Photos from Arizona 2023

One of the amazing blessings of leading worship at a recent event in Scottsdale, AZ was getting to hear the legendary Michael W. Smith perform songs from his incredible career as a Contemporary Christian Music artist and songwriter.

It is hard to believe that Michael started playing keyboards for Higher Ground the same year that I was born!

Two years later he released a song called “Friends”that he co-wrote with his wife. I remember singing that song in high school choir for graduation ceremonies.

Michael W. Smith was one of the first CCM artists that I heard and actually enjoyed. I loved the passion and the simplicity of his Worship album. 

It was an absolute delight to get to be in the room while Michael did a sound check. Then, after dinner, Michael was introduced to the stage and he simply got up, walked to the stage, sat down at the keyboard, and shared his heart through music and message for an hour.

I loved it!

It wasn’t exactly congregational worship, but it wasn’t purely performance, either. It kind of felt like we were being invited into his personal practice / prayer closet. He wasn’t unaware of our presence, but the presence of God was more important. It kind of felt like being invited into someone’s house to sit with them while they open a family photo album and reminisce together, journeying through the precious moments in time represented by the photographs within the album, and sharing just enough information to make you feel like you were almost there yourself.

Towards the end of his time on stage, Michael got up from the piano and began to share a story from his heart about the importance of fatherhood and how much our heavenly Father loves us. It was moving.

I definitely felt like I was in the presence of a living legend, but his only desire seemed to be to make sure we realized we were in the presence of God almighty. 

I deeply hope the people present have a similar experience when I have the privilege of being the one leading the musical worship. I hope they enjoy the performance—but more than that, I sincerely hope they are drawn into an awareness of the presence of God. I hope that they can feel the love of the Father, who is singing over them as they are singing out to Him.

Michael W. Smith opened the event by performing on Thursday evening. Then, first thing Friday morning, I had the privilege of leading musical worship (along with my bride on keyboard and vocals, Eli Beachy on electric guitar, Keith Byler on bass guitar, and John Irias on drums and percussion). So I suppose you could say that Michael W. Smith opened up for us…