The first Andrew Palau festival held in the United States was a big success! More than 19,000 attended activities for the two-day BeachFest on June 13-14 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And more than 500 public decisions for Jesus Christ were made!  Top artists in contemporary Christian music performed from the main stage, including TobyMac, MercyMe, Mandisa and Hawk Nelson along with local worship leaders Russell and Kristi Johnson and international artist from the UK Lindz West. The 55-acre site also offered a massive Livin It action sports venue, a Family Fun Zone with VeggieTales characters, plenty of food and drink options, and surfing clinics held each morning by top pros Jesse Hines and Noah Snyder. The weather was hot but thunderstorm-free.  Check out the images from the festival by clicking on the link in the upper right corner of this page.

Andrew celebrated Fathers Day this morning speaking at Grace Church in Pawleys Island. Grace Church and it’s pastor Tim Surratt provided a major support to the team. Andrew, Wendy and the kids are spending some much earned and deserved time together the next couple of days here in Myrtle Beach before returning to Portland. Beachfest wrapped up last night and our team is feverishly wrapping up things at the site and collecting stories of lives changed. I’d like to share a couple of stories from decision cards that have been turned in.

Joseph, who is on vacation with his family, made a decision for Christ and his Mom also rededicated her life to the Lord.

A man named Trey said “I love that I got to see this, it revived my kinship with God.”

A man who was new to Myrtle Beach was brought by a neighbor in his building and gave his heart to the Lord.

A comment on the back of one card filled out by someone who had just recommitted their life to God simply read “coming back!!!!!!”

There were so many more stories we heard throughout the week that we hope to share in the future. It was amazing to see lives and hearts change through the power of the Holy Spirit and the efforts of so many local Myrtle Beachers. Praise God to whom all glory and honor is due!

Beachfest officially opened day 2 under a cloudy sky. Thankfully, by 8:30 am almost all the thunderheads had pushed back from the coast, revealing another beautiful, sunny, and HOT day! People crowded in to enjoy this mornings’ surf clinic with appearances and instruction from surf pros Noah Snyder and Jesse Hines.

Taking advantage of a beautiful Saturday and a highlight from the morning edition cover of the Sun Times local paper, more than 200 people made their way down to the beach to learn how to surf. It was amazing as the guys shared their hearts and their testimonies and of course taught the crowd how to “walk on water”. Listeners hung on every word - it was incredible. Check out the pictures! Andrew and Wendy even took their kiddos down to the beach to “rip” up the waves too.

The festival grounds started to fill in much earlier than yesterday, as hundreds of people crowded around to take in the incredible Livin It demonstrations. We’ve got the cream of the crop here in Myrtle Beach! Our pros include faithful standby Jud Heald and his “untitled” skate team.

You can catch Mike Mancuso’s ProTown BMX team next week on NBC’s Dew Tour - yes, they’re that good! The Riders For Christ FMX team featured Greg Hartman, the 2007 X Games Dubai Gold medalist.

I’m sure that demo had mammas in the stands catching their breath (probably praying that their kids wouldn’t take up doing crazy tricks 30 feet in the air!) It was a great Livin It Action Sports park and many hands were raised during the counseling time making all their efforts of sweatin’ it out in the sun worthwhile.

Man, tonight’s mainstage lineup was awesome! Local musicians Russel and Kristi Johnson established the spirit for the evening with a great worship set. Then Lindz West our emcee (and resident rock star) slammed the house. Both nights he had the crowd jumping all over the place “raising the roof.” Lindz has a band in the UK named LZ7 and has become a festival favorite with the fans. Then our gal Mandisa rolled out her set with the old Diana Ross tune I’m Every Woman. Man, that girl has some pipes! After covering some fun tunes, she belted out her own chart-toppers and then pointed it all back to Jesus breaking into a moving worship moment.

Andrew took the stage next and instantly engaged the crowd. The level of attention that Andrew commanded was inspiring. The staggering (as Luis always says) decision to accept Jesus as their personal savior was made by many. Only the Lord knows the full impact of a festival in the hearts of man. Andrew delivered a solid message of truth and as promised, the word did not return void as the highly engaged crowd responded in droves. After a sweet time of prayer led by Andrew, the counselors worked with the individuals that had responded for several moments.

To close out the night, TobyMac was “freaking out” on stage and the crowds loved every minute of it! If you weren’t here… there is just no other way to say it… you totally missed it!

I know many of our friends from past festivals are visiting this site to see what’s happening in Andrew’s ministry. You may have lived the moments we’ve encountered tonight. Can’t you just hear Toby’s band bringing it all back to Him? Sweetly singing How Great Thou Art?

Tonight, it literally resonated throughout the Grand Strand. Lives were drastically changed this weekend. We’ve already got stories in that are simply mind boggling. The Lord even used the festival to reach a man staying at a hotel across the street in an amazing way. He heard the music and considering jumping from the balcony and ending it all, made his way over to the festival where he invited Jesus into his heart. The harvest is great - but the workers are few! Make your plans to be a part of upcoming festival now!

Thanks for your partnership of prayers, finances and for making an eternal investment of souls into the kingdom! We here on the Myrtle Beach/Andrew Palau team appreciate your support! Hopefully, we’ll see you soon!

For a day that had been forecast earlier in the week to be rainy, the blue skies and relatively pleasant temperatures were an early sign of answered prayers. The Luis Palau Association has not had the first day of a festival on a Friday for some time and the crowd was definitely late in arriving. By the time Mercy Me wrapped things up though, there were many thousands of people singing Amazing Grace along with the band. It was fitting as it was a day that in the end was truly amazing and full of Grace. Over the course of the day we saw 7500 people come to the site and many documented decisions were made (we’re still processing the decision cards and will have numbers by Monday). Praise God!

Andrew and his sons Christopher and Jonathan were picked up early by co-chairman Bayliss Spivey to go down to the surf clinic put on by Jesse Hines and several pro surfers. The Surfers gave quick lessons to those on the beach who were interested in learning to surf, including Andrew and the boys who all got up on their boards and rode some waves. It was a great morning of interaction and ministry as the Gospel was shared.

Later in the evening, Andrew brought his entire family on stage, introducing them to the crowd. He talked about adoption and encouraged the crowd to check out the ministries who had set up displays in a large tent on the festival site including America World Adoption Agency, the agency that he and Wendy used in adopting their daughter Sadie.

Andrew introduced Lindz West, our emcee and member of the British band LZ7. Lindz performed a couple of LZ7’s songs and got the crowd fired up for Hawk Nelson. We were blessed to have such great bands, including Russell and Kristi, all of which set up Andrew’s message well.

Andrew acknowledged the crowd and those who are in Myrtle Beach to celebrate their High School graduation by partying spring break style. He talked about his high school years and how his poor choices then led to many years of heartache and guilt. He shared the Good News asking for people to make a decision to follow Christ and many responded.

A local student who made a decision to follow Christ wrote a note on his decision card saying he wasn’t going to come tonight but “God made me.” Another local resident was so moved by Andrew’s message that she raised her hand to rededicate her life to Christ. Another girl who rededicated her life tonight was in Myrtle Beach on a missions trip from Nebraska, re-affirming our hope that a festival in Myrtle Beach could reach many people from all over the US who may be here on vacation or otherwise. What a blessing.

It was so great to have a band like Mercy Me close out the night. Many of the response cards turned in indicated that the reason the person came was to see Mercy Me. We were thankful that the band was able to make this night fit on their schedule and we were blessed to be able to partner with them tonight.

Tomorrow should prove to be another great day as the temperatures are only supposed to reach the mid-80’s, it will be a Saturday and we will have another great lineup of bands with Mandissa and TobyMac joining in the fun. Please continue to pray for many to come and that they would give their hearts to God. Also, that those who came tonight would bring friends back tomorrow. 

It’s been great to get back out to Myrtle Beach for this weekend’s BeachFest with Andrew Palau.  Andrew kicked off the week by speaking at the church pastored by our counseling and follow-up chairman, Dan Grider.  The week will be busy with media interviews, counselor training, fundraising and generally getting the festival grounds setup and ready for the crowds. 

This morning, Andrew spoke at two services at Beach Church.  The church has been instrumental in helping to motivate the local community and other churches to participate in counseling and volunteering for the festival.  Dr. Dan Grider, the pastor of Beach Church, is the chairman for counseling and follow-up for the festival.  Its great to be able to serve along side such a great church. 

This evening was a counselor training session back at Beach Church.  Andrew encouraged the 97 people in attendance to not just counsel strangers but to invite their friends with expectancy that they could be counseling them.  All the newly trained counselors left with bumperstickers and invites in hand.  Several of them laughed about the idea of sticking the bumperstickers on their neighbors cars during a late night raid.  Good thing the stickers are removable. 

Please be praying for our committee as we push hard to get the fundraising over the finish line.  Pray also for the weather, as usual, as there are thunderstorms in the forcast for Friday and Saturday.  Join us in thanking God for all the hard work that our chairpersons Mark Kiskunis, Baylis Spivey, Buddy Lindsey and the rest of our team have put in.  We are truly blessed to be able to work with such a great team. 

T-minus 5 days and counting until BeachFest is a reality!  So far, it has been a busy week of preparation here on the ground in sunny and HOT Myrtle Beach, SC.  Hard to believe it is nearly time to shake another city for Jesus Christ!

You don’t have to be here long at all to encounter a “local” or even a tourist talking about the festival.  It sure feels like people know it is coming and are really pumped up about it!  Everywhere I go, I hear something!   You can almost feel the momentum building with the buzz that is all over the Grand Strand Region!

Andrew touches down just shy of midnight tonight for a full week of activities prior to the festival.  Sunday morning, Andrew will preach at a local church and kick off a last chance counselor training among other things.  (Be praying for him because he’ll be running on limited sleep after arriving so late the night before!)   Then as the sun rises on Monday, the true mania of festival preparation begins!  The flat land of asphalt and grass will begin to resemble a festival site as the setup begins. In the meantime, we’ll have Andrew working on media interviews, fundraising efforts (you can help support BeachFest too here!) and just generally loving on the community we have been called to for this season.
 
As for the team, we still have lots of arrangements, appointments and things to finalize and there is so little time!  However, the sun is shining brightly (and I mean this literally! The heat index today was 115 degrees).  This could prove to be a scorching hot festival...and I don’t just mean Hawk Nelson’s band! 
 
The festival site, which is the former Myrtle Square Mall grounds, is 55 acres and pretty much perfect for a festival in a tourist town.  It is just a few blocks from both the beach and the main tourist drag!  However, since there used to be a mall smack dab in the middle of a parking lot...well, let’s just say there isn’t a whole lot of shade.  So we need to recruit you now to start praying for great clear weather with tolerable heat and humidity for all!  Be sure to specifically pray the rain away too!
 
It really has been exciting to see the Lord provide mightily and work amazing feats through committee chairs, volunteers, staff and the local churches!  But we’re far from done.  Every member of the local team (consisting of attorneys to surfboard builders) has done a great job of pulling everything together and now it’s time to finish the race strong.  After all...BeachFest will go live whether we are ready or not...in 5 wee little days...we always prefer ready.

As we drove to the first of two churches that Andrew was to speak at this morning, we commented at how fast this week has seemed to have gone by.  We sat in humble amazement at what God had done and in hopeful anticipation of what this weeks activities could do for the country of Romania.  When Hillsong London finally closed out their set around 9:45 tonight the festival was officially over. While some numbers may still be coming in, for all of the activities of the week and the two festival days we saw well over 14,000 people attend events and 1,755 people give their hearts to the Lord!  Praise God and thank you for your prayers. 

The weather did not cooperate with us nearly as much today as rain showers washed through the city throughout the day.  We’re quite certain the rain affected the size of the crowd today as our estimates were a crowd size of 5000 today.  The showers continued through Andrew’s message but we were thankful they we light and not a complete deluge.  The exciting thing was that while the overall attendance for the day was low, the energy and enthusiasm of the crowd was not.  Nor was the receptivity to the message of the Good News.  The total documented decisions for Christ from the KidZone, Livin’ It and mainstage gospel presentations was 442.  Amazing. 

Earlier in the afternoon our Livin’ It athletes David Resbeck, Mark Mancuso, John Andrus, Jud Heald and Tom Geilfuss gave the most energetic demonstration I’ve seen at a festival, much to the delight of the thousands gathered around the ramps.  Our BMX riders repeatedly tried to land and balance on the top rail of one of the ramps which added both a flair for the dramatic and a cringe of insurance-claim-haunted terror.  As usual, the Livin’ It area was a vital addition to the overall success of the festival and we are blessed to be able to work with such great athletes. 

The main stage activities kicked off with two local bands, Vitamin C (pronounced “che") and Catrecer.  The two bands we brought in from the UK, The Band With No Name (TBWNN) and Hillsong London, finished the evening off with the crowd begging Hillsong not to leave.  Throughout the weekend all the bands were warmly received.  The younger audience especially seemed to connect with TBWNN and Hillsong London. 

Our morning began with Andrew speaking at two Churches who were big supporters of the festival.  He encouraged the congregations to consider their priestly duties to preach the gospel to all peoples.  Following both services we were told stories of the impact of the Luis Palau Associations investment in Romania.  At the first church, Izbanda Brethren church, we met Eliazar who at a young age came to faith in 1990 when Luis ministered here following the revolution.  He introduced us to his father who told us his sister also came to the Lord at the same crusade.

At Vestire Buna Baptist, a lady who also came to Christ at Luis’s campaign in 1990 told Andrew his being here is a sweet way to celebrate her spiritual anniversary and it reminded her of the joy she has in her life.  Her two daughters are now missionaries in Spain and Mexico.  She also told Andrew that it rained in 1990 too and to not be discouraged. As we were leaving Vestire Buna a young man named Mikai stopped Andrew and thanked him as he was one of the many who gave his heart to Christ yesterday at BucurestiFest. Andrew quickly prayed for Mikai and Mikai’s girlfriend.

We were blessed to have our friend Robert Kraus from Arkansas and his friend Jeff Golden join us this week and at the Churches this morning.  They were a huge encouragement as were Eric and Grace Payne and Lady Susie Sainsbury from the UK.  Also, Mick Spratt who is a member of the LPA UK board was generous to provide the sound and lighting crew for the main stage from his company that does the same.  We are blessed to have such great friends. 

Please continue to pray for the churches that will be following up with all those who made decisions this week.  Pray to for those decision makers, that their faith and love for God would increase daily.  Also, please join us in Praising God for all that He did this week in the capital city of Romania.

As cool morning disolved in the billiant sun to early afternoon, BucurestiFest was off and running.  As the stage crew hustled to setup the sound that did not arrive until late in the night Friday, thousands of children and their family descended on the KidZone.

Soon after that there was a crowd that stood five to six deep surrounding the LIvin’ It Area to see some seriously big air tricks being pulled off by the athletes.

Dan Magnus, our freestyle footballer arrived in time to amaze the crowd with some serious soccer (futbol) juggling tricks.  The Band with No Name got the evening off with 30 minutes of high energy music.  The hometown Romanian band Proconsul was a big hit with the crowd leading to Andrew’s strong presentation of the Gospel. 

The evening wrapped up with Hillsong London leading the crowd in 45 minutes of worship.

It was a great way to end a great day. By days end, 7,000 people were in attendance and 470 made documented decisions for Christ. You can see more photos from that day here — and continue to pray for all those who have given their heart and lives to Christ. 

Although Andrew’s schedule was rather quiet today, the rest of the team were slamming away in preparation for tomorrow’s festival.  The Livin’ It athletes and one of our bands, The Band With No Name, were on a television morning show that was targeted to a young audience.  Mick Spratt (UK Board Member) and our stage, sound and lights team from the UK began setting up the stage and tents went up. 

The Band With No Name, one of the bands we have brought in from the UK, was on a morning TV program geared towards the younger generation this morning.  Their energy and enthusiasm were infectious.  At one point they had a dance contest with the hosts that was hilarious, if not a little wild. Other than that, they did a great job of proclaiming the name of Jesus and promoting the festival.  Earlier in the morning, on the same program, our Livin’ It athletes did what they do best in the studio as we essentially took over that program for the day. We expect many will come down to the park as a result.

In the evening, a classical concert by Classical Chrysalis was held as part of the festival.  Andrew presented the Gospel in the middle of the show.  Of the 450 people in attendance, 37 people documented decisions for Christ.  Thanks be to God for this response to His Good News and please pray as these people take next steps in growing in Christ. 

Please join the local committee, team and the hosts of heaven in praising God for the 803 people who have made documented decisions during all the activities so far this week. 

Continue to pray for the team and local committee as we pull together last minute details for the festival tonight.  Continue to pray for the health of Dan Magnus, the freestyle footballer who was a major part of the promotion for the festival.  He is recovering from a blood infection and should arrive in time for his time slots in the program.  There are several other team members who’s health is beginning to grow weak with the demanding schedule and stress of the event, please pray for renewed energy and strength.  And, as always, pray for many to come to the festival, hear the Good News and respond.  The few local churches that are here have worked very hard to make this festival happen, may they be blessed.