THE CALL
By Brenda J. Sell

My husband and I have been evangelists birthed out of Cypress Cathedral in Winter Haven, Florida since 1980. Reverend Quentin Edwards has played a very large role in discipling us and has become our Father in the Lord. He has been a great evangelist to India and other Third World Countries for 40+ years. I have always had a burning passion for souls. As a child, I would dream of touching people for God in an unusual but effective traveling ministry. Nothing brings more excitement to me than to see someone give their life to Jesus.
For years, I have tried to reach out to the people we minister to in the area of giving. So many people don't feel like they have a ministry and therefore do nothing to build the Kingdom of God. I tell them to find something they enjoy doing and then dedicate it to the Lord. Nothing is little in the work of the Lord. We are a body called to work together. I remember one time in Indiana, when we had been on the road for almost two months, and a lady made us some fresh ham & cheese sandwiches with Miracle Whip salad dressing, fresh garden tomatoes, and lettuce. After eating 3 meals a day in restaurants for two months, that was a gourmet meal to me. I couldn't wait for her to ask if I would like seconds.

I promised the Lord that anytime He directed me into public ministry that I would be willing to obey. When we are directing our worship to the Lord (vertical) instead of to the audience (horizontal) the anointing of God is evident and people are drawn to worship rather than watching the dancer.

There are several levels of dance in the church: Devotional (our private times with the Lord), Congregational (joining in with others in praise to our God), Performance (horizontal, telling a story to the audience), and Public Worship (vertical, focusing our hearts and affections only on God in a public setting).

I believe that everyone is called to dance in at least one of the levels described above. I have received many prophecies from many different people that confirmed what the Lord had spoken to me in private. The most unusual time was in 1995 when I was ordained by the Full Gospel Fellowship. The minister laid his hands on me and spoke to me by prophecy that the Lord would work in unusual ways through me. He was not aware of the worship dance ministry that God had birthed in me years ago. God always confirms His word and provides the ways and means to accomplish the tasks He assigns us to.

Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.
Proverbs 16:3

The point is, you may never realize how God could use you to bless Him and others until you start giving. Give, not only in your finances, but in your time and talents. You cannot out give God; after all, giving is a part of His character. He gave His Son, so that we can receive eternal life.

Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psalm 37:4

In the fall of 1985, I began attending a small Word of Faith church during the weekly services that encouraged praising God in the dance. As the praise music would begin, the pastor's wife, (Matti) would lead by moving in dance and the congregation would follow. It was evident that her focus was not on the people, nor their opinion, but on releasing her love and affections to the Lord in her movements. I call it an outward expression of an inward action. I had never seen dance so freely used in a church before, and it interested me.

Soon, it became a desire of my heart to be able to release my body and mind so freely to God . I would watch out of the corner of my eye as I sat on the edge of the pew for a better view. I just couldn't figure out how to move like they did without fear of stumbling or falling. I was intimidated! I definitely did not want to draw attention to myself by being a klutz.

One day Matti commented that she had been at a service where the worship segment was very intense. As she looked off to the side aisle a lady began to move to the music in worship and it touched her heart. She stated that she had never seen anyone move to worship (or slow music) before and it was a beautiful offering to the Lord. I asked the Lord to let me be a worshiper who could touch His heart the way I heard this woman had.

Not too long after that, Pastor Edwards left Cypress Cathedral and went back on the evangelistic field and we felt led by God to attend Carpenters Home Church in our hometown of Lakeland, Florida. Prior to our Southeastern College days, we had attended there, so it was like a homecoming to us. God always has a time and a season for everything in our lives.

We were received very warmly by Pastor Strader and his wife, Joyce. One Wednesday night during service, Sister Joyce led a group of elderly ladies who ministered to the congregation by interpreting a song with their hands, wearing white gloves, with a sort of sign language to the music. It was powerful! Even though it was their hands that did the physical interpretation, one look at their faces and it was clear they were expressing themselves from their hearts. Pastor Strader was so moved, he asked them to repeat it, but to teach it to the congregation first so we could follow along.

I felt such a release in my spirit as I was able to express myself through movement to the Lord for the first time. Isn't it amazing how something that seems so little, can be the beginning of something big?

These women had no idea they were going to be a part of birthing another ministry into existence by being obedient to the Lord in during a Wednesday night service. The Bible tells us that when we offer a gift to the Lord, we should give Him a good gift. It also tells us to "study to show thyself approved". I felt in order to offer a good gift in worship, it was time I studied how to move freely before Him. I enrolled in the very best ballet school that I could find. Near the end of the first year of training I took the 1st and 2nd Level Exam in the Checcetti method of ballet. The students are tested in small groups of four before a board of examiners who come from all around the country. I was 35 years old at the time. My teacher informed me that professional ballerinas generally retired at 35 and they did not like to examine students that were so mature in age in the student ranks in this system.

When I lined up to be tested I realized that this was true. The other three female students in my groups ranged in age from 10-12 years old. At a time in life when most adults retire, I'm just starting. I just laughed and thought that the Lord had a real sense of humor. Then I remembered the verse that says that He uses the foolish to confound the wise. We had to write an essay on what we had learned during our studies for this exam and what our intentions were. This gave me an opportunity to share with these highly skilled professional dancers how I desired to be able to express my love and affection for the Lord through my movements. I explained that I needed more of a movement vocabulary in order to do that. It was a wonderful opportunity to share the love of God .

I began to practice everything I learned at home. Every day I had my private devotional time alone with the Lord. I would pray and ask God to help me to express in movement what I was not able to say with my words. Sometimes I would be so overwhelmed with appreciation for what He has done for me that there were just not enough words in the English language to communicate. So, I asked God to help me pour my heart out to Him in my movements. I found I was able to release my entire being; mind, body, and spirit in worship to Him. I would turn on my CD player with CD's of praise and worship in my bathroom (the bathroom is my prayer closet).

All the walls are mirrored and it has a cathedral ceiling and plenty of space for movement. I would listen to the songs until they ministered to my spirit and I could sense the anointing of God upon the music and me. Then I would experiment with different body positions and movements to express the words and the general feeling the song proclaimed.

At night I would sleep like a baby and have dreams of being in the awesome presence of God . There would be a continuous peace over me day and night. I felt like I was in a very special time of my life where God was preparing me for something. and I was enjoying every minute of it. In the meantime, I had joined the worship dance team at our church. It was so wonderful to be able to share ideas and to worship in movement with others. I went to seminars and workshops at every opportunity.

I remember the feelings I experienced the first time I was asked to worship through movement on the church platform as a soloist. A part of me felt like it was an invasion of my privacy with the Lord, another part of me felt very honored.. My time with Him in worship through movement had always been very intimate and private. I thought about a bride going into her new husband's chamber for the first time. There is such expectancy, nervousness, but excitement to finally be able to give everything to her one and only.

Right about that time the song Come Into The King's Chamber was introduced to the church and it had a special meaning to me. I prayed about it. I told the Lord that I would be willing to break the privacy if He would help me to still be able to enter into His presence and release myself to Him like I did in my bathroom, as long as it would draw others to Him. I asked Him to always let me know if my movements or motives were not right when I was on stage, so that the glory would always be to Him.

God has been faithful in answering that prayer, even to this day. When people comment to me about what I am doing they always use the same expression of speech, the same phrase that the Lord told me they would when I was giving glory to Him. God has given me a vision to reach the lost and to bring deliverance to the hurting by the visual expression of movement He has taught to me and blessed me with.

God has given me a vision to reach the lost and to bring deliverance to the hurting. When a move of God takes place there is always opposition. There are always people who are afraid and threatened by change. Our church was no exception and we had a church split. Much of the controversy was over the choreographed dance. Many people felt like dance was fine as long as it was "in the spirit." I have seen people on stage who were performing with their dance, and I have seen people on stage who were ministering with their dance. It's a shame that most people don't realize that there is a difference. There is nothing wrong with rehearsals. Musicians and singers go to school, take private lessons, and practice what they are going to sing and how they are going to harmonize and work together as a corporate unit in a Sunday morning service. Dance is no different. In order to develop proper technique, poise, balance, movement vocabulary and visual appeal there has to be practice. To pre - arrange movements for a worship song is no different than to pre - arrange musical notes for an orchestra to play.

The Bible does not use the term "dancing in the spirit." This term is a religious term. What people are meaning to say is that the focus of the person is in giving their body, mind, and spirit in movement to the Lord without any outside interference. That is exactly what worship entails whether it be through movement (dance), musical instruments, or singing. Psalm 150 tells us that all of these expressions are appropriate to praise God .

Dr. Larry Hazelbaker, a Professor of Psychology at Southeastern Bible College, told me once that from a professional point of view, the proper term for what I classify as worship through movement is called EXPRESSIVE THERAPY in the psychology world. At first, I felt offended that something so holy could be classified as therapy. Then I began to think about it. One of the names of God is Counselor, which means He gives therapy to those who seek Him to find answers to their problems. I also understand that there are many aspects of God 's character that are expressive. He is a God who loves, who angers, who rejoices, etc. Therefore, the term expressive therapy could be descriptive of what takes place when we as Christians allow the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives. As we yield to Him, and begin to express our love and admiration for Him through movement, He gives us the tools to be able to overcome the attacks of the enemy in our lives. So, in a sense, expressive therapy is an appropriate term.

In 1989, Sister Joyce Strader asked me to teach the children of our church to worship God through their movement. I really wasn't interested in the position at the time, but out of my respect and admiration for her, I accepted the position for what I thought would be a short term basis. I was really very content to worship the Lord in my own little world without the responsibility of teaching.

Being the oldest of six children, I began teaching at a very young age. At 10 years of age, I taught a Sunday School class at one of the largest churches in that time. I began teaching sports at the age of 15 and became a professional teacher of Taekwondo at the age of 17.

I began to get the mothers involved as helpers and we were off and running. We had been practicing for almost five months on two songs we were to minister for Christmas. We had our first dress rehearsal on the Saturday night before we were to minister in the Sunday morning service. It was awful! It looked like no one knew what they were doing. I looked out at the 80+ members of our group and I said "Lord, we've done all we know to do. Our hearts are right, our motives are right, and we have dedicated all that we have done to you. Now, I ask you to bless it. If the kids forget what to do tomorrow, it doesn't matter to me because they are offering you the best they have and I offer these songs to you as praise and worship."

That same night when I got home, one of my helpers called me on the phone and said, "Brenda, I think we should cancel for tomorrow. They just look too bad. Nothing went right and I am frustrated." I told her that everything would be all right and we had to be willing to give God our best and allow Him to place His anointing on what we had worked so hard to give to Him.

The next day, the anointing of God fell on those children and they began to move in harmony with each other. They were truly dancing in the spirit as they yielded all of their members to God in worship. A professional dancer happened to be visiting our church that particular Sunday morning and commented that the choreography looked like a professional had put it together. That blessed me, because the choreography came from God to me, to the children. From that time on, I never worried about the outcome of what we practiced as our offering to the Lord. When we bring an offering to the Lord, it should always be our best, in an attitude of worship and He will bless it.

The Lord began to show me that the vision He had spoken to me that to reach the lost and to bring deliverance to the hurting had already begun. Children were praying for the salvation of their parents. Parents of children who had only come to church for the worship dance ministry had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and were now attending church on a regular basis. Several girls in our class had been sexually abused and were finding healing and deliverance in the presence of God .

One little girl and her mother were hiding from an ex husband who had abused the daughter and had to leave abruptly when they heard the husband had found them. The little girl had slipped and told me so she could say good bye. I began to realize these little children had major problems that only the power of God could handle. God was faithful to meet every need. A year or so later, we had a Movement Arts Seminar at our church. Charlotte Baker was the seminar pastor. She was truly anointed for that time. The entire staff challenged me to move forward with the ministry the Lord had entrusted to me through their teachings.

At the end of one of the services Charlotte was to have a commissioning service for those who felt a call into movement ministry. I didn't think anything of it. One of the mothers approached me and told me she really felt like I should go and receive from Charlotte because of my involvement in the Children's Dance Ministry. I really didn't feel it necessary. I was tired and had been at the church for three days already and it was almost 10:30 p.m.

Because she was so sincere and insistent I decided to stay and be prepared for whatever the Lord wanted to do in me (if anything). When I walked into the chapel, it was packed. I sat in the back intending to just watch. When she called people forward who were in worship dance ministry or felt called into the ministry to come forward for the commissioning, I waited until the others went forward and then I walked up behind everyone else and off to the side.

I closed my eyes and lifted my heart to God . As I did, He began to speak directly to me and opened up a greater vision than before. I don't have any idea what Charlotte prayed or did, but I know her obedience to God put me in a position to personally hear from God in a direct manner. A few years later Valerie Henry, an anointed professional dancer, was at our church ministering in the dance. Sister Joyce gave her full use of the stage during the after glow part of the service for worship. She was beautiful. Every move directed you to God . You could sense the very presence of God around her.

As I stood there with tears running down my face the Lord spoke directly to me again. He told me He wanted me to do what she was doing. I thought to myself "that is going to be tough. She is a trained professional from her childhood. I'm almost 40 and there are some things that I just am not physically able to do anymore". The Lord was gentle with me. He showed me that the key element in worship is a heart that is seeking God . What He wanted from me was to yield myself to Him and He would give me the movements that would be appropriate for me.

Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hand of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
1 Timothy 4:14-15