Jun

23

Day 4 and 5 at the Dream Center

Post Category: Blog Posts, Dream Center 

We’ve been busy yesterday and today with the Elevate Conference that is taking place this week at the Dream Center. As part of the short-term missions team we helped out with some of the details and got to sit in on some of the sessions.

David HanleyLast night was the Elevate Worship concert. Prior to the concert David Hanley (left)�lead a session on Elevating your Creativity. He talked about the importance of having a 23.5 hour worship lifestyle (meaning, it’s not what we do with the 30 minutes on stage, it’s how we live the other 23.5 hours of our day). They definitely pulled out all the stops for the concert. The confetti cannons shot off during the first song as we all jumped up and down at the front of the stage. They threw in some guitar riffs from U2 and Coldplay in between songs�and dropped an American flag down to cover the stage as they sang “Sweet Home California.” Acrobats jumping amazingly high off of a trampoline while backflipping over and over and a group of percussionists played on trash cans and plastic drums. Throughout the worship concert various came out of the crowd as they were played their solos. You just didn’t know what to expect next. It was awesome.

After the service we headed back to the Dream Center for the kick-off of the Dream Shot. Pastor Matthew Barnett committed to throw basketball free-throws for 24 hours straight to try and raise 1 million dollars for the Dream Center. At 9:30 PM he threw his first shot and has been steadily throwing free throws since then. He’s only taken two 30 minute breaks and a couple of 15 minutes break in the last 15 hours.�Our group made some banners and has�been popping in throughout the day today to cheer him on. As of a few minutes ago he had made just over 11,000 shots! There have been lots of people who have partnered with the Dream Center already to help reach the 1 million dollar goal. If you’re interested in giving an online donation click here. Pastor Matthew will be concluding his 24 hours of free throws at 9:30 tonight so we’ll all be there to watch the exciting conclusion!

This morning we participated in a huge community-wide “Random Acts of Kindness.” Our group along with about 500 other people dispersed throughout L.A. to give free car washes, pay down people’s gas, give free ice cream, and lots of other cool things. Part of our group washed cars for free for a couple hours while the rest of them paid down people’s gas at a gas station (once people realized what was going on there was quite the traffic jam at the station!).

Tomorrow we’ll be going on the bus ministry pick-up down at Skid Row to pick up homeless people to go to Church with us. I’m looking forward to the service - they are just so much fun! We have a CD of Press Play that we’ve been blaring at full volume in the van while we all sing along. I’m not sure how much of a voice I’ll have left by this weekend!

Thanks for all the awesome comments! The kids love them!

Comments

No Responses to “Day 4 and 5 at the Dream Center”

  1. Heather on June 25th, 2007 1:08 pm

    That’s sounds like an amazing week! And all the pictures are so capturing of the moment! Amazing, and brad your a good writer!

  2. Heathr on June 25th, 2007 1:12 pm

    Sounds like you are all having fun! And all the pictures are beautiful! Brad your a good writer!

  3. susan smith on June 25th, 2007 10:07 pm

    Hey all just found your blog and as most of you know this is really hard for me to navagate the “PC” but glad that you are sending this infor with the pictures. For the “Big Kids” thanks for going with and taking the time to show our kids another way to serve GOD. And to all the kids keep your hearts open and bring home and use your new found talents that I am sure God is showing you–Love you all and stay SAFE!! Have a great trip home–Susan

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