Prophetic Moments, Vol. 1 Sharon Swanepoel
Sharon and her husband are pastors of Cross Community Church in Elyria, Ohio where a very anointed Sharon leads the worship team, often with spontaneous worship and praise. This CD is a sample of her gift.
by Mike Reynolds

	All the way from South Africa, Sharon Swanepoel

When critiquing others' expressions of worship, we must be careful. Worship, in essence, is between that person and God -- and God places great value on all forms of worship that is directed to Himself. However, there is a clear difference between what one offers up to the Lord in private or within corporate (i.e. in church) worship, and what one makes available to all who are able to listen to the CD.

"Prophetic Moments, Vol. 1" by Sharon Swanepoel is not music to just sing along to, or listen to casually. The CD booklet gives an idea of the contents of the CD: "These are spontaneous songs birthed by the Holy Spirit in Sharon's Heart. Rather than to 'clean up' the recordings to produce a studio atmosphere, we decided to leave them 'raw' to capture the anointing and flow of the meetings." And that's what you get 9 passionate, unplanned expressions of proclamation/worship.

Those accustomed to Charismatic/Pentecostal worship will encounter some familiar territory here. The "moments" apparently came after songs, during times of corporate worship. As such, we can call them "snippets" recorded when Sharon sang either proclamations of exhortation, or what she believed God was wanting to say to those present.

Because these "moments" took place and were recorded during times of ministry before one group of people, the rest of us lose the critical vantage point of context. As a result, you may spend more time wondering what happened before, during, and immediately after these "moments" than being ministered to yourself.

The considerable lack of melodic or lyrical structure is not necessarily a bad thing. "Breathe," a song made popular (but not written) by Michael W. Smith and a host of others, started out as a simple, spontaneous chorus during a planned, corporate time of worship. Still, there is close to no "sing-a-long-ability" to these "moments," and may discourage those who are looking for another worship CD to add to their collection.

While I do NOT discount their value within their original situation, in my estimation, these "Prophetic Moments" will amount to curiosities to many of us on the "outside" of the initial experiences. And curiosity is not worship.

You've got to be in attendance when Sharon leads worship to experience the full benefits of her gift.

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