Joyful dancing on the city streets-March for Jesus 2012
A true honouring of our awesome God!
Every year when it comes to organizing this day of worship we are always faced with many obstacles including opposition from various people. For example, finances, (it costs tens of thousands of dollars to put a festival like this together), will we have enough to pay for everything; volunteers; (the amount of people needed to organize and manage everything that goes on before, during and after this event) will they commit their time to make the March successful; all the food (thousands of hot dogs, sausages, steaks, hamburgers, hundreds of loaves of bread, drinks etc.,) will the supplies be provided; there are also some men with the desire in their wicked hearts to thwart this celebration (one of the things that the “devil” hates the most is when the name of Jesus Christ is publicly lifted high) ; and of course something that no man is able to control, the weather, will our God bless us with sun, will He hold back the clouds of rain?
You see, there is so many unknown factors before this glorious event takes place. Everyone that puts their hand to this plow has to have faith big enough to move those mountains. Every year is the same. We start by faith and we finish with faith. The rest belongs to the Lord.
Now we will tell you what the King of kings Jesus Christ did for all of us on June 17, 2012.
First of all, everything that we needed for this event to be successful was provided, finances, food, all the permits, and the perfect amount of wonderful volunteers came to together to build “brick by brick” this joyous celebration for our God. It was a pleasure watching the beautiful men and women of God preparing and organizing everything that was needed for the March for Jesus. They were busy cutting, packing, preparing, loading, unloading and all the other necessary activities. I felt like someone put me into a bee hive and the joy that those people had while doing all of this was contagious. I have to tell you that it was an enormous privilege to work with true worshipers of Jesus Christ, they worshiped Him not only with their lips but also with their deeds in spirit and in truth and it was manifested in their actions.
Like last year the weather channels were saying that it was going to rain on Father’s Day. When we arrived at Millennium Park the dark clouds were all around us and I know of many people that were praying for God to push away the clouds and have the sun shine forth. As I was talking with police officers “our escort for the March” a very strong wind came pushing the black clouds away and literally minutes later the sun appeared. And what happened as we marched was even more incredible. As we moved forward the dark clouds were being continuously pushed one block ahead of us and the participants went the whole march under the sunshine. We have to understand that we do believe in the God of signs and wonders and He just simply loves to show them to us. It looked like He was not only among us but that He also went ahead of us “pushing the obstacles out of the way”. Don’t get me wrong, if God would choose to allow the rain to fall we would still love and honour Him with this celebration. On June 17, 2012 His will was sunshine but even if it wasn’t He would still be worthy of praise on our streets with our fellow brothers and sisters.
Artur Pawlowski with Ric McIver and the dark clouds:
The March for Jesus 2012 was officially opened by the Minister of Transportation Ric McIver who came with his wife Christine to bless this celebration and this is what he said: “I am honoured to be here with everybody to celebrate our Christian faith on the streets of this city, and we are proud of it…we are going to have fun and I’m proud to be here with all of you.” Remember to keep this family in your prayers. We need more officials that are not ashamed to celebrate their faith in the Creator of the heavens and the earth, Jesus Christ.
Ric McIver with his wife Christine:
Ric McIver officially opening March for Jesus 2012:
The scriptures for this year’s march as you can see on the t-shirts are from:
2 Timothy 4:1-5
4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage —with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
And Matthew 24:36-39 36
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Revelation 22:12 “12
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
This year was very special. For some time now we have had our hearts set on introducing more spontaneous dancing on the streets. We believe that God lives in the praises of His people and He simply delights when we all feel like dancing, after all we are saved and alive because of our mighty God, we have a lot of things to celebrate, and we did just that.
At the first stop there was prayer and a lot of dancing and we did not start the march until a few songs and dances were done and we did that through all three stops and what happened was of course very predictable. The joy of the Lord hit everyone! There were hundreds of people in different places during the march that formed dancing circles and some formed lines and holding hands they danced through the crowds of people. The dance and the happiness released a new atmosphere that we have not witnessed before. People started chanting “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”, and the sound reverberated for many city blocks in every direction. Thanks to Jacek, for the first time we had three sets of speakers with a wireless connection and the name of Jesus was lifted to the heavens. For those few hours Stevens Avenue was gloriously transformed, it just did not look or sound the same. People were coming out of the restaurants and businesses hearing the name that is above every other name, Jesus Christ! There were many Gospel tracts distributed and a continuous flow of witnessing to the onlookers.
People dancing on the streets of Calgary:
What a great opportunity to let everyone know about The Savior that died for the sins of all mankind and who rose from the grave after taking the keys of hell and death. Even the police officers that were escorting us had a wonderful time. They looked very happy as they displayed smiles on their faces, and by the way we want to thank them for their professionalism, they did an awesome job by making sure that everyone was safe and the roads were properly blocked. We had people representing many countries from around the world and yet we all felt as one united family that came to celebrate the One and the same God, our Heavenly Father. The youngest participant was 3 weeks old and an eternally younger one that that was a 93 year woman from Peru that marched the whole way.
The young and the youngest participants:
The best way to describe this amazing day would be with the words of some of the people:
Ramona Toderas “This was the best March for Jesus in the past 3 years!!!!!! Please keep it going, we need this so much!!! This city needs it!!! We love it and want to be there every year!!!!”
“It was awesome , Jesus was with us all the way.” Carlos
Barb Gravel “It was truly awesome to be marching with other Christians to celebrate the true Father’s Day 🙂”
Ramona Toderas “God is great!!! How about the weather???? No rain, no thunder storms, as predicted, just fantastic!!”
Lisa Bond “The unity and the love for one another in the body of Christ on this occasion gave me an awesome insight into how wonderful it will be when Jesus returns and we will rule and reign with Him!”
Penni Tapscott Daniels “It was so awesome to come down from east central Alberta to march for our Lord and Saviour. We were so blessed. Jesus you are our reason to live . Thank you to every person in front of the scenes and behind the scenes . You made Fathers day a day to remember. Thank you Jesus for all the good and faithful servants and also all the people that came to proclaim the name of Jesus. Blessings to all.“
Sarah Derski “Incredible!!! God Bless =)”
Barry Tuomi “The Lord loves the worship of his children. Wow this is worship to the power of 7. Jesus, King of the nations.”
“God bless you for your strong and faithful witness in Calgary AND the good fruit—the works of your hands—your compassionate sharing of faith and material goods with those who appreciate it so much!”-Rod Taylor
We also received an official letter from the Alberta Justice and Solicitor General commending us for putting on the March for Jesus 2012. This is a minister that is reminding everyone that we are not, no matter what position we are in, to forget to confess our God and Savior Jesus Christ before men. Please pray for those in power that they would bow their knees before Jesus and rule the city, province and the country with the truth and righteousness of God.
Here is the letter from the Minister:
When we arrived at Olympic Plaza there were already volunteers preparing food and manning the clothing giveaway table. The worship teams started their part and we all truly felt like this was a family reunion. There were line ups at the various barbeques that provided food for all the hungry marchers and the ice cream truck was again a big hit. They gave thousands of ice cream cones away.
Distributing ice cream, clothes and barbeques:
Thank you Steve for your generous heart and thank you to the Filipino Church for volunteering your time in helping Steve with this gigantic task. At the stage we extend a special thanks to Joe Sinanan for organizing and managing the various worship teams. To the worship teams them selves, you did great, it would not have been this beautiful with out you. To Suzette Farah the artist that painted through the whole time of worship at Olympic Plaza, thank you for expressing the creativity of our God. Thank you preachers for your testimonies and your messages of salvation.
Various worship teams, preachers and the painter:
The children had a wonderfully joy filled time at the bouncy houses and water activities. We always desire that this day is a family day, something for all of us from the young to the youngest because the truth is we are an eternal family.
Children having fun:
This is the first time that we have not had one glitch. Everything went so smoothly that not one issue arose. From an organizational point of view it was a dream come true. Not one incident interfered with the festivities. Everything went perfect from the march to the music to the food straight through to the clean up. Praise You Lord for the favour we have found in Your eyes.
For next year we already have people from other churches asking if they can introduce more floats. What a wonderful idea, to bring a variety of different “colours” into the march. Also during this year’s march we had a flat bed trailer about 20 feet long that some kids rode on and they had a great time. During this years activities we had a table with shofars that was very popular, so we are thinking of adding more of this kind of venue next year. Please let us know if you or someone you know would like to bring a display for 2013.
In summary, I am telling you that there is no other place I would rather be on June 17 2012 than with my brothers and sisters who are not ashamed of Jesus Christ, during this wonderful celebration for our King on the streets of Calgary!
See you next year if the Lord tarry. And if you have any ideas about making this celebration even better please let us know. God bless you. For updates, videos, pictures and comments of this years march please visit www.marchforjesus.ca of Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/March-for-Jesus/330986356217
If you are googling in search of secular media coverage for the March for Jesus, you will not find any. Although we sent out press releases, they refused to cover the event. No secular television, no secular radio, and no secular newspapers covered the event even though we gave them plenty of advanced notice. But although the secular media is biased against Christians and Christian events, we can be the media of today. We ask that you promote this story all over the world.
God bless you,
