More Thoughts on Fan the Flame

Eleven days till Fan the Flame. I just sent information to one more church today, First Freewill Baptist in Charleston. It looks like they'll bring a group. Pretty cool to be able to get another commitment this late in the game.

Attendance-wise for FtF, we're looking for at least two hundred to show up, and I think that's definitely realistic. If we get that many, it's going to be a great crowd. If we get more than that, well, yeah baby, it will rock awesomely.

Even though it's a dream of ours to see the church packed out on August 25, I'm not too concerned about our attendance numbers. God will bring the ones who need to be there, and I believe His fire will fall on us. Of course, we still need to be doing everything we can in the meantime to get people there.

I know several people from outside our youth group have expressed interest in coming on this blog and others of my friends; and that's awesome. I would love to see a host of homeschoolers descend on FBC Branch for FtF; we actually have plenty in our youth group now, which rocks my face off.

Anyways, if any of you "outsiders" need any info about the event, just let me know; I think I'm in charge of information for FtF.

I do want to give a warning about the music, though. It's only fair that I let you know that it will be pretty loud. As the lead singer, however, I can assure you that there will NOT be a concert-type atmosphere, and all the songs will direct praise to God. We do several songs in kind of a rock-slash-worship style, but most of them are acoustic. We're even looking at featuring some piano this year, which I think will be fantastic.

Anyways, I wanted to shout that out because I know that homeschoolers sometimes have different convictions about music, and homeschoolers are currently most of my audience on this blog.

In the meantime, I would like to ask that my praying readers add another request to the list: rain. Each year we close Fan the Flame with a bonfire service; it's a special and unique time that has really made an impact on people in the past, and this year's bonfire service is planned to be the best one yet.

But it won't happen if we don't get some rain between now and then. After a rainy early summer, the floodgates have closed and it has become very dry. Our county, Franklin, is not yet under a burn ban, but it will be by FtF without rain. And we'll be unable to light our bonfire.

So please pray about that. I know God already has His perfect plan laid out regarding whether or not we're to have a bonfire this year. Pray that His will be done, for that and for everything regarding the event.

In my last post, I mentioned the class time on Sunday night with my youth group. They were such a blessing to me, sharing some of their concerns and heart's desires for the event. I believe that God is going to bless our group and use us to do a great work at Fan the Flame.

One thing I wanted to touch on in class, however, was that this event is really not anything special in a worldly sense. The band will lead worship. Chris and Dusty will preach the Gospel. We'll do some other fun stuff, eat a meal, have a bit of time to hang out. That's old hat for our youth group, if not necessarily for the visiting youth attending.

But I don't think it's what we do at Fan the Flame that matters so much. If we had Chris Tomlin there to lead worship, Billy Graham preaching, and a water park for afternoon fun, I certainly don't think our event would automatically become so much better. The key to FtF is not that the band rocks everyone's faces off in worship, or that Chris and Dusty mesmerize the crowd with dynamic messages, or that everybody has the maximum amount of possible fun in the afternoon. The key is that we surrender ourselves to God and allow Him to move in a mighty way in our hearts on Saturday, August 25. And if that happens, the event will be a smashing success.

So don't expect an all-star event a week from this Saturday. At the same time, expect God to do something amazing. It's what we're praying for.

Let the fire fall.