I went to church on January 17 and God showed up. Going to church is always gloriously thrilling and spiritually transformational when God is unmistakably present for the worship experience.

This unforgettable worship service took place in New York City. Martha Jean and I went to the Big Apple for familial reasons. Our daughter, Miriam Godwin, and granddaughter, Hayley Godwin, were singing at Carnegie Hall and we had to be there.

I suspect we would drive across the country if one of our grandchildren were competing in an Emu feather-plucking contest or a chitterlings-eating event.

The truth is that about twenty students from Douglasville’s Alexander High School’s Honor Chorus and their sponsors or chaperones, of which our daughter was one, combined with seven or eight different honor choirs from across the nation to form a large choir. The choir, accompanied by the New England Symphonic Ensemble, performed Gabriel Faure’s Requiem in Latin.

I personally prefer “I’ll Fly Away” or “Sweet Beulah Land” for my musical fare but it was an incredible joy to have Miriam and Hayley singing in Carnegie Hall. Incidentally, they drew quite a crowd.

However, while we were in New York we decided to go to Brooklyn Tabernacle for the first of their three Sunday worship services. We were staying in a hotel near Times Square so I asked the desk clerk at our hotel how to get to the church.

She said, “You will need to go to Fifth Avenue and catch the ‘F’ subway to Jay Street and Borough Hall. Once you get there just follow the crowd.”

Within twenty minutes we were climbing the stairs from the bowels of New York’s subway system and immediately saw the flow of pedestrian traffic headed toward a large building two blocks away.

It seemed that everyone was going to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. We were welcomed on the street before we ever got to the church, greeted at the door and again in the vestibule, then again at the door of the worship center. Finally, a very kind and friendly usher merrily received us from the greeter at the entrance of the auditorium and took us to the front row of the church.

Five of the most hospitable people I have ever seen made us feel extremely welcome before we were seated. Then we were greeted by those seated near us. As I looked around the 3,000-seat auditorium packed with people I saw probably the most diverse congregation I had ever witnessed in my lifetime. Seemingly, there were people from every tribe and nation.

Within minutes the service started with a time of worship and praise. It was electrifying. After singing for about 10 minutes pastor Jim Cymbala asked for all of the people who were from Haiti to come to the altar. There must have been 150 Haitians at the altar. Some had lost loved ones in the devastating earthquake that had occurred only five days earlier.

The church ministered to those Haitians at the altar and prayed for them with great compassion. That experience alone was incredibly heartwarming.

Then there was more singing, enthusiastic singing, God-focused singing. It lasted for a long time – maybe 35 minutes, but it was so inspired and inspiring that it passed by quickly.

Then there were announcements. Cymbala announced that he would soon be baptizing 293 converts – that he had been working out and getting ready physically for the baptism, because he personally wanted to baptize all of them.

Then he announced that on the next Saturday they were going to give each member a purple flag and they were going to march over the Brooklyn Bridge and declare the name of Jesus Christ to New York City.

Later in the service the pastor’s wife, Carol, reiterated the importance of the march by saying, “We want people to join us in taking purple (signifying royalty) to the city of New York. We want to present a symbol of hope to a hopeless world.”

Then the famous choir sang. The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has earned six Grammy Awards, six Dove Awards, have been featured in The New York Times, performed at Radio City Music Hall, and appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Then Cymbala preached a stirring message on I Peter 3, urging the church to live under the banner of love. He remarked, “The world will not be as impressed by our music or our message as much as they will be impressed by our love.”

He declared, “When we treat badly those who treat us with kindness we are acting like animals. When we treat badly those who treat us badly or when we treat with kindness those who treat us with kindness we are simply acting human – even sinners do that. But when we treat with kindness those who treat us badly we are acting neither like animals or humans, but our actions are more nearly divine.”

It appeared that Cymbala was preaching to the choir, because the congregation already seemed to be characterized by a transcendent, “agape” love.

The two-hour-and-fifteen-minute service was concluded by the people joining hands and singing “Make us one, Lord. Make us one. Holy Spirit Make us one. Let your love flow so the world will know we are one in you.”

It was a powerful worship experience; and I sensed that the church was mobilized as a mighty, united army to fulfill their mission.

What happened on that Sunday morning was not an accident. It was the result of prayer. Many admit that the greatest event in the life of Brooklyn Tabernacle is the Tuesday night prayer meeting.

It appears to me that Cymbala has successfully called his church to resort to the Word of God and to prayer rather than the cheap substitutes so popular today.

Your family, your church, and our denomination needs to pray for the kind of love and unity that will help us abandon personal preferences and the kind of individualism that negates a Kingdom-minded spirit. As we seek to Empower Kingdom Growth, let’s be careful not to substitute “our” kingdom for “His” Kingdom.