This Week in SpiriTed

With Jonathan Richard Cring

Jonathan Richard Cring and Janet Clazzy

Thank you again for the fabulous service Sunday.  I have had so many good reports and pleas from the church that you must come this way again on your next tour to the west coast.  Sunday was an inspiration to us all; the music was exceptional; the spoken word positive, challenging and to the point; as pastor/preacher I appreciated the contact with the audience in your delivery.  We all went away understanding we are all equal in Jesus' sight and therefore "No one is better than anyone else." (That's in the Bible, too).  Thank You for taking the gifts that God has given you and sharing it with our world.
Jonathan and Janet, you are a blessing.  Hope to see you again;
Pastor Sam, Windsor Hills Community Church, LA Mesa, CA  April 15, 2012

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Dear Jonathan…

                What a wonderful worship time we had together on Palm Sunday… I wanted to share with you what a God filled moment it was… After the first service, and the story you shared about the voice you heard calling out to you in the middle of the night, I thought what a powerful story that I know hit home with a lot of people… I was looking forward to hearing it again the second service… however, when you shared a different story… your story of your son getting hit by a car… I got goose bumps… not just because my heart went out to you… but because I had been working with a young man who has been in and out of jail and trying to get his life back on track… he was like the young lady you mentioned in the first service… his parents had been trying to get him to come to church for years because of the transforming power Jesus Christ would have in his life… but he always found a way to avoid it… most recently when he was in jail.. I went to visit him because his own son had been hit by a car while he was in jail… he felt totally helpless and angry because he couldn’t be there for his son… however… since he got out of jail and is on intensive probation… I have been meeting with him and building a faith based relationship between us… the good news is he was in church the second worship service on Palm Sunday and heard your story about your son being hit by a car which opened the door for he and I to sit down and talk about his son’s accident as well… we talked about his future.. how he felt.. and who can offer the answer to his anger, frustration and doubt…  we sat together on the steps of the chancel area in the sanctuary and talked, cried and then reaffirmed his willingness to  participate in our Maundy Thursday worship service where we will be doing the Living Dramatization of The Last Supper…  and he will be playing Thomas…  God really does work in marvelous ways… May God continue to bless you and use you as instruments of God’s will….

In God’s Grace…  Rev. Bob Holliday   First United Methodist Church of Safford, AZ,  April 1, 2012
 

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On March 25th Jonathan and Janet brought their Six Words tour to New Spirit Lutheran Church in Tucson, AZ.   The response of the congregation has been nothing less than "oh, when can we have them back?"  The simplicity of the message was woven with amazing music and song.   Both Jonathan and Janet bore out their adopted name, for they are truly spirited in the best sense of the word.  At the end of our Lenten journey this was a refreshing note to end Lent, and to step into the drama of Holy Week. Thank you, Jonathan and Janet!  We have been blest by your brief presence among us.    Pastor Alan Field  New Spirit Lutheran – ELCA  Tucson, AZ  Sunday March 25, 2012.

A Note From Dr. Wagner