A repost. As originally published on EV Mail News for the week of September 26-October 2, 2011.
http://www.evmailnews.com/eastern-visayas-mail-issue-of-sept-26-oct-2-2011
It was a night of "firsts" for us. For one, we've never been to a huge gathering of Christians before. Second, we've never been to one of the most famous and biggest stadiums in Chicago, the U.S. Cellular Field. It's the "home" of one of Chicago's two baseball teams, the Chicago White Sox. And third, we've never seen "televangelist" Joel Osteen in person.
It was one of the gatherings for his "Night of Hope" tour in America. According to him in his many interviews, a big part of his ministry is to motivate people and to "bring them up." There's just too much "negativity" going around in the world which brings people down but with too little or no encouragement. So it's his hope to motivate and bring people up for a change, he says.
It was a Saturday evening, August 6, and the weather was exceptionally gorgeous that day which lasted all throughout the night. I checked the weather report, it was 77 degrees Fahrenheit, a perfect temperature in Chicago's standards. There was the cool summer air, not a cloud in the sky, not a drop of rain, and when the "concert" began at 7pm, the sun was still out just enough to give some light for us to enjoy the entire surroundings and the beautiful skies. We were in a group with the family of one of my friends from work. It's always fun to hangout with friends outside of the office.
An estimated 25,000 people or more attended the gathering in Chicago. It was particularly a special blessing for me since as I've said I've never been to a huge gathering of believers all in one place before. The U.S. Cellular Field was teeming with people but it was not a scary kind of crowd. Each person has an assigned seat per ticket and there was no bad view anywhere around. Although we can't clearly see the people who were on stage which was set-up in the middle of the field but we can watch them on the big screen TV set right up in front of the crowd from where the concert was being shown live the whole night.
A choir of around 50 people (I'm just guessing because I really didn't count) was on one of the stages in the middle of the field and oh how they can deliver songs of praise! That's how it all began, the cue came from the choir who sang a couple of songs before Joel Osteen came up to the stage and began preaching.
As everyone who knows of him, Joel Osteen is a very good motivational speaker. He is known to draw crowds with his preaching and motivational talks. His home church in Texas boasts of at least 20,000 members. This number does not include those who come by to visit every Sunday. He speaks of his life experiences, and about his family and friends, that tell of the power of God to heal, to restore and on how God moves mightily in people's lives. He talks about how God can make all our dreams come true and how we need to "weed out" the people who bring us down. I also noticed he didn't even have notes that night while he was preaching.
To be fair with my reporting, I also have to mention that there were small crowds of people outside the stadium who were there to protest against Joel Osteen and his ministry. Sadly, some of them are Christians themselves which really doesn't help to promote the cause of Christ with all their protesting. This sort of brought our mood down a little bit. I was thinking that if we Christians can't seem to agree among ourselves, how much more can the "lost" possibly see the truth themselves? This is one of the sad issues we Christians talk about all the time but can't seem to overcome.
There are also some criticism against Joel Osteen that claims that he rarely quotes the Bible when he talks or preaches. This particular critique I've personally witnessed firsthand at the meeting that night and it kind of bothered me, I have to admit. Maybe this is why he has a lot of detractors and critics against his ministry? But I also have to make it clear on here that it's not for me to criticize and it's not my place to "correct" anybody. I'm just reporting what I've witnessed and also to share our family's experience at the concert.
The "service" went on until 11pm and people still didn't want to leave the place. Aside from the praise and worship songs from the choir and the worship leaders, there were several testimonies and life stories from Joel's family --his wife Victoria, his mom Cindy, his brother Paul-- as well as testimonies from his friends. There were also pastors and preachers from different churches in the Chicago land area who came out and got together that night to pray for and claim God's blessings for the city of Chicago.
There were stories of how great God is and how He only wants the best for all of us. It was all about positive talk, more encouragements and motivations, inspirational preaching and how to leave "the past in the past." The concert was aptly called a "Night of Hope," for Chicago and America as a whole, is so in need of the hope that only God can give.
The gathering ended without any mishap. We went ahead from the thousands of people who were still in the arena but the streets outside were already crowded with people who were walking to their cars, some were heading down to the train station to get a ride, and cars were slowly streaming out of the parking lots. The protesters already went home for the night. It was such a fun night that came with lots of hope and blessings for our family to bring home with.
http://www.evmailnews.com/eastern-visayas-mail-issue-of-sept-26-oct-2-2011
It was a night of "firsts" for us. For one, we've never been to a huge gathering of Christians before. Second, we've never been to one of the most famous and biggest stadiums in Chicago, the U.S. Cellular Field. It's the "home" of one of Chicago's two baseball teams, the Chicago White Sox. And third, we've never seen "televangelist" Joel Osteen in person.
It was one of the gatherings for his "Night of Hope" tour in America. According to him in his many interviews, a big part of his ministry is to motivate people and to "bring them up." There's just too much "negativity" going around in the world which brings people down but with too little or no encouragement. So it's his hope to motivate and bring people up for a change, he says.
It was a Saturday evening, August 6, and the weather was exceptionally gorgeous that day which lasted all throughout the night. I checked the weather report, it was 77 degrees Fahrenheit, a perfect temperature in Chicago's standards. There was the cool summer air, not a cloud in the sky, not a drop of rain, and when the "concert" began at 7pm, the sun was still out just enough to give some light for us to enjoy the entire surroundings and the beautiful skies. We were in a group with the family of one of my friends from work. It's always fun to hangout with friends outside of the office.
 |
| © Copyright, MMD Images, 2011 |
 |
| © Copyright, MMD Images, 2011 |
 |
| © Copyright, MMD Images, 2011 |
An estimated 25,000 people or more attended the gathering in Chicago. It was particularly a special blessing for me since as I've said I've never been to a huge gathering of believers all in one place before. The U.S. Cellular Field was teeming with people but it was not a scary kind of crowd. Each person has an assigned seat per ticket and there was no bad view anywhere around. Although we can't clearly see the people who were on stage which was set-up in the middle of the field but we can watch them on the big screen TV set right up in front of the crowd from where the concert was being shown live the whole night.
 |
| © Copyright, MMD Images, 2011 |
 |
| © Copyright, MMD Images, 2011 |
 |
| © Copyright, MMD Images, 2011 |
A choir of around 50 people (I'm just guessing because I really didn't count) was on one of the stages in the middle of the field and oh how they can deliver songs of praise! That's how it all began, the cue came from the choir who sang a couple of songs before Joel Osteen came up to the stage and began preaching.
As everyone who knows of him, Joel Osteen is a very good motivational speaker. He is known to draw crowds with his preaching and motivational talks. His home church in Texas boasts of at least 20,000 members. This number does not include those who come by to visit every Sunday. He speaks of his life experiences, and about his family and friends, that tell of the power of God to heal, to restore and on how God moves mightily in people's lives. He talks about how God can make all our dreams come true and how we need to "weed out" the people who bring us down. I also noticed he didn't even have notes that night while he was preaching.
To be fair with my reporting, I also have to mention that there were small crowds of people outside the stadium who were there to protest against Joel Osteen and his ministry. Sadly, some of them are Christians themselves which really doesn't help to promote the cause of Christ with all their protesting. This sort of brought our mood down a little bit. I was thinking that if we Christians can't seem to agree among ourselves, how much more can the "lost" possibly see the truth themselves? This is one of the sad issues we Christians talk about all the time but can't seem to overcome.
There are also some criticism against Joel Osteen that claims that he rarely quotes the Bible when he talks or preaches. This particular critique I've personally witnessed firsthand at the meeting that night and it kind of bothered me, I have to admit. Maybe this is why he has a lot of detractors and critics against his ministry? But I also have to make it clear on here that it's not for me to criticize and it's not my place to "correct" anybody. I'm just reporting what I've witnessed and also to share our family's experience at the concert.
The "service" went on until 11pm and people still didn't want to leave the place. Aside from the praise and worship songs from the choir and the worship leaders, there were several testimonies and life stories from Joel's family --his wife Victoria, his mom Cindy, his brother Paul-- as well as testimonies from his friends. There were also pastors and preachers from different churches in the Chicago land area who came out and got together that night to pray for and claim God's blessings for the city of Chicago.
There were stories of how great God is and how He only wants the best for all of us. It was all about positive talk, more encouragements and motivations, inspirational preaching and how to leave "the past in the past." The concert was aptly called a "Night of Hope," for Chicago and America as a whole, is so in need of the hope that only God can give.
 |
| © Copyright, MMD Images, 2011 |
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