Here’s what’s been happening at this year’s Festival of Tents.
…Your grace is enough…
…Ancient of Days… Daniel 7(?)
…I am a friend of God…
Dan Bumstead spoke…
Can we be the New Testament church? Little decisions that will change our lives forever…
Matt. 11:28-30
“If we believe in the power of Jesus, He will change our lives. That is the ‘rest’ He’s talking about. ”
=jb=
Here we are! So many people…it seems like a lot of new faces, but it’s probably just everyone growing up/getting older. Which one are you? 
The rain started before the service had a chance to, but hopefully it will stay light (or not stay at all) the rest of the evening. We’ll see what happens tomorrow…hard not to believe the report of the weatherman some days.
If you feel you have something to share–a testimony, word of encouragement, or play-by-play from your point of view–let me know! I’m at the back of the tent (right in front of the sound guys), or find me at the Camp Host area.
Friday night worship’s about to begin!
=jb=
Well, we’re nearing the end of the week after Festival. Still so much to process and “debrief” on. Admittedly, I’m one of those who swim out and hop on my board to ride the wave of the “Festival High” for as long as the wave will carry me. Not this time…at least in some ways.
The wave is different his year. The wave I want to carry me is the idea that Father’s love compels me to “run hard and finish strong”. I don’t want to ride a wave of “oh, how He loves me!”, but rather, “Wow, He continues to love me, and I don’t want to waste any time in honoring Him and loving His kids”.
I’m told that more info is coming regarding behind-the-scenes details and loose ends.
LOST AND FOUND
If you lost something at the Festival, please email coordinator@festivaloftents.org to see if it’s been found.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
There will be audio and video of the Festival available soon. Keep watching the website or this blog for more info.
NEXT YEAR
The Festival Of Tents has always been on Labor Day weekend. Unless something very unforeseen happens, expect it to be September 4-6, 2009.
=jb=
Well, this weekend certainly flew by. Just like every other Festival, there is more worship and thanks and fellowship to give, but never enough time to do it all to the fullest. Maybe that’s the point…
Today, there was lots of praising and dancing, getting baptised and getting wet, tears and laughter. What we see at the end is one thing…WE NEED FATHER! We need HIM! He is all we have in the world, and all we’ll ever need.
Worship tonight continues to call us forward, to minister to and praise Him, from that deep place many never seem to tap. Hopefully we’ve tapped into it. We give all we have to You, Lord.
Lots of prayer, lots of fellowship, lots of family.
We end on a solid-yet-somberish note. There is no dancing and praising under the big tent for hours afterward (not that there wasn’t dancing and praising). The call had come! Continue to surrender to the Lord! Not just for the Festival, but in our daily lives.
Let’s “lay aside every weight, and run the race that’s before us”.
=jb=
This morning, Floyd talked to us about spiritual authority, and the differences between (and the importance of) relational authority vs. positional authority.
“Doing something out of reaction always births dissent and rebellion.”
“The duckling being born to a chicken.”
Building vs. Blessing
There was so much to hear and think about from this morning’s message. I can tell that there is a lot of stretching and pondering going on in the crowd. I know that’s happening in me.
I love our family.
=jb=
Apologies for the late post…too much good stuff going on last night!
We continue to be challenged to draw nearer to Jesus during our worship times. We declare His love and faithfulness loudly! Jumping, dancing, yelling, hugging…at Father’s feet.
We were challenged again, this time with the ideas that church is not for us, but for the lost. He talked about walking out our God-given missions, whatever they might be, and to do it with the mind of Christ toward non-believers. He specifically called out two or three to pray about starting churches that revolved around their interests (motorcycles and rock and roll). We should hear reports back today sometime…Floyd said he’d be checking in with them, so I’d think he would do that here.
It seems like this comes back around to “being about the Father’s business”.
“It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. I have come to seek to save those who are lost.” (my translation)
There is a strong sense of equal parts celebration and sober reality about our lives in Christ. More on that later…
Well, after the 20% chance of rain became 100% rain…we awoke to sun and cold. It was beautiful, but cold.
Everyone seems to be in good spirits. A lot of family and community going on. Many more people arrived overnight and this morning. Many familiar faces to say hello to, of course, if only once a year for most. It never ceases to be a yearly family reunion.
Floyd and Sally McClung arrived this morning. I thought I’d heard that Floyd had been ill. If that’s the case…well, he showed no signs or hints of being so.
Floyd spoke about a lot of things regarding our character in Christ. He talked about Jesus’ example of “being about the Father’s business”, His baptism, and the character building He endured in the wilderness. He shared about Jesus’ speaking the Word in the face of temptation.
“This is My Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
I was really challenged to seek to please Father in whatever I do, that no matter what I do, to be about His business, not my “busy-ness”. If He is truly more important, then I will push the other things away to make room for Him, Who loves me so much.
What a great way to start out this year’s Festival. God loves us so much!
Here is a breakdown:
Right as people began sharing, I heard, “The Spirit of God is come!–to soak up our offerings of worship.” There was a picture in my mind of the sponge, hovering over us, full and dripping. The verse from Malachi came to mind, “Test Me in this, and see if I will not open up the floodgates.” The image was that God was soaking it up, only to wring it out over us, to cleanse, to annoint, and to bless His people.
This year’s Festival of Tents is off to a great start, I think. Let’s continue to come to His feet, to pour out the most expensive perfume on HIs feet.
=jb=
What a crazy day…we didn’t think we’d ever get here. Eventually, though, we arrived. It was quite warm…85, I think. I’m looking forward to some cooler weather the next couple days.
I know anyone can say this about any Festival, but I’ll say it anyway…there is a sense of anticipation here. What we *aren’t* anticipating is a lot of rain (even though it might). The “rain” we wait for–as most of us look forward to–will begin during worship…which just started!
=jb=
Morgan and I arrived at the park about 1:30pm this afternoon. I took some drive-by pics of the “barn raisers” resting after having completed raising the tent. I’ll post those pics in my next post.
There didn’t seem to be as many early settlers today as have been in past years. No clue really as to why…economical conditions? Busier schedules? <shrug>
It was breezy today, which is a nice change from past Festival’s. The weather this weekend is going to be perfect (in my opinion). Hopefully, the new “weather widget” to the right helps out to know just how hot (or not) it’s going to be for the rest of the weekend.
I didn’t really get to say ‘hi’ to anyone other than the Christina and Rod & Emery’s kids (well, most of them). There were very helpful in helping me get our tent in “sleep mode”. Good thing Timothy found a decent rock…
I’m back home, now, which isn’t too far away…but far enough that camping is worth it. 
We’ll be heading out tomorrow AM to become “official campers” at the Festival.
Hope to see you there!
=jb=
