Sanc's "Riverfest" connections & preparations

Preparations: Last night (Thursday) was the counselor training session. Pastor Greg told us "If you're wanting to counsel to get a notch in your belt, don't do it. It's wrong! It's a sin!" No minced words, huh? He went on, "Catch that - it's not about us. It's about watching God as He is turning people from the power of Satan to the Lord Jesus Christ, by using the Word of God. We get to witness a brand new birth of a spiritual baby. You get to be there and hear the first sounds that come out of their mouth, just like witnessing a physical birth. You get to share their very first experience of new life."

Pastor Greg spent a couple moments discussing how God wants to use clean vessels and so right now we ought to take a couple minutes in prayer to confess our sins because He is faithful to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Well. My own personal walk with God has been a fluxuating mess of compromises, but, at that moment I considered the choice before me; more compromise which I am comfortable with, or, being ready for what God wants in two weeks. So I chose the latter and threw myself in. It dawned on me that no one is above being ministered to. I am sure Riverfest prayers are for the people who just stumble in and meet Christ at the festival. But those prayers are meant for anyone who needs them across the city. And I'm one of them.

Connections:I am so excited to be a part of something so powerful close to home. The park is about seven minutes from my house, and our church is only two blocks east! Last winter we had a ministry fair at our church and I helped Pastor Greg do an "outreach" table. He chose for the table: children's ministries, Birthright, and the homeless who live right in between our church and the park. We have the same ministries on the brain. I think about who will come, and those are it, the same whom I already am comfortable seeing when at Birthright.

I heard about Riverfest over a year ago and got excited for this mass evangelism/lifestyle evangelism effort. The thought of it for so long now, has been a huge source of joy in my life. Then Reid Saunders came and guest preached at our church a little while back. His ministry's theme? "It's all for Jesus!" He definitely is one of the "overanimated guys" you see sometimes in choirs, and he certainly has it going on everywhere with his gestures when speaking. But it makes people all the more curious to listen. He was saved when he was 17 (same age as me), he is now 33, and is married to Carmen, who I went to high school with. Carmen's brother's family goes to our church and is in our sunday school class.

A few weeks back I filled out a profile form to be a part and one of the questions was "explain your relationship with Jesus Christ." To that I answered in the lines provided "'Brothers, think of what you were when you were called!'" Guess what I heard last night Saunders is going to be preaching on? "The foolishness of the cross." Ha! That's my passage! Well, it's his too, oh, okay. (The two sentences are back to back in 1 Cor 1:25-26.)

Our church is deeply involved in organizing and supplying its volunteers. We are the church that is closest to the park and I will use it as a way-station for childcare and a parking spot! We're praying for 200 people from our church alone to step up as counselors to speak with those on the grounds who receive Christ during the eight invitations of the festival. Overall, 2,000 are hoped to come as counselors from the community of churches, and another 3-4,000 as general volunteers for everything from security to set-up and take down.

The most amazing thing about all of the events planned, of course, are the music artists: (sit yourself down) Avalon. Jars of Clay. Big Daddy Weave. Salvador. Free. Ooh. The thought came that I might just skip helping at all so that I can just soak in seeing the people I love in person. I remember at the Louis Palau festival in Portland's waterfront park, like seven years ago, I saw about a mile back from the stage, Steven Curtis Chapman play. That was cool. And I once saw Third Day and Michael W. Smith in the Rose Garden (I bought the tickets for Ben since he loves Third Day). But Avalon is my favorite Christian artist (the chipper Christian in me). Aww. I wanna crowd in and get all that loud, free meaning all just for me. This could be the best two days of my life. Who knows? I do know that if I didn't get to share in God's sanctifying work then the point of it all would be ultimately lost, for me. I love to talk to people about Jesus. I am glad I signed up as a counselor, and happy to think that God will use me as He pleases.

I am pretty pumped. Right now I'm listening to the opening tune which graces the click onto the Salem Riverfest website, "Dead Man" by Jars of Clay. My infant is a little curious watching his mom bounce out the suspension in her computer chair and dancing in the seat like a white man would. It's all in the fists, yo. Ooh! I invented a new move, the row boat. Can't you just feel the row-boat-move in the song?

Ha ha.