Zone rallies were regional
gatherings of nearby churches that met once a year for a part day event. I
liked the idea; there were two zones in Saskatchewan, south and north. The
problem was the size of these zones. There were a few churches in the south
close enough to get a reasonable group together, but they were few and far
between in the north. As a result there had been no zone rallies in the north
for quite some time. My mission, if we chose to accept it (we did), was to
kick-start the program.
The youth leaders talked this
problem over and decided the only way to get a group much wider than the two
churches in our city was to host something over night. That would take church
governing board approval. They approved. Now the problems were just beginning.
We set out plans for 200 to attend
our first year. They would arrive on a Friday and leave Sunday after church. We
would serve all meals at the church and house them in the homes of our people.
How hard could that be? Now really that hard at all! The whole church got
behind the program.
Each member of the leadership team
headed up a committee with such responsibilities as: meals, housing,
advertizing and promotion, small groups, seminars, registration, setup and tear
down, entertainment. The entire group dug in to make the event successful.
Meal preparation was turned over
to the cooking. Kids helped peel, cut, chop, serve and cleanup. The “fellowship
hall” would be set up and remain that way for the weekend. Various pastors and
lay youth leaders would conduct breakout session. The ulterior motive was that
they would bring at least a carload with them. One year the speaker was
followed by small youth lead discussion groups.
There would be quizzing. We were always
promoting the program and never missed an opportunity to demonstrate. Churches
could bring as many teams as they wanted. I remember trying to hold our teams
back so as not to clobber the new entries. I wanted guests to feel like they
could do this.
We wrote some skits bases on the
Peanuts comic strip. Actually we took complete story lines straight out of the
newspaper. Ken Driedger played Charlie Brown. We also had written a continuing
soap opera that ran at various points throughout the weekend. If anyone knows
who played some of the other Peanuts characters, I would like to know.
I know we played games, but how
big and where, I do not know. The ‘dugout” a large basement room in the
educational wing probably held various floor hockey games. That was the number
one Canadian indoor boys activity.
I believe it was the first year
that we had plans to show a film on opening night. The church did not have a
projector and I knew of only two men who could get one from their place of
work. Both had to reserve the projector because it was out every weekend. We
had arranged for one of the men to bring his. It was Friday and the guests
would be arriving in a couple of hours. The entire team was sitting in a circle
on the church platform praying together for the weekend. During that time the
church secretary came and tapped me on the shoulder and we went to the lobby.
Mr. Lane had gone to pick up the projector from his work and it was gone.
Someone had taken it even though he had it reserved. My mouth just dropped. I
went back to the kids, told them what had happened and they began to pray even
harder. Several minutes later, Rita (church
secretary) called me for an urgent phone call. Mr., Ford wanted to know if
we might a film projector for the weekend. He could bring his over. No one was
using it that weekend.
Talk about victory. The gang on
the platform cried for joy knowing God had answered prayer. It was a terrific
weekend. God had blessed us before we even started and everyone believed it was
going to be a great zone rally.
The youth commitment to prayer and
worship had begun during my second year of ministry and ran through every
aspect of the work. You could see it in Sunday school In Alliance Youth
Fellowship, in quizzing, in Christian Service Brigade and Pioneer Girls, It was
part of Zone Rallies and the power of the Spirit of God overwhelmed us at each
summer camp. Youth came to church on Wednesday nights specifically for prayer
meeting and often their parents had to wait after their prayer time completed
for the kids to finish.
The following quote is taken from
a report on the 70th anniversary of the church.
“One group that seemed to understand the need for
prayer was the young people. The President of the High School youth group in
1968, Holden Bowker, stated that "young
people are holding prayer meetings on Wednesday nights, joining the adults for
the Alliance Men's and Women's prayer meetings and also for the communion
prayer meetings." Don Gustafson, President of the College and
Career group wrote, "During
recent months a group of young people have been meeting together to pray that
God will meet us in a new way in our Youth Fellowship. I believe that a new
desire to pray and seek the mind of God is being born in the hearts of
people."
The entire church report
will follow in the next post. It clearly explains that God was creating
something unique in the church. Revival came the year after I left and it began
with the youth in 1967. That story is yet to come.
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