One Incredible Night
Last night
was one of the most amazing things I have seen in Africa yet! I have to be honest when I say that I never
expected to hear Chris Tomlin sing and Louis Giglio preach right here in
Kampala! What a night!
The Passion
World Tour is touring the world with the overwhelming message of “How GREAT is
our God”. My buddy Josh, our school
Chaplain, arranged a couple of busses for us to go to this awesome event as a
school. When Abbey and I first heard
about the event we were so excited to go, and then were completely shocked by
how cheap the tickets were. For adults
the price was 10,000 Ugandan Schillings (UGX) and for those under 25 the price
was 2,000 UGX. Translated into dollars
meant that adults paid $3.98 and the younger ones paid $0.80 for a ticket! At this same event in North America the
tickets ranged anywhere from $60 to $180!
There were
around 60 of us that went with the school to the event. We had a great mix of students, teachers and
parents that went. We arrived at the Makarere
University campus 3 hours before the start of the event because we knew that it
would be packed. We wanted to have a
good spot kind of up close to the stage where the group could really feel like
a part of the event. It worked out really
nicely because we were all really close to the stage and right in the center! As more and more people packed into the
field, it was amazing to look out and see so many Christians gathered together
to celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ! By
the end of the night there were thousands (if not tens of thousands) of people
who gathered together on that field… Christians from all over Africa and
missionaries from all over the world; each with their own story of how God had
led them to Uganda.
I have heard
a Chris Tomlin concert before in the States, and it was powerful then. Africans, though, REALLY know how to worship
with their full voices and hearts!
During most of the songs, I could hear the voices of thousands of people
singing just as loud as the sounds coming through the sound system. EVERYONE was involved and singing and
praising our Lord. I especially liked
when Chris sang his songs “How great is our God” and “We raise our white flag”. Maybe the coolest moment of the Tomlin part
of the night, though, was when he started singing “Indescribable”. As soon as he played the first note of the
song, the crowd erupted in one of the loudest cheers I have ever heard. The cool part is that Chris Tomlin’s face
(along with his band members) was so genuinely surprised and shocked by the
volume of cheer that he had to step away from the mike and stop the song. He just kept smiling and smiling until he
finally gathered himself and started anew.
The hills were echoing with the sound of so many people singing “You
placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name, You are amazing God”! All this was sung under a perfect Ugandan sky
and a beautiful full moon. Christy
Knockles was also at the event and she sang her unbelievably beautiful song “Waiting
here for you”.
When Louis
Giglio preached it was also VERY powerful.
If you have never seen his videos called “Indescribable” and “How Great
is our God” I would highly recommend it.
He is very excited about nature and the solar system and how all the
heavens and earth cry out praises to our Lord.
He read the words of the Psalmist and then proceeded to share some
amazing ways that the universe cries out worship to our Creator. The highlights of the sermon included playing
some unbelievable noises that come from stars that have exploded and then drawn
back into a spinning mass called a pulsar.
We have radio wave high powered telescopes now that record sounds coming
from space and to hear the sounds that come out of these pulsars was quite
spectacular. It sounded like a symphony
was playing music to praise our God! In
a brilliant twist, Giglio combined the sounds of the pulsars with the beautiful
songs of the humpback whale to give an example of how all of nature is in a
constant state of worship to Jesus Christ.
The sounds were so overwhelmingly beautiful that I cannot imagine the
kind of sound that our God gets to hear on a constant basis coming from all
corners of the universe.
We made it
back to the school around midnight and were pretty worn out but what an amazing
experience. The timing was perfect,
also, because spiritual emphasis week just ended at our school and there is a
continually growing presence of the Holy Spirit on our campus. The reason that hearts seem to be opening
more and more to His Word is that the movement is being led by the students
themselves. I don’t know if I’ve ever
seen anything quite like it. Students
are starting Bible studies, sharing their testimonies and witnessing to their
peers in a way that no teacher or parent could ever do. Please continue to pray for our school and
for this nation. Jesus is showing His
presence in a very powerful way here and I pray that nothing will hinder the
continued growth of His followers.
Goodnight my
friends! We miss you all and think of
you often. I’m sorry that I am so
horrible at keeping in touch with all of you and that we don’t update this blog
very often. Life, as usual, seems to be
spinning around so quickly! God bless
and we will talk again soon.
In Jesus
Christ,
Ernie
