A Night of Hope

I just recently volunteered at a Joel Osteen event. It was the most spiritual event I’ve attended in quite some time. Not sure if you have ever been to “A Night of Hope” with the Osteen’s, but let me share it with you.

Early in the afternoon, shortly after arriving at the venue, our volunteer stint began with getting our assignments. I took 3 girlfriends with me. We all volunteered to be ushers. We were all so excited.

The Osteen group is so large that they designate teams to travel to specific cities. The ones assigned to us were responsible for the 100’s of volunteers ensuring all went well in the areas of greeters, ushers, set up people and retail.

After being instructed on our duties, we were told to pick a section of the arena and get acclimated to the layout (where restrooms, and concessions were etc). and just simply “love up” on the people as they entered in to our sections. WOW!

We had about an hour or so still before the event began. We were escorted to a comfortable private seating area where we enjoyed boxed lunches and conversation with the other volunteers! WOW!

Now as an usher, our specific duty was to pass out offering baskets on one side of the aisle and collect them on the other. Upon picking our sections, we tallied the number of aisles to get the appropriate number of offering buckets to store them in our sections until we heard the signal to retrieve them. We were to return the full buckets to a collection team that would meet us several feet away after offering was completed. After that, we were free to enjoy “A night of Hope”.

The worship leader was Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff, who with a back up ensemble, sang to the LORD! Halleujah! With several large video screens showing the words to each song, the audience could join in. And we did! What a magnificent spirit that covered that place! Wow!

During the course of the night, Joel and Victoria spoke and prayed over the audience, who at this point, had became a congregation. Joel’s mother gave her testimony of being victorious over cancer. And in a tender moment, Alexandria Osteen, Joel and Victoria’s little daughter, sang. It was so moving and uplifting.

At one point during the night, Joel became overcome with emotion as he spoke of his dad, who passed away after seeing Joel preach in his stead for the very first time.

Then, Joel's message.

If you have ever heard Joel on TV, he has the most calming demeanor, the most peaceful, authentic, sure delivery. He delivers a POWER punch without ever hitting you. His message just falls ever so gently, like a feather, taking its time, floating back and forth, and you, entranced by the shear beauty of it; as it lands purposefully in your spirit. It is an awesomely beautiful thing. And you just get it. Wow!