Christchurch

I wasn't sure if I should head to Christchurch. There's an evangelistic rally over the weekend (28-30 April) and we've got Greg Laurie from Harvest (states), Audio Adrenaline, the katinas and steven curtis chapman... i knew i wanted to go when i heard SCC n the Ks but as my assignment deadline loomed near and i still had heaps to do + i'm quite behind my readings AND i had tests coming up... I din actually feel like going... i mean, it's an evangelistic rally! make space for the non-believers!

29 april. sat morning. i found myself getting into the car with the rest and off we went to oamaru where we had nice lunch at shirley's and we headed off again and... finally, Christchurch! we din have much time before the rally started so we checked into our backpacker's which was right in the smack of the city @ cathedral sq and headed off quickly to nowhere since we din know where the westpac stadium was. From the corner of my eye, i caught a glimpse of Starbucks within walking distance to our backpacker and was able to sit back into the seat and let the driver whisk us off to God-knows-where. Thank God Scotty has friends in Chch heading the same direction...

There were heaps of ppl already when we arrived and we managed to get seats nearer to the top. wat a sight to see an 8000-capacity stadium filled with ppl! I was kinda getting hyped but I wasn't sure what i was excited about. SCC? hehehe. I still had doubts about whether Chch was where i was meant to be that weekend...

worship kicked off but i wasn't paying too much attn. katinas went on and i was like yea, they're awesome but i'm not as excited as i should be. and by the time SCC went on, he kinda lost me. (sorry Steve, it's not about you...) i was questioning myself "why am i in chch? is it about SCC?" and i knew very well that it isn't. it shouldn't... and perhaps tt's y God chose that SCC moment to bring to mind faces. Faces of ppl I care about, of ppl I love. Yet, they know not God. and for the rest of the evening, i was really challenged about these ppl. What am I doing about these ppl?

Greg Laurie was good. i guess. (rmb i'm not fully there, too much going on in my mind. yea, i think too much). during altar call, it was so encouraging to see so many ppl swarming forward to make that decision for Christ. The view from my position was one of ants scurrying forward...

Some things that struck:

1. the UNITY of the churches in Chch. 100+ churches came together to organise this rally and it's really amazing to see the ppl of God coming together for His purposes. We may have some differences in the way we worship, in the way our services run, but at the end of the day, we worship the same God.

2. the conference was FREE! Harvest covered 1/3 of the cost! Audio Adrenaline went without any charge! Just as the love of God and eternal life that is found in Christ Jesus is made available and free for all, this opportunity to hear about His word and His saving grace was FREE to all!

3. Ppl out there are wanting to know God! perhaps the reason why there are so many non-believers out there is partly because we, as ambassadors of Christ, ain't doing our part to spread the good news? Christians, like myself, ain't just bold enough and we get bogged down by our own fears, our own timidity and our excuses of "I don't know how"...

At this point, I must admit my own scepticism about evangelistic rallies prior to this one. I used to think that we're not called to make converts but real followers of Christ and it's quite hard to follow up on so many ppl. and of course, u wonder how many that went up there for altar call are for real and how many actually follow through their decisions. Well, I'm not that sceptical anymore and we're still not called to make mere converts but if God is in the event, if God has impressed upon the hearts of the ppl enough to have them come together to have this rally, who am I to question the effectiveness of such rallies? I can jolly well sit outside in my own scepticism and have no part in whatever revival that God is going to bring. AND, if there is just ONE genuine salvation that night, just ONE soul that is saved, the angels in heaven are still gonna rejoice and be glad for this ONE sheep that was lost but now am found! Even if there's just ONE person really saved that night, the whole millions-of-dollars-worth event, was well worth it! Yes! that is the kind of money that God would invest on you. and even if it's you alone and no one else. in fact, He thinks you're worth way more than those millions of dollars. He did send His one and only Son to die for you on the cross...