The Christmas Collection
Once upon a Christmas
A Partridge Family Christmas Card
White Christmas
Walking with God: Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really.
Prayers That Rout Demons
To the Lion: The Christian in Tension
Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God
Heaven Fest, They Came
Posted on Monday 28 July 2008 by Jeanie @ 1:27 pm
Filed under: Memories and Stuff I actually think and Worship
“If you build it, they will come,” from the movie Field of Dreams, is one of my favorite lines ever. We worked and labored, we sweat and even cried a little, we planned and double-checked everything we could think of. But near the day you wonder: will anyone actually come?
The gates opened at 10 am and the people started pouring in, and pouring in, and pouring in. There were cars as far as the eye could see on the east and on the west and the south. They just kept coming. We ran out of wristbands and had to make a quick run for more. By late afternoon, according to Front Gate, it looked like we had over 12,000 on the grounds. And still, cars were arriving.
I am at a loss to know how to describe the things that happened.
Amazing ministry went on at 7 different stages. Worship filled the air everywhere you turned. Diversity, all colors and races, the straight-laced with hands raised next to the multiple-pierced and tatooed with giant spiked hair. Urbanity and suburbanity seeking God side by side. It was a “field of dreams.” It was built. And God came.
Many made a decision to follow Jesus. 300 responded to the altar call by Seventh Day Slumber alone. Almost 60 people were baptized. It was very hot when an elder in the Body of Christ worried that people would burn and began to pray. Soon, right over the festival grounds, but nowhere else, it seemed, a giant cloud-canopy showed up and provided protection. People were in awe.
There is so much to say, I barely know where to begin, so I’ll let this be the beginning. These are the three things I am praising God for today:
- For His favor on this event and for showing up.
- For all the miraculous provision - the stories of which are still pouring in.
- For the people with whom I got to work, the ones I knew before and the ones I met through this experience, but especially the staff, my ones: Dave and Tara, Luke and Tredessa.
There will be more, I assure you…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Recall, remember and write for posterity.