“My fourteen-year-old brother was in tears,” a friend of mine told me this evening, “as God got a hold of his heart during the day of delighting in the Lord at the conference.”

I was chatting with an ATI Mom on the phone this afternoon. “I’ve been to a lot of conferences,” she said, “but none was as outstanding as this one!”

God really did come thundering through in answer to prayer at the ATI Regional Conference in Big Sandy! On Wednesday night, a major thunderstorm roared outside the huge warehouse-turned-auditorium on the ALERT campus, where over 2500 people had gathered to hear the world-famous lawyer Roger Magnusen deliver a dynamic message on being in one accord. His speaking was punctuated by loud bursts of thunder.

The thunderstorm continued the next day as families focused on simply delighting in the Lord. Preaching was interspersed with periods of getting alone with the Lord to study His Word. One could feel the oneness of accord as families prayed together after powerfully convicting talks by Doug Small, Ken Pierpont, Bill Gothard, and Paul & Jenny Speed.

The sun finally broke through at 5:00 Thursday evening as families ended their day of prayer and fasting to walk across campus and enjoy a good meal and fellowship together in the dining hall. Gary Smalley concluded the remarkable day with a practical encouragement to delight in God’s Word, delivered with plenty of humorous, down-to-earth stories.

God richly blessed the time in Big Sandy. A local news station even came out to report on it. Now we’re looking forward to the one in Nashville, Tennessee, May 29 through June 1st!

(all photos courtesy of IPS)