This February found a large part of our group attending Acquire the Fire, a youth conference put on by Youth for Christ. Several of the adults “chaperoned” several of our middle-school and almost middle-school kids. Andrea, Jim, and Jessica P. got to the arena early and Jessica got us great seats in our section, just a few rows from the floor with open space below us, giving us a place to rock out.
It was a wonderful event for all of us. Ron Luce seemed to speak to kids and adults alike, the concerts were loud and heavy, and Uninhibited was an awesome worship band. As the night wore on Friday night we could feel the chains falling off our worshipping, and by the time The David Crowder band came on stage, we were ready to hop. And we were not disappointed. Crowder brought a wonderful mix of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Texas drawl and celebrative worship that had some of us dancing on the floor. The arena shook with 10,000 people pogo-dancing.
We spent Friday night at a local hotel. We focused our devotions on Jesus saying to the disciples that unless you become like one of these, a little child, you cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. We discussed what a child-like faith would look like and asked what it would be like to worship with a child-like joy. Usually at ATF it is a long night but with our mix of younger kids and older adults it was lights out
Jessica, Chris, and Lisa went early on Saturday to once again get good seats, and this time Jessica got the front rows. If you ever go to a concert or event take Jessica with you; she is quietly aggressive and awesome at getting the best seats.
We were tired Saturday but still found our inhibitions falling off as we worshipped and learned. ATF presented the drama the Bema. Some of us had seen it before and it lost a little of its power in the small venue, but it still carried a good message. Meghan joined us for the day and seemed to love all of the noise and lights and attention. We had lunch at a local restaurant close by, good food but a little expensive. By the afternoon we were throwing up our “Rawk Fist” and dancing in the aisles and on the floor. The concerts in the afternoon were geared for a little heavier rock sound and some of our more sensitive ears walked the venue instead.
The VanAndel was a pretty cozy venue for this event and it was easy to get around. You can be sure that it was filled with quite a few CRC kids and you could feel the worship growing every time the band came out. By that night you could feel the Spirit moving throughout the stadium as we let our “lights” shine. By the time the band came out for the final worship we truly felt free to run, free to dance.
I received an email from the local director the day after the event that they were not sure if they were going to return to Grand Rapids but that after the weekend they booked it for the next two years.
So, next spring, we’ll be there again, hopefully a few more of us, growing in our faith, worshipping uninhibited, and thanking our awesome God for all He has done.
