We are back from One Day, but I certainly have not recovered yet! This event like all other things had both it’s good and bad sides.
The Good Side:
| 1. The praise and worship music was excellent. With Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, Nathan and Christy Knockles, Matt Redman, Shane and Shane, and many more. I would have to say that these are some of the best worship leaders and song writers of our time and God uses them in such a way that simply brings the people into a spirit of worship. | 
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2. The speakers were also excellent including, Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, and John Piper. From 10:00 Monday morning to 11:00 Monday night there was non-stop praise and worship and preaching on this huge stage that was set up out in the middle of a big field. |
3. Even though there were large crowds of people I was fairly impressed with the attitude and feeling of the people around us. 30,000 people piled into a big field and yet as we were worshiping Monday night all the peole around us were just simply praising God and worshiping Him with thousands of voices all around us crying out in the nights sky to Jesus. It was a wonderful feeling to hear and see all of these people praising God and it is hard to imagine that that is not even close to the tremendous worship that will take place in heaven. I am in awe that the greatness of God and His inconceivable size and might!
| 4. There was a large tower that they read scripture from. They started Saturday and read the entire bible over the field all the way through Sunday. | 
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5. The weather was excellent on Monday. There was no rain and it was cool which is a rare thing in Texas. I was grateful for that.
6. All the free bottled water you could drink. All around the field they had large tubs filled with ice and thousands of bottles of water that you could have for free.
The Bad Side
1. The deadly sun. You know they say everything is ‘bigger’ in Texas and apparently that goes for the sun too! It decided to pour out it’s mighty UV rays of death upon my head and basically slowly bake my skin. My arms are bright red, my ears and the back of my neck were burnt as well, but worst of all is my forehead which is now sporting some rather large blisters. I am in a tremendous amount of discomfort and pain at this point. Sun screen would have been smart, GRRRRRR!
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2. The registration wait. Speaking of things being big in Texas the wait to get in and out of the back roads of Bells and Sherman Texas was simply unbearable. We got there when most of the crowd had cleared out so our wait was shorter but still consisted of at least an hour and a half and maybe two hours. When it was earlier in the day they were saying that the wait to get through the registration part was a good three to five hours! Around 30,000 people showing up in cars, trucks, vans, and buses. |
3. Our own stupidity (mostly Chris’s). While we were waiting in the long lines to get in we realized that we didn’t get gas. A lot of the time the traffic was just stopped and on several occasions the car would be stopped on a hill making the gas gauge go down and the gas light come on. Well Mr. Wright seems to have a tremendous fear of running out of gas so the whole two hours was a miserable experience of him whining and crying and cussing and banging on the steering wheel and sighing, and screaming, and shutting the engine on and off and on and off again. We ended up parking, staying at One Day for a little bit and then going back in to the car and back to town to get gas so that he could get it off of his mind and concentrate on the event itself. As we got gas it was discovered that there was still a good three gallons of gas left in the tank and we could have drove another 90 miles on that! *SIGH*
4. The Hotel. We stayed in a hotel about 30 to 40 minutes away from the One Day field which was simply a nasty hole in the ground. Although I have seen worst hotels this one defiantly makes it on my top ten list with it’s moldy bath tub and mini-toilet. And their continental breakfast -> LAME!
5. Before the main event started there were some people showing up on Saturday and during that time it had been raining for a good 11 hours, soaking the fields, and there was a report of a few people getting struck by lightening as they were putting up their tents.
So those are some of the good and bad things about this whole trip. It was amazing to see thousands of tents set up all around us and in the middle this huge field with a tremendous out door stage that housed hundreds of lights, music equipment, and large sets of 24 speakers on each side of the stage with another set of 24 in the middle of the field on a delay system. I was impressed with the whole deal and I actually had a good time in retrospect although I had to deal with the bad stuff. Would I go again? Sure… [with sunblock of course].
Pressed
I did not cuss, but yes it was my stupidity, and right now I am looking up whether it is some kind of phobia, running out of gas, I may be the first.
My whining couldn’t have been nearly as annoying at someone’s quest for the best seat even though we got there late. Of course it was never that person’s fault. Reminded me of some third graders I know.
Yes Michael did want the best seat in the house. *cough* *cough*
Thanks for the One Day “replay”. I had the opportunity to get to the one in Memphis a year or so ago, but didn’t make it due to lack of funds.
I did see Beth Moore at her conference though and she shared about the wonderful experience she had at the One Day Festival. Made me want to go even more!
LOL at Christopher for the running out of gas phobia. I too get rather antsy when the gas tank is looking thirsty. I saw myself in the description of his behavior and the impatience. I think what I am most fearful of is the embarrassment of running out, it seems like such a needless thing to run out of gas.
Thanks again for sharing about the experience Pressed!
man.. oneday was amazing!
i hear ya about the long waits and whatnot.. but i found it a great time to get out my djembe and worship with people i had never met.
it was super fun.
welp. off to try to get my pics from oneday online.
One Day
OneDay03 was an interesting expereince. My favorite time from the experience was the worship under the stars. The evening started with some worship let by Shane and Shane, then Steve Fee who was followed by one of my favorite Passion worship leaders, C…
man, that free water sounds amazing…i’ve been to so many outdoor shows in blazing heat where i was in the front of a big group of people and to get water would have meant i’d lose my place in the crowd…and it’s FREE…at most shows i go to, water is like 3.00 or more for some lil’ jake bottle…i usually bring a cup or something from outside or ask for a cup at the bar and then go fill it up in the john before the show, tho.
they should have had pedro the lion play at that festival…he would have really added to your worship experience. any of ya’ll listen to him? i personally consider him the best Christian musician out there today, with U2 in second place.
any of ya’ll goin to cornerstone? it’s comin up soon.
Hey guys, First, thanks for listing Internet Monk and Boar’s Head on your links.
Reading your account of your One Day experience brought back a truckful of memories of my youth ministry adventures to Ichthus and other festivals. (BTW- I drive a Caddy that has to have 2 gallons of premium in the tank to start. I know that feeling!!!) But I was wondering- in the big picture, what do you think about these sorts of festivals in the life of a Christian student? Can they understand this is not the “norm” to use to judge the church from now on? (”Church is so boring, but One Day was SOOOO COOOL!”) Do these kinds of large events turn out “fans” or “followers”? Would love your thoughts.
Michael, You make a good point, church is rarely as exciting at an event like OneDay. Where can you go to hear speakers like Beth Moore, John Piper, Louie Giglo, and worship leaders like Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, etc. all on one day? Let’s not mention all the people that add to the energy. I guess that events will always produce fans, but to OneDay’s credit, with every other breath they were telling the importance of the local church and being involved in it. They encouraged students to veiw OneDay as a starting point rather than an event in itself. Despite all these reminders, I’m sure that there were people who left and won’t go to church becuase it is too boring, nothing like OneDay. I guess I don’t have an answer for you.
I do have to give props to One Day for their continual emphasis on the local church. But I do agree, maybe for some since Church is not as cool as One Day then they won’t go to church. That seems to me to be a window into their heart though. If their devotion to God is found entirely around the coolness factor and they cannot worship and be devoted to Him under other circumstances then I would have to call into question where there heart is. Is it on God or is it on the loud music and presence of such an event. I really enjoyed One Day and thought it was an awesome experience but I know my ministry is in the local Church and I know that God has designed it that way. It is wonderful to see the tremendous God given talents of these worship leaders and speakers but what needs not be forgotten is that everyone of them is plugged into a local church.
i loved one day. great pics. thanks for sharing.incidentally, i posted a little bit on my site about the application of events like one day. “mountaintop experiences” alone often fade from our minds after a few days of being back in the valley. the key to events like one day is in the practical application of the experience.
I also went to OneDay and thought it was amazing. I personally didn’t experience any of the long lines at registration. I showed up about 4:30 on Saturday and was parked before 5. However, I did experience the amazing power of God’s nature Saturday night during the storm.
As a whole conferences are great! The bad side is college students can go to 2 - 4 conferences and retreats a year to get ‘recharged’ spiritually and not spend any time seeking God imbetween and still have a fairly solid walk. The problem then is when they leave college and can no longer go to conferences and retreats as often they become distant from their savior. One of the most important thing a college student can develope during time spent in school is a regular quiet time with the Lord reading scripture and praying. The world away from conferences is a dark place and without daily devotion one can become lost.
Now having said all this I will be the first to admit I need to be more consistant with my own quiet times now that I have graduated.
I LOVE IT I HAVE GOD IN MY HEART AND WHOEVER AGREES EMAIL ME AT lAURENPEARSE@IWON.COM AND TRY GETTING mICHAEL W. SMITH’S CD!
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