2018 Outreach: The Extreme Tour – Banning, CA
It’s 9:30 AM local time the day after our first event here in California. I’m still on east coast time; so, I’ve been awake since around 4:00 AM . . . My other team members are still fast asleep. I figure this would be the perfect time to reflect on the event yesterday. . .
Our first event was held at the Banning Skate Park in Banning, CA. Banning is a small town just under two hours east of Los Angeles. The mountains surrounding the area provided a stunning backdrop for what would turn out to be a really good day.
Right from the onset, the enemy tried to distract us from doing God’s will. The city decided that they were not going to allow us to use the park’s power to run our audio equipment. They weren’t saying we couldn’t be there – they just weren’t going to provide us with a means to carry on with the performances.
We were devastated by the city’s actions; however, we were prepared to go full-on acoustic if we had to . . . after all, the show must go on, right?? Fortunately, we the enemy intended for bad, God redeemed in the form of a portable generator that one of the bands had on board their RV. With the crisis avoided, we were able to set up and rock on as planned.
A while back, my wife made an observation regarding the outreach opportunities in which I participated. She noted that at every event, there was always at least one person that was impacted by what they witnessed. That remains to be true, and the event at Banning was different.
I noticed that there was a man that had shown up at the start of the event and stayed all the way to the very end – he even hung around while we were packing up. During the day, he was totally engaged and I could tell that he was really enjoying himself. After the event was done and we were packing up, I decided to go over and talk to him. I am so glad that I did!
His name was Cali and it turned out that he moved out to Banning from LA due to a separation from his wife. He was hurting; but, it seems as if our event breathed a sense of hope back into him. He was encouraged not to give up; and, most importantly, he was encouraged to renew is faith. As a team we prayed over Cali; and, I made sure he had my contact info so that we could stay in touch. Already, God is revealing His plan for this outreach; and, I am just grateful that He is allowing me to be a part of it.