A Glimpse of Main Stage – Tuesday Night
In fervent worship led by Israel Houghton and New Breed and the CHIC worship band, as well as the powerful preaching of Steven Furtick, it is undeniable that many students left Thompson-Boling Arena Tuesday night stirred within.
A video from Thailand was shown to open the evening. Unfortunately, schedules did not match Tuesday night for a live conversation with the students who are serving at CHIC via satellite. Following the video, three men, each one representing a church member, relative, or youth leader of Kerrick, MJ and Rachel, prayed with Judy Peterson for the team as they conclude their time in Thailand and for those here at CHIC.
Next up Israel Houghton and New Breed led CHIC-goers in worship. The arena often looked like an ocean of hands as students waved their arms and sang along. “God is not mad at you,” encouraged Houghton before leaving the stage, “but He’s madly in love with you.”
Steven Furtick, a 29 year-old pastor from Charlotte, N.C., focused his message on 1 Samuel 14:1-6. Prior to this passage, Jonathan greatly failed, causing Israel to suffer the consequences of his mistakes. Yet in chapter 14, Jonathan looked at it as a new day and did not allow his failure to hinder him. Instead, he advanced by faith.
As he and his young armor-bearer continued forward on a slippery and thorny passageway, Jonathan tells him, “Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” Referring to this as the “Perhaps Paradox”, Furtick centered his message around this concept.
Furtick said, “I want you to receive a promise from God that will carry you through every day of your life.”
“Your God is big. His plan for your life is bigger and better than you could ever ask or imagine,” Furtick said. “Your message tonight is I want you to know God’s promise is bigger than your perhaps,” he said. “There’s more to life than retiring, buying a boat and dying one day,” he said.
Furtick justified his claim by sharing a story from his own life. At the age of 16, he said, God gave him a vision that one day he would plant a church in a city. Furtick and his wife began to pursue this calling. “Suddenly we had seven families sold out to this audacious vision,” he said. Now, merely three and a half years later, God has grown this church to over 5,000 people. What they have seen Him do is far beyond anything they would have imagined when first setting out.
Furtick closed by praying Ephesians 3:20 for the students and encouraging them with the words, “May God exceed your wildest dreams.”
this sounds awesome! Can’t wait to hear more about it from you and all of the kids!
I totally loved this message. It was AWESOME!!! This was a great experience.
This was my favorite message. I feel like Steven really spoke about what affects so many Christians in todays world. The perhaps is always scary, but its God’s promise we are called to rely on. It’s a reassurance to those of us who are often scared about what to do. The music was absolutely phenominal as well!