When I signed up for ACMNP I thought that I knew what I was doing. I thought that I would show up to my park and lead worship occasionally, but most of the time just have a grand old time running around the wilderness. Boy, was I wrong!!! At the Grand Canyon, worship services are held every. single. night. And our team created an expectation that you attend worship services even when you weren’t a part of them. We quickly realized that burnout was a real challenge we would face at the Canyon, so we decided that the best way to fill ourselves up on the Spirit was through worship.

We designated every Thursday night to worship nights, and instead of a normal service, we just had worship music for about 45 minutes. As someone who worships primarily through music, this quickly became my favorite evening.

Every week we would start to get tired and cranky and our hearts would slowly become less willing to go above and beyond the call to serve. But, on Thursday nights, we entered into a place of worship that was so thick with the Holy Spirit that we usually finished the night with tears on our cheeks and smiles as wide as the Canyon. I learned that it’s necessary to take time to fill up on God to pour out God. Thursday worship nights rejuvenated my soul and holding them on the rim of the Grand Canyon while the sun set casting pink and purple and gold shadows all around us fortified my faith and lifted my spirits without fail. Of all the experiences at the Canyon, I miss those nights the most.

Hannah A., Grand Canyon National Park, 2017