The Gathering officially opened this evening with 14,000 youth converging on the Alamodome. Our speaker, Tony Campollo, gave the evening message–probably the high point of the first gathering.
The rest of the opening gathering was a little disappointing. As one of our youth commented: “It was more like a rock concert than worship… I can hear that stuff on the radio.” I think he raised an important question: What makes this gathering–and our time here–distinctively Christian? [Truth be told, I am waiting with great hope to see the answer to this unfold in the days ahead. And while I think the opening session was disappointing for some, I for one, am glad to see youth hungering for something deeper in their time here.]
We concluded the evening with a dance at a nearby hotel and then evening devotions back at our hotel. Our group of 31 was pretty tired by day’s end.