Brief Time Of Unity

Near the start of this journey I was blessed to witness a great moment of Christian unity. In Oct 2006 - yikes time has flown - Franklin Graham came to town for 3 days of meetings.

I was part of over 1000 volunteers who took 5 evenings of training to be councilors at the event. They dealt with all the important basic beliefs we all cherish. We were trained to share with people that came forward at the event how they could have peace with God, going through a booklet like this: http://www.billygraham.org/SH_StepsToPeace.asp They also provided other reading materials, and small group study material to work with people that made decisions to follow Christ.

I was pleased to discover that there was a catholic lady from my workplace that was also taking the training. A number of catholic churches were involved. We chatted a bit at work about how we were a bit nervous about doing this - a bit out of our comfort zone, but mostly it was obvious that we were both very excited about this opportunity.

I thought it was great that so many Churches could put aside their differences for this, and work together to help others find peace with God.

Well, the Franklin Graham Festival was great. God was there, and the Holy Spirit was at work. We had an an amazing time singing praises to our Lord, together as 14000 Christians each of the 3 nights, from over 200 participating church communities. Too bad our city didn't have a bigger arena as people were turned away. I don't know the official numbers, but there were hundreds of commitments each night. I had the privilege of sharing and praying with two 12 year old boys who made 1st time commitments to Jesus, and with a mid-40's man who made a re-commitment to renew his faith. Glory to God!

What I still find amazing about that event was that somehow most churches are willing to put aside their differences and work side by side during a Graham event. They are even able to agree to use the text of a booklet that shows steps on how to have peace with God. If we can agree to what is necessary to have peace with God... what other topic can trump that? Isn't that message what it is all about. The little details that divide seem small when compared to that.

The other memory I have is being in the arena with 14000 others singing "All God's Children Singing Glory Glory He Reigns" (with the Newsboys). And it really felt like that we were singing praises to God as all of His children.... I can't wait till heaven so I can sing like that again with all my brothers and sisters again!