Ishinomaki Gospel Festival

Yesterday was the Ishinomaki Gospel Festival and today I'm sunburned, sore, slightly scratched up, but very satisfied. Yesterday was an amazing day. I started helping with setup at 6am, spent 6 hours listening to some really good music, and got a really gnarly tan... By "tan" I definitely mean "sunburn" but all of it was so worth it.

Setting up. We used 2 big subwoofers,  10 huge speakers, and 12 monitors. The park is on the side of a mountain so if you go up the stairs on the left you get a really nice view of the ocean. 

Some local vendors. Tons of really good Japanese food. Also on the level above this there were a bunch of different groups selling crafts to support the victims of the tsunami.

Gospel musician John Lucas singing to an enthusiastic crowd, backed by a group of local middle school students.

The band members in the groups for the festival came from all sorts of walks of life. There were professional musicians and professional ministers, students from Juilliard and students from middle schools in the Tohoku area, Christians and people who didn't identify with the church, all coming together in celebration of music and the joy and healing it can bring. 

The turnout for the festival was slightly less than the venue could hold, but we still estimated that there were more than 500 people that came in and out through the day. Store vendors got so much benefit that they even asked the event coordinator to. "Please let [them] know if this event will happen more than once a year." Indeed, God is doing great things in this city. 

It was such a blessing to serve alongside my friends in order to give the people of this city access to the satisfaction and joy I've been blessed with through music and with God. In all aspects, I'd say the Ishinomaki Gospel Festival was a huge success. Yesterday was an amazing day, but I'm sure it's only one of many great joys to come for this city and for my own short time here.

-Spencer