No Sarah Palin on Thursday Night

So I was late getting into the service Thursday night. Saw lots of friends on the way in, and by the time we got inside for service, Brother Haney was taking the pulpit - at 8:15 pm. Totally missed the music and preliminaries. And no, Sarah Palin did not show up. The coliseum was full, but not packed. We had no difficulty finding a seat, but it was in the back of the auditorium -- nothing available up close.

The theme of the conference is "Stormin' the Gates", so Bro. Haney preached around that theme. He started out telling about his family heritage and how they came into Pentecost. He talked about the Church and it's foundation, and then after a bit, launched into singing the old song, I'm talking about the church, in the book of Revelation, it's built on a rock, got a firm foundation. . . " He eventually preached about the gates of hell not prevailing against the Church.

It seemed like he had some difficulty getting his thoughts together in the beginning, but by the end of his sermon, he was obviously annointed and delivered the remainder of his sermon very powerfully. On a set built behind the pulpit was a pair of large gates, and as he wrapped up his message, men started busting through the gates with posters that said things like, abortion, homosexuality, same sex marriage, addictions, abortion, pornography, etc. As they busted through the gates, thunder sounded, the lights flashed, and behind the platform and around the perimeter of the coliseum, flames of fire flickered, as if it were hell. It was very effective, scaring my 5 yr old son, and a Down syndrome man in front of us. Men then flooded the platform, rebuking evil, stomping the posters, and chasing the evil men away. The altar call came at about 9:25 pm.

The exhibit area is split into 2 sections, so we circled the section with the Home Divisions and Foreign Missions booths, spending most of our time looking at the gorgeous china, tea cups and crystal in Bro. & Sis. Arlie Enis' booth. We ended up at a restaurant at the Sheraton, where we stayed until almost midnight, visiting with old friends.

More later. . .