GLORIOUS! Anniversary
Ablaze Service celebrates its first birthday
One word described the beginning of Ablaze’s first anniversary: Awesome!. All the Ablaze ministry teams worked overtime to get everything ready. People were enlisted to blow up 200 balloons; the PA team were working on sound, praise and worship were going through their final rehearsal while the foyer team were going through the final run down of the night’s program. At 5:45 (give or take 20 minutes), the foyer was opened to celebrate Ablaze Service’s first year.
The group Nainby also made a guest appearance to coincide with the release of their first album and a European tour. As they did during Ablaze’s first ever service, they performed a couple of their songs to entertain the crowd during fellowship time. The Cinema Building was packed with so many people as car after car dropped off more young people, excited about the special occasion. High schoolers, university students and the young at heart all came together as food, drinks and music created a very cheery and energetic atmosphere. The doors finally opened and the people were ushered into a room packed with balloons, streamers, ribbons and decorations to mark the occasion.
A multimedia presentation reflected all that God has done through the past year: the good, the bad, the funny and sometimes the ridiculous (you can view this clip at:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=DS3eg1XW_tE).
To continue the theme of reflection and introspection, a member from Igvo, Powerhouse and Lighthouse were interviewed to share their stories about Ablaze Service and how they’ve seen God work in their lives, as well as the lives of the people around them.
Celebration was the theme of Torchie’s teaching, from the passage in Exodus 23:14-7. The youth learnt about the significance of the feasts that the Israelites were commanded to have every year to thank God for who he was and celebrate the provisions that he gave them:
- The Feast of the Unleavened Bread
- The Feast of First Fruit
- The Feast of In-gathering
He taught about how as Christians, we need to celebrate God with FULL devotion and with TRUE offerings to honour him and to bring the Ablaze family together.
Alas, all good things have to come to an end, and Ablaze Service came to a close. However, not before the cake was cut and people having fun popping balloons. Consequently, this led to a massive clean up with the remains of poppers and balloons littering the stage and front two rows. Everyone left the service fondly remembering the year that was 2007 and God’s blessing upon the group. Also in the back of everyone’s minds was Ablaze’s 2nd anniversary where they will celebrate with their spiritual family and with those who have yet to come.
