stats for the Steelers and the Pirates are an appendix in his book! In my house growing up, not rooting for the Pirates or Steelers was going to get you beaten up by your brothers. So this had a great family connection for me.

We got in that afternoon and did a sound check. Before the game we all got field passes, and my family got to come down on the field to watch me sing. Afterwards, we met the president of the Pirates, Frank Coonelly, and we had dinner with one of the owners, Robert Brooks. After dinner, Robert and his wife, Sue, gave us a tour of the stadium and we got to see the owner’s box and club – the kids had a fabulous time. The game was also rain-delayed, so by the time we got back to our seats, we hadn’t even missed much!

What a great night. The only problem was missing my dad, and my mom and I were both commenting how much he would have loved being there and seeing that. Miss you, Dad.

They’ve asked me back for next year, and I say, hey, take me out to the ballgame!

The women of the worship team

The keys station that I spent most of the weekend in.

Opening night

Backstage with Natalie Grant after her concert Saturday night.

Triennial was this past weekend, and it was a wonderful time. I don’t really remember when I’ve ever been this tired, but it was exhilarating to watch God work! I got to D.C. on Wednesday, had a tough time checking in, and then dove in head first – I think I slept 15 hours from Wednesday to Sunday.

We were leading worship with a team of eight women from all over the country. I was on vocals and keys. Also, several of us were featured on different worship services, so I got to share a sneak peak of the new video on Friday morning’s service, and share some of my own music Friday night which was a blessing.

There were women there from all over the world, and I was especially touched to talk with many of them and hear about the challenges they face as Christians in their home countries. Another highlight for me was just getting to know the women on my team – they are all serving God in such different places and ways and in such different circumstances, that was fun to hear about.

Difficult but rewarding. Exhausting but fun. We can sum up so much of the Christian experience this way, can’t we? Glad I’m part of the adventure.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. We finished up the video shoot and I immediately left for Chicago for the final rehearsal for Triennial, the national women’s conference held every three years. We practiced all weekend and then led worship together at New Community Covenant Church in Chicago. It’s a great group of women, and I’m really looking forward to the conference.

We also found out this week that “God Loved the World” is on the “Inspirational on the Verge” chart on Christian Music Weekly, so that’s very cool! Keep calling those radio stations – I really appreciate it!

I also got another blog review this week – you can check it out here.

I’m leaving in a few days for Washington DC to do Triennial – we’d love your prayers!

Some of the people from our world

Some more of our world

Shooting at Hocking Hills

Me with Jeff Kubach, the director

Well, my song “God Loved the World” has had a lot going on lately. It just came out in a musical from Lifeway, and was recently released to radio nationwide where it was the most added song on the Billboard Chart! This week we shot a music video for the song. I worked with Jeff Kubach who used to work on Survivor (he has very cool stories!) and we hit it off immediately – it was a lot of fun to do the project with him.

I really was surprised by how much work this was. We had a ton of prep scouting locations and coming up with the story, actors, props. There’s a lot of planning since we shot in 6 locations over 3 days and had over 30 people to coordinate. My goal, though, was to make a video that showed visually the message of the song, and I’m really excited to see it come together. I can’t wait to see how God will use it.

We are exhausted, though! The first day was so crazy (shooting for 15 hours straight!) with so many people to coordinate that I totally forgot to take pictures – that is very unlike me. Jeff took 2 just to remember an order for shots out of sequence, and that’s all we have until the last day. Bummer! I guess you’ll all just have to watch the video to see where we were. 🙂