Acquire The Fire!!!!

[Zarn Ishtare]

Well, it's been awhile since I've such good news to report, but here it is:



I WENT TO ACQUIRE THE FIRE!!!!!

Now, for those who don't know, ATF is a two-day event (Usually on weekends) that travels around the country getting people excited and mobile for Jesus. It brings together diverse peoples, races, cliches and tongues for one purpose: To Worship. There were MANY (MANYMANYMANYMANYMANY, ad infinitum) things note-worthy (Like Michael W. Smith), But the most important, most beautiful would be this:

Imagine yourself standing in the Sun Dome in Tampa FL. It seats 11-Thousand some odd people, and it's packed. Michael W. Smith has just started another awesome praise inducing song when this happens: "JESUS!" Clap Clap "Jesus"
Clap Clap "JESUS!". Imagine seeing it move through the crowd till every single man, woman, child and teen was screaming out loud, "JESUS!!!!" Michael on the platform, not even playing, but just worshipping right along with everyone else. Watching people turn to God before, during, and after that moment....I won't ever forget that. Please, you must go. You will never be able to hear enough or read enough about it to make up for that experience. There are several currently traveling the United States, all of them run by extremely dedicated people who work too hard for so little recognition. Yet they do it anyway.


I just wanted to share this little piece of my life with you, my brothers and sisters in Christ on CAA.

Godspeed,

Zarn.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Dang! Michael W. Smith. He's an awesome musician

[Stephen]

I have heard of AtF, and pretty much it was all good things. Glad to hear things went well when you went.

[GrubbTheFragger]

sweet i went to ATF in september and saw barlow girl and cross movement it is sooo awesome there. i went last yr also and i want to go to the battle cry event.

[mitsuki lover]

First what do you mean by Cliche when you say:"diverse peoples,races,cliches..."?
Second I doubt that getting over ten thousand people into a clapping frenzy can be termed in any real way "worshipping".
So what makes it any different from a secular concert where people do the same thing?
It's a pity that people need to waste there time at such events to "get close to Jesus and God" when ten minutes with the Bible can do it just as well and end up with a better outlook.
I advise people to avoid such nonsense.

[GrubbTheFragger]

what makes it different Mitsuki is that the speaker ron luce is a great speaker who speaks about God and his love for us not speaking about the joys of gettting drunk as some ppl might speak about at secular concerts. and i think it is kinda rude to judge others on what they concider worship after all every one worhips differently that just the way God made us. I worship better at things like this when there is a good worship band and a good speaker. And tell ppl to avoid such "nonsense" is highly rude cuz well u go to church don't you is that nonsense. No it isn't and thats what Atf is its like a super sized church service so basically don't knock something tell u have done research

[Zilch]

I'm hoping I can make to an ATF event sometime this year. I'd cost me a bazillion bucks, but hey, I think it's worth it.

[Lynx]

i've heard good things about ATF. ron luce is a good speaker, i've seen him speak on tv and such... glad you had fun!

[rii namuras]

(I've been going to AtF for the last three or four years in Tampa (since the places they hold them there are around forty to twenty minutes from my house), but I didn't go this year because I was in Georgia for a speech and debate tournament. My brother did go, however.)

(And yes, AtF is wonderfully amazing. Except the first year I went, where the sound system was terrible and I couldn't make out a word they said, though it's been fixed since then.)

[Zarn Ishtare]

Your negativity noted, I do understand your point. However, it will have to suffice for me to say "You should have been there" and leave it. There is no explaining the touch of God on 11 thousand souls, motivating them all at once, a spirit of worship so strong that you could physically feel the Breath of God. I will now leave you to your imaginings. (totters off in the direction of the soda machine O doom)

[EireWolf]

Second I doubt that getting over ten thousand people into a clapping frenzy can be termed in any real way "worshipping".
So what makes it any different from a secular concert where people do the same thing?
It's a pity that people need to waste there time at such events to "get close to Jesus and God" when ten minutes with the Bible can do it just as well and end up with a better outlook.
I advise people to avoid such nonsense.

As others have already informed you, not all Christians worship God in the exact same way. Maybe you would do better with 10 minutes of Bible reading, but others worship better in the company of other believers. You might advise people to "avoid such nonsense," but I advise you to cool off and think about it before posting such harshness. Many people are brought closer to God through this ATF event... so how is that a bad thing? (<-- rhetorical question -- Don't dig yourself deeper.)

[Zarn Ishtare]

Please note: We are not jumping you. We are not dismissing your intelligence in anyway. But please, before you comment on such an important subject as worship, remember that it's the person to God part that counts. Everything else is gravy and tincture.

[Vash is a plant]

I went to ATF with Zarn and it was ubber sweet. God was seriously at work there! I don't know about anyone else, but it changed me and it's now Monday, two days after the end of it, and those changes haven't left.

[Danyasaur]

I've never been to an Aquire the Fire nor heard of it 'till this year, and I'm royally pshyched to be going to the one in Dallas coming up! It's gong to be the cheese! I'm really excited, I love going to see a good speaker, and I'm a complete music freak <.< Michael Gungor! dude! I love his worship! *does a happy jig then frolics out of thread*

[Mr. Rogers]

I went to an aquire the fire a few months ago. It was very good. A wake up call if you'll take it to heart. A couple of my friends are going to start doing some outreach at the local community college, and I may join them if I start attending there. I would definately recommend them.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

You know, Aquire the Fire actually came to the Baton Rouge River Center a few years ago. It was a pretty big thing downtown. I remember that day like it was yesterday...I wrote abou it, among other things, in my live journal. Be warned: it's a little long:

I rode downtown and PARALLEL parked Ackie in a spot and started out on foot, my backpack always at the ready in case I wanted to go to the River Center branch library. (I have been known to hit three libraries in one day.) I then made my way to Repentence Fountain: A BEAUTIFUL fountain between the River Center and the former State Capital Building which has been there since forever and a day. Young and old were sitting around the fountain talking and kids were playing in the water. Owing to the Izzy part in me, I asked a couple of ladies what was all the hub-bub about. As it turns out, there was a teenage "revival" in the River Center. A group of teens had rented the River Center to have a multideominational "sermon" to preach to the youth in the community. Sounds like a good idea. Thing is, they charge people to get in (How much I do not know) and there were protests that they were making money off this revival, thereby making it a sin. Sounds interesting.

I walked under the bridge, my goal clear. I wanted to hear both sides of this issue and draw my own conclusions. All I got from the protestors was a pamphlet given to me by a six year old who looked really uncomfortable in his polo shirt and shorts. It was kinda warm outside, and I know that the last thing I wanted to be wearing was a wool shirt tucked in. I climbed up the stairs on the other side of the bridge by the levee, when a young guy caught sight of the paper I was just given. He stopped me and asked had I read it yet. I said no. The guy looked to be about my age, or maybe a year older. He then spent about five minutes explaining to me about what was really going on. He explained that they saved over 1,000 people in there the past two days they were here and that they were just trying to spread the word of God around. I held up my hands and grinned. "I'm with you." I remember saying "I agree. I'm just an ameturer photographer."

I was loosing daylight. I was siding up with the teenagers on this one for the plain an simple fact that their cause was just, and anyone with half a braincell could see that they need someway to cover their charges. HOWEVER, that's not saying that there were other places they could have had the meeting. Bethany World Prayer Center is one of the biggest churches in Baton Rouge, it has a North, South and, unless I'm mistaken, an EAST campus as well. Their main sanctuary on the North campus can hold over two thousand, and the owner, Larry Stockstill, would have gladly let them use it.

Anyway, after my photo op, (Which yielded over thirty beautiful pictures at angles I always wanted to get), I decided I had better eat something before I wind up on the 5:00 news. I made my way to the Shaw Center, took some pictures of the new exibits they had set up, and made my way up to the sixth floor, and my nearby sushi shack Tsumami. I ordered the Rainbow Roll (raw salmon) sushi and a squid salad which I have grown a warped addicion to. I ate by the fountain, reading a book on the Titanic while watching the young teens walk past, laughing in groups, carrying bibles, eating..PIZZA?! Not that my sushi and squid wasn't delicious, but it got my mind wondering where these kids got this pizza from...and not just one slice either. Some had actual BOXES of pizza. So THAT's where the remainder of the money went...its a known fact that many christian groups order pizza after a sermon or revival. So this really was a nonprofit thing.

I finished my japanese takeout and made my way back to Ackie. I had left my cell phone in there, "Accidently" and chances are, mom called. I was wrong! NO calls! Just a wrong number. On my way back to Ackie, I noticed a group of kids gathered around the corner by the library on main street. I had been subconciously aware of the sound of cheering and horns tooting, but I didn't pay much attention. Until I almost got mowed down by a guy running down the sidewalk. As it turns out, it was the same group from the River Center, encouraging people to blow their horns for the cause. I laughed and ran back to Ackie, maneuvering around the block until I got back to their corner, all the while trying to find a song I could blast that would be..."Appropriate". All of my music is edited, so there's no danger of cursing, but still...better save than sorry. I played "Heaven" by Solo and drove to the block. Grinning from ear to ear, now caught up in the moment, I let Ackie do the talking as I blared my horn, tapping the button for chirping sounds, and letting loose with an almighty blast. The teenagers were psyched. I tooted all the way down the street.