Full Gospel Mega Event to 'Fill Void' of Cancelled MegaFest

By Audrey Barrick, Christian Post Reporter Monday, June 25, 2007

Tens of thousands of church leaders, families and those from the corporate world kicked off a new mega event on Sunday that is expected to "fill the void" that a postponed MegaFest created this summer.

The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International, Inc., is hosting a June 24-29 conference at The Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Ga., providing leadership forums, enrichment seminars, entertainment and community outreach. Themed "Embracing the Next Dimension," the large-scale event geared toward all ages anticipates crowds of over 30,000 attendees along with 10,000 leaders of faith and thousands of youth, business and community organizations.

"We hope to fill the void created by the MegaFest conference in Atlanta, and bring millions of dollars into the local economy," said Paul S. Morton Sr., president of Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship.

The highly popular MegaFest with Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House was cancelled for 2007. MegaFest is one of the nation's largest spiritual gatherings that have drawn some 140,000 people to Atlanta in a matter of days for the past three years. With celebrities and events geared toward women, men, youth and leaders, MegaFest has been known to be a popular family experience mainly in the African American community.

While the fourth MegaFest has been postponed for 2008, Morton, who has been a featured speaker at previous MegaFest events, hopes Full Gospel's super-sized church and family convention can provide that wholesome experience and help connect church leaders, businesses, community organizations, families and youth together to form partnerships with every sector of the Atlanta community and help change a generation.

"Generation X, Y, and Z are being defined by popular culture. Hip-hop has advanced as the current model for popular culture," state the event's organizers on the conference website. "An honest conversation between youth and young adult culture and the leaders of this space must be facilitated in order to honestly discuss the negative and positive outcomes of this culture. It is the church's responsibility to facilitate the conversation about life or death for our future generations."

The annual Full Gospel conference is also featuring a "We're Still Standing Benefit Concert and Celebration" to raise proceeds to donate toward rebuilding efforts in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast two years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Other community outreach initiatives during the conference include distribution of food packs and personal care items in the local community and a celebrity basketball game that will help raise funds for college students attending the 110 Historically Black Colleges & Universities throughout the United States.

Also featured is a Diversity Media Breakfast Forum where Morton and other leaders will reveal how companies are shifting their advertising dollars to increase their reach into the African American and Hispanic community and how critical it is for the communities of faith to continue supporting diversity in media by educating corporate America on the unique power of the African American consumer and producer of faith.

The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International, Inc., founded in 1994, claims to be one of the fastest growing multi-cultural and multi-denominational reformations representing more than 10,000 leaders of faith, more than 2,000 churches and millions of constituents, partners and associates in the United States and throughout the world. Its key initiatives are church and community development, leadership and entrepreneurial growth, economic development, foreign mission and growth for younger generations.