GodStock

It’s Friday night and we’re running on a low hum. Anxiously waiting for Saturday. It cannot get here soon enough. We’re waiting to see what God has in store for us. We know that He wants us to take our schools back, but somewhere deep down in the dark corners of our heart; we have a wee little bit of doubt that it is going to happen. All of the worries of where the money is going to come from are quickly fading away as God has already supplied for the needs and wants for this event. Now comes the God sized task. We’re praying for at least 1,000 students to show up and for at least 300 salvations. We’re also praying for the students to gain boldness to witness to their families, friends and teachers. We’re praying for a host of angels to surround the field and everyone as they travel in. We are asking God to bind Satan and his army, to keep him away from His event. We are praying for a good night’s rest, a cool breeze on Saturday, and no rain until we have cleaned the field. We are making out a list of last minute things that need to be done in order to help make this a “Giving God ALL of the praise” event. Now it’s time to get some sleep.

It’s Saturday morning, the day started at 6 a.m. Arrived at the church around 7:20 a.m. to meet the folks who brought in two trucks to make the stage. Thanks to EISI for the use of the trucks. Left for Hardee’s for breakfast, and then picked up the snow cone machine. Just praying for God to supply all the ice that we need, and then headed off to Sam’s. It’s about 11:20 now and the sound & lights are in the process of being set up. Drinks are in the refrigerator being cooled down. Some of the students are here helping out. Just waiting for rest of the folks to come and help.

“God, it’s all about you, not NHBC and not the students. Just show up and show out!”

It’s now Sunday evening, 24 hours after the event. We’ve had a good night of rest, worship services and a Sunday afternoon nap. Now we can reflect on what God has done.

Earlier, it was stated what the purpose of the event was for, through God’s divine power, that was accomplished. A young man gave his heart to Christ. That’s one more student that will be on fire for God and one more student for God to use in taking back our schools. It only takes one to reach one and the domino effect will take place as long as we do not stand in God’s way.

It was neat to see God working yesterday. A tarp was hung over the stage as relief from the sun and from any potential rain showers. Well…..God let us know real quick that the tarp was not suppose to be there so He took it down with a puff of wind. All afternoon, the storm clouds started gathering, folks were beginning to get a little uneasy and was asking what we were going to do. At that point, I saw a partial rainbow in the sky and I knew then that God was not going to let it rain. About 30 minutes later, I saw the other half of the rainbow. I started showing it to the folks and I think they began to realize that God wasn’t going let it rain on His event. He sent the clouds to block the sun and a nice cool breeze to give us comfort to continue to do His work. He ended the evening around 9:45 pm with a new child in His family. We worshiped, we prayed and we rejoiced.

God supplied a wonderful group of adults and teenagers to do His work. He made sure that all were feeling well and ready to share the gospel at any given moment. Even had one to show up after having surgery on Thursday! Now that’s God’s work! Be sure to talk with any of the teenagers or the adult leaders to get their side of the story. Each one was able to see God work in many different ways.
“Thank you God for showing up and showing out, even when we failed to trust you completely for every little detail. We give you ALL of the praise for what You have done. It is truly all about you.”

Four days til GodStock ’07 . . .

Is time going by extremely fast or am I just tied to a stump. GodStock is only (4) days away. The excitement is almost unbearable. I will send out an e-mail tonight with the line-up for the bands and our final meeting will be Friday night. Saturday will be a dead run from 10:30 am until. You may notice I did not put a finish time – some of us will be there until we are ready to have church the next day. The one thing that I am sure of is that this event is in God’s hands because He has pulled it all together.

Pray hard and don’t stop. We are praying for 1000+ people to be in attendance and 300 decisions. When that happens, I won’t be hard to find. I’ll be on my face at the stage giving God all the glory.

A note to the bands:
There will be a band meeting for all bands at 2:00 pm in the church gym. Please be in attendance. This will let you meet the sound guru’s and help getting the bands on and off the stage with the least confusion.
We ask that you bring in your band and instruments on the Golden Park side of the church so that we can get you as close to the stage as possible.
Be flexible. We are all in one spot for one reason – to see people come to Jesus.

Just a quick shout to all the New Hope students that are going to be in attendance:
Bring sun screen – it’s going to be hot.
Be flexible – we are learning and there will be problems to over come.
Have a servant’s heart – come ready to serve.
If you don’t want to sit on the ground at the end of the day – bring a lawn chair.
This is at our house – so we are the hosts. We have to work, but I will promise you, you will have time for fun.

To everyone else that is coming:
Everything is free – except: food (Chick-fil-a sandwiches, popcorn, etc.), drinks and t-shirts.
There is going to be door prizes (mp3 players, I-tunes cards, possibly a gaming system) so don’t forget to register. You have to be in attendance to win. Drawings will be the last thing of the evening for the big prizes.
There will be a lot to do – climbing wall, obstacle course, slides, bounce houses, non-stop music, etc.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and pray. I really believe we are going to see a great thing happen at our church this Saturday.

The vision behind GodStock 2007 . . .

For me to explain what GodStock is, I have to go back to the early part of my ministry at New Hope. Early on I was sitting around talking with one of our students and he said that it would be great to have a festival so that area praise bands could come together, play to a crowd and experience the fun coming from this type of worship. Now, we fast forward to a meeting of youth workers after we had returned from Meltdown in January of this year. We were sitting around talking about what it would take to move our student ministry to the next level. I shared what that student, months before, had shared and the idea took of and the vision began to develop. That vision developed even farther through what God has been teaching me over the past four months.

God has given me a vision and a burden for the school campuses in our area. Even now, I’m not sure that it is something that can be tied to just our area. This vision is continuing to grow and take a greater form with every passing day. Anyway, I feel that God has let me know that our school campuses are ready for a mighty movement of God. That being said – it brings us to GodStock.

GodStock will be a festival setting, for praise music and activities, for students that will be taking place on August the 25th at New Hope Baptist Church. There will be inflatables and climbing walls for the students to have fun with. Even while they are having fun with all of the activities going on, there will be praise bands on stage playing music. At the end of the day, we will have one last set of praise music leading up to a time when a guest speaker will bring the gospel. This year, the last set of praise music will be led by Jonathan Elrod and the band that he will bring with him. If you have been to Meltdown, then you know how great a job they do each year. Jonathan and I have been doing things together for almost 14 years and God has had his hand on him in a mighty way and continues to do great things through him and his talents. The speaker this year will be Matthew Elrod. Matthew is Jonathan’s younger brother who has his own ministry based out of Columbia, SC. I am excited about what God is going to do through not only Jonathan and Matthew, but what He is going to do through all of the praise bands participating. We have been praying for 1000+ students to come to this event and we are praying for 300+ decisions for Christ. What we believe is that God wants to impact our school campuses for His glory.

Please be in prayer for this event. If you can help through participation, we will find a place for you to serve. If you can help monetarily, we would love to be able to do give door prizes to attract not only students that go to church, but students that don’t. Any way that you can help will be appreciated.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and hang on. This ride is fixing to get fun.