One Amazing Night

The crudely pasted panorama you see above was taken a few weeks ago, before the reality of aging parents and the downside of the circle of life took over. In fact, it was just a few days before that all happened. August 7, 2007 was the second (and final) day of our church's leadership conference. Over the two days, we had awesome teaching from John Maxwell, Matthew Barnett, our own Kevin Gerald, and the awesome United band from Hillsong Church in Syndey, Australia. Then, to wrap things up on Tuesday night, we headed out to the Puyallup Fairgrounds and had a Night of Worship with United.

Now, I had been a little nervous that we wouldn't fill the place up. I know that most churches that feature contemporary music do a lot of Hillsong songs, but would the general public come out to the fairgrounds? Well, my fears were very unfounded. We drove out there, and before we even got to the parking lot, we could see a huge crowd of people lined up outside the gates. Excitement! Extra cool because as conference delegates, we got advance seating. Walked right up to the gate, flashed our badges, and were whisked inside! Once inside, we heard that the people outside had been lining up since 11:00 that morning!! There were already way more people inside than I thought there would be, and about half an hour later they opened the floodgates and the place filled up. Completely. Look to the left and the right in that pic at the top, and you'll see it! We were so thrilled to be part of a church with the vision and ability to put on something like this. I don't know the exact capacity of the grandstand, but it had definitely been met. And when the music started, everybody was swept up in worship and praise, and it was an A.MAZ.ING night.