by Jason Hershey | Jul 5, 2016 | jason, 24/7 worship, community, house of prayer
Jason Hershey, Founder DavidsTentDC
We just celebrated July 4th, America’s birthday. 240 years! I’m grateful for this county and the liberty that we have to worship Jesus, even publicly, without persecution. Acts 17:26-27 tells us why God puts certain people in certain boundaries for particular times.
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:26-27 NIV
Verse 27 tells us why God made America and put us in it. “That (we) should seek God.”
Hey! Did you catch that?
“That we should seek God!”
“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us.”
My Hershey family forefathers braved the seas to come to the “New World ” 299 years ago, in 1717. Their stated reason for the journey? They were fleeing persecution in Switzerland somewhat as religious refugees. It’s been passed down through the generations that they came to America so they could worship freely and express their love for Jesus as they desired. It’s my goal to keep that purpose of being here central in my generation. The first Hershey’s came to the New World for Jesus sake, not to make chocolate! That came later.
Hey family… If you’re a Hershey descendant… Let’s get together for a worship service next year for the 300th anniversary and renew our goal to seek Him and worship with all we got!
If your not a Hershey… Well… Let’s all seek God with all we got! One day every tribe and tongue will worship together.
For His glory, always,
Jason Hershey
(For the record, David’s Tent is not being funded by the chocolate- yet, at least!)
by Jason Hershey | May 20, 2016 | 24/7 worship, community, house of prayer, jason, News Update
Yesterday was day 250 since we kicked off David’s Tent DC on September 11, 2015. It’s also day 250 of a community of staff that lived in communal housing growing up together in the love of Jesus. I want to draw this blogs attention to the latter.
I sense the Father’s watchful, hopeful eyes on this group of full-time staff that have created a backbone that the 350+ other worship teams could build upon in the last 250 days.
It’s been very clear from the beginning that our primary motivator for doing David’s Tent is simply the worthiness of Jesus, as an offering to Him. We have fought hard (sometimes losing) to mobilize without using the common candies of the “significance of thisone,” popularity of men, desperation of America, or promise of blessing as the reasons for mobilizing our nation to this perpetual gathering in DC. The driving question has been, “Will America respond to simply the worth of God?”
And yet, I do believe, that if our motives are right, 24/7 worship and prayer in our Capital will release a great spiritual breakthrough in the United States, a great blessing to give back to the Lord. America is in fact in need of that! Day and night worship and prayer is a spiritual weapon (bombs away!) that does in fact demolish strongholds that set themselves up against the knowledge of God.
Meanwhile, in the inner city of Washington, behind the scenes of David’s Tent DC, there is another spiritual uranium beginning to be enriched each day, radiating the authentic glory of Jesus. The full time staff live in 4 community houses of 8-10 staff in each house. Each house has a married couple as the house leaders, with a bunch of singles. The community/discipleship house model was adopted to house the staff primarily out of economic reasons. How do a bunch of unemployed full-time volunteer missionaries live in a city that’s so expensive?
What I’m finding, is that we unintentionally stumbled upon a treasure!
“Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! What’s this?!”
The Kingdom is advancing in these united communities. I will dare to say that I’m witnessing a bond of friendship and love growing that few truly taste in the western church that so treasures our personal space at the expense of real heart connection. We bring in a teacher one week per month to impart into us to keep us from getting isolated as a whole community and keep us growing. We are all being fashioned into children worthy of the Father’s call. It’s been glorious!
I don’t want to make the impression that it’s all roses and no thorns though. Community living should not be over-romanticized, nor should it be avoided like the plague. Like any cross, it leads to true rewards. God is at work in the lives of our staff. I’m watching all of us being changed day by day, more into the likeness of Jesus. In the rubbings, testings and real workings out of personality conflicts is coming a community that is becoming truly one in real fellowship with one another that care deeply about each other’s heart status.
This stokes my jets equally as much at the 24/7 worship tent downtown. Let me tell you why.
Ephesians 3:10 says “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”
When the true church arises in real fellowship with one another, as one unified body of Christ, having laid hold of the gift of an unoffendable heart, and loving one another with agape love birthed from The Holy Spirit… Look out! The church becomes the teacher and the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms become the students. We get to make known to them the manifold wisdom of God. That’s spiritual breakthrough!
So the song goes on.
But so does the community.
Love God.
Love your Brother.
Love your Neighbor.
Above all these things, put on love. (Col 3:14)
Love conquers all. Boom!
For His Glory, Always,
by Rebecca Montgomery | May 18, 2016 | 24/7 worship, community
One of my favorite parts of staffing David’s Tent is the opportunity to spend time with our incredible staff community. Each staff member has laid down their life to come and lift up the name of Jesus 24/7 in our capital city. They just might be the most surrendered, joy-filled and devoted people I know. Getting to know each of them truly is a joy and an honor! Right now we have about 40 full-time staff living in community houses all over the city and serving in shifts at David’s Tent. My husband Ryan and I have the privilege of leading one of these community houses–our house covers the 3 am-9:30 am watch. In our home we have a total of 11 people: 7 adult staff, our wild and joyful 18 month old son Jethro, our yet-to-be-born baby due in November, and Ryan and I.
The Montgomery family
As a mom, my role in staffing David’s Tent looks a little different from many of the other staff. Even though my son often puts me a nightwatch schedule of his own (if you know what I mean), my time is spent mostly at home, not at the tent. Having been heavily involved in David’s Tent since the kick-off in 2012, this transition into motherhood and staying at home was very different for me. Not bad, just different.
These days my role is focused more on building community within our home and smoothly running our house rather than leading worship and booking worship teams. Both are absolutely necessary and important! In this season of my life I’m gaining a new perspective on true fellowship and the beauty of community, even in day to day life and the seemingly mundane.
Acts 2:46-47 says “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (NIV).
What I love about this passage is that it paints a picture of what daily life looked life in the early church, but that picture isn’t just worship and seeing people get saved. A key part of the early church was spending time together in their homes and eating together. As David’s Tent staff I love that we gather and worship at the tent daily, but we also come back to our homes to fellowship and break bread together.
One of several Community houses at DavidsTentDC
Just as I know the Lord is pleased when he looks at David’s Tent and sees our offering of praise, I’m convinced that he is just as pleased when he looks down and sees the unity and love of our community houses. This isn’t to say that our community is perfect or glorious all the time. Not at all! Honestly, there’s a lot of messiness that comes along with living in Christian community. There’s a lot of “iron sharpening iron” and that’s not always pretty at the time. God is using our community to refine us, sharpen us, transform us more and more into his image, and teach us how to love. There is a real transformation happening in each and every one of our staff members, including myself and my family! Often this transformation occurs in the seemingly mundane parts of life. It happens at the lunch table as we share our stories and dreams with one another, as we are real and vulnerable with one another and ask for prayer, in those moments where someone gets on your nerves and you have to decide how to respond, or even as we serve through cooking and cleaning. It’s in moments like these where the rubber meets the road and God has a chance to move in our lives to heal, refine, redeem and transform. Although community life definitely has its challenges, it is also filled with beauty.
This season of staying at home and focusing on building community, being a mom and a wife, planning meals, and leading small groups has given me a new and beautiful perspective on just how valuable community is. I am thankful that every day we get to travel to a little white tent on the National Mall and sing our hearts out to Jesus day and night along with worshipers from all over the United States and the world. I’m also deeply thankful that in the midst of this God has placed us in community, in homes all over the city where every day He brings transformation and healing to our lives. Community is messy, community is glorious and community is beautiful. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
Becca Montgomery
P.S. If you want to join our community of full-time staff, email staff@davidstentdc.org to apply!
