Report from the God and Country Rally 7/3/2010

The Red River Tea Party held the first "One Nation Back to God" Rally & Picnic this morning on the lawn of the Bossier Civic Center.  It was a pleasant, but humid, 83 degrees when I arrived; much better than the 103 we had last year for the "Freedom Rally."  I'd estimate there were between 400 and 500 people there this morning and it was certainly an energetic and fired up crowd!

As I arrived, the LA Outlaws were warming up the gathering crowd:

Emcee Royal Alexander welcomed the crowd, opened the program and explained the focus of this year's rally.  He pointed out that in the past, we've gathered to protest loss of individual liberties, the take over of health care, etc., but this year the focus is on bringing the nation back to God and to encourage prayer for our nation and for our nation's leaders.  He explained that we need to keep "our nation 'under' God rather than above him.

He cited 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says,

If my people, who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

This was definitely the tone of each speaker.  The first speaker was Pastor Stephen Robinson from the Pilgrim Nazarene Chuch in Shreveport who spoke of the importance of prayer and especially, right now, how important it is to pray for our nation.

The crowd was gathering and filling in as he spoke.

As always there were lots of flags and a few pets.  I didn't see nearly as many signs this time and I think that's probably because this was billed a less of a protest rally but as a celebration of God, family and country.  Sharon McCuller opened with a very moving prayer that brought a tear to the eye:

I was thrilled for her when she told me one of her sons is returning from Afghanistan this month.  

I spotted Moon Griffon getting ready to take the stage:

He is one tall dude!

Moon joked with the crowd a little when he took the stage, pointing out that Royal Alexander was dressed in a sport coat and slacks while Moon donned shorts and a casual shirt for the event.  He opened with his trademark, "How y'all ARE?!" and the crowd roared!  I wish I'd taken video of Moon's speech but there will be some online later and I'll try to come back and link it or embed it.  Moon got everyone fired up and said he's had about enough "change" right about now.

He thinks we need to get back to church, get back to Christian values, quit trying to take God out of the schools, and hold our leaders accountable.  His final point was that "You need to get back to church!  You need to get in the churches!"  because he said only half of the people in churches are voting.  Get the message out.  He said we need good, strong God-fearing leaders with Christian values and God in their hearts to lead us and to fight for us.

Moon was followed by more LA Outlaw music and then Royal introduced Rev. C. L. Bryant.  Here's a snip of his opening:



Again, if you want to hear his whole speech, I'll come back and link it.  He's such a motivational speaker!  The crowd was on their feet the entire time:

There were some closing remarks by Royal Alexander and then the program ended and the music and picnic began.  Emma Meeks performed again, and this is a young lady to watch;; she's got talent!:

I didn't stay much longer because the rest of my weekend beckons.  We've got cookout plans to pull together and I still owe you a FMJRA.

The Rally was good for me this morning because I've been so bummed out the past couple of days.  Everything I'm reading in the news just SUCKS and the oil spill crisis is awful and getting worse; the EPA is trying to shut down 1/3 of our nation's refineries; all the Obamacare news is worse and worse....I just had to back off from it for a day yesterday.  So the message this morning was very timely for me.

Start praying.