A number of people have been praying for the recent gospel crusade in Philadelphia and for Pastor Shawn Kidder of the First Grace Brethren Church of Philadelphia as he presented the gospel. Here is an update on the event, as taken from the e-mail update of Pastor Scott Distler and written by David Rice:
“Thanks for the opportunity my wife and I had to represent Grace Church at the Hope Crusade in Philly last Saturday. The weather forecast for the day was to be a washout, especially around the scheduled time for the Crusade event.
“As Pastor Shawn Kidder expressed a few times, Satan was very busy trying to disrupt and discourage the Crusade from even taking place because of some of the last-minute backouts and unexpected financial expenses incurred.
“But in answer to the prayers of many, when it came time for the Crusade to begin the rain stopped and the clouds broke. Blue sky appeared. The sun shined bright. The weather warmed up. And a small breeze came to be effective enough to dry off the soaked stadium seats and walkways. All many of us could do was just say, ‘PRAISE GOD!’
“Although Pastor Shawn’s hope was for a large turnout and seeing many lost come forward in a spiritual revival, Shawn mentioned that it was clear that God’s plan was to draw the local churches together in that area for an even greater work next year and in the future.
“Outside of the great bands and great messages, a highlight to me was the spiritual dance group from one of the local churches which was really uplifting.”