DC Palau Festival Not Over; Follow-Ups Continue
Organizers of the DC Luis Palau Festival that left the National Mall two months ago joined together Friday to maximize the impact of the festival that drew the participation of tens of thousands of people.
WASHINGTON – Organizers of the DC Luis Palau Festival that left the National Mall two months ago joined together Friday to maximize the impact of the festival that drew the participation of tens of thousands of people.
"We're continuing," said the Rev. Harold Brinkley, director of Project Bridges and who served as co-chair for DC Festival. "We never really ended."
While the 118,332 congressional senators, business leaders, women, children and the rest of the Tri-State area residents that had participated in the recent DC Palau activities have dispersed across their communities, back to their workplaces and schools, leaders of churches and Christian organizations who were active participants and organizers for the festival held a follow-up meeting at National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. to keep the momentum of the evangelistic festival running.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"Our commitment is for the long term," said Andrew Palau, one of Luis' four sons and national festival director. "It's not about the event. It's the continuum."
Participants discussed what was in their hearts in envisioning the next steps forward for what began two-and-a-half years ago in the nation's capital. According to a statistical report given by John H. Dalton, the former U.S. Navy secretary who served as festival chairman, a total of 7,048 decisions for Christ were made. The church leaders not only look to keep these thousands of new and renewed believers accountable, but they also seek to solidify a more unified relationship amongst themselves.
"Until we, as a body of Christ, demonstrate biblical unity ... that's what moves the hand of God," said Brinkley.
The Luis Palau Association had provided the D.C. Christian community a "platform" to build upon. Unless the involved leaders enter into a relationship to create "authentic dialogue," as Brinkley stated, the city will not see a spiritual or visible change.
"We don't need another program," he said.
The Rev. Thomasina Portis, who organized the successful Operation Compassion projects ahead of the DC Festival, echoed the same words. More than another program or another project for the local schools, Portis emphasized a "process" to create greater impact.
Over 1,000 volunteers from the local community and churches helped clean up and improve the sites of the schools in the southeast district of the D.C. area. School principals raved over the projects, which totaled $4.2 million, and asked for the churches and volunteers to come back.
Portis, however, called for the church to go beyond doing projects at the schools. She called the churches to unite and make their connection with the schools a relational one.
In the same way, Bishop Michael Vernon Kelsey, Sr., senior pastor of the New Samaritan Baptist Church and who was ministerial co-chairman of the festival, stressed the importance of "relationship."
The DC Festival was a great success, said Kelsey, but the churches and Christian community have yet to reach its full potential, which could only be accomplished through relationships.
Despite efforts to unite and build solid relations within the Christian circle in order to reach outside that circle with a lasting impact on D.C., Brinkley recognized that they didn't have all the answers.
All they could do was pray.
Participants spent time in individual and group prayers during the follow-up meeting for the upcoming months and years as they will seek to strengthen their ties.
