Hi all!

I just wanted to tell you about our exciting weekend! Al & I were part of the Franklin Graham Festival at the MTS centre. It was huge! The overflow flooded into Calvary Temple (1700 people) and last night they turned hundreds away from there as well. The largest gathering of Christians I've seen outside of Urbana! We volunteered as counsellors. We took the five week class called "Christian Life and Witness." It was about how to lead someone to the Lord and contained a lot of Bible verses.

The music was amazing - worship music, bands like Paul Brandt, Rebecca St.James, Tree 63, Newsboys, Casting Crowns, and Michael W. Smith. What I liked the most was just feeling the awesomeness of so many Christians singing praises to God, IN MY CITY! Al said one thing that touched him was the chinese community reaching out - there was a mandarin and cantonese interpreter each night (headsets available). Also counsellors in their languages.

There were hundreds of people who came forward each night. I haven't heard any numbers, but we both got to counsel 4-5 people, including a young couple last night. The wife was already a christian, but her husband made a commitment last night and she came to stand with him. I talked to her while Al prayed with him. We prayed with them together and invited them to our neighbor Alpha study! We'll see what happens.

We both felt this was not only for people to come to know the Lord, but for the church of southern Manitoba to be united and inspired to reach out to their neighbors. It really brought a spirit of cooperation to the churches, which we thought was excellent.

Brenda