As music filled the air with various voices and instruments, many people at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument knew what it meant. There was a concert going on, and Indiana Bible College were the ones putting on the concert. IBC tries to do a concert on Monument Circle every year, as a way to outreach into the communities of Indianapolis and anyone who may be downtown at the time.
The college had been preparing for weeks, with practices, sound checks, and outreach times throughout the week leading up to the concert on October 5. The students and staff of Indiana Bible College are very focused on doing what they feel Jesus has directed them to do. This is one of the many reasons why the college has Reality Week, which is a week of inviting people from the neighborhoods surrounding their campus to the downtown concert, a block party at Calvary Tabernacle the day after the concert, and our regular church services on Sundays.
People had even stopped to watch and listen to the college practice, at least an hour before the concert was scheduled to start. The concert actually began a few minutes after 7 p.m. and mostly everyone downtown near the Circle was excited to find out what this meant. Indiana Bible College began to sing songs that had been sung at church by them before, on their recording albums, as well as some new songs that even church members of Calvary Tabernacle (like myself) had not heard from IBC yet.
It was a wonderful experience to be able to witness people worshipping Jesus right in the middle of downtown Indianapolis. That night is one I will never forget, since downtown was transformed into a figurative church service by the atmosphere that was welcomed by many and introduced by the college. I had been going to this concert for years since I attend the church, and this year was the best one I had ever experienced. The music was solely focused on Jesus and helping others to focus on Him. If one truly wanted to feel Him, it was very easy to feel Him in that atmosphere.
The lyrics that the crowd seemed to connect to most were “I was hopeless and knew I was lost, and death and darkness were my only songs. I needed someone to come rescue me, and mercy heard my plea.” The song that these lyrics are from is named What Your Mercy Did for Me. I believe these lyrics resonated most with those attending since the words perfectly portray what it is like to be human. Sometimes, or even most times in some cases, we feel hopeless, worthless, and as if death or things that we know will lead nowhere good are our only options.
The song later says “every morning mercy will restore me, I will proclaim. Even if the world may fall before me, I will proclaim.” These words speak to why we, members of Calvary Tabernacle, continue to serve Jesus with everything we have. We may mess up sometimes and do things that we ourselves don’t even agree with, but we know that He will forgive us and help us to become better people. This is why I feel that this song is the most impactful one sung that night, since the song really hones in on the struggles of humanity and shows one of the reasons why we continue to serve Jesus the way that we do.
In between the various IBC groups who performed (Choir, Chorale, and Praise) the pastor of Calvary Tabernacle, Paul Mooney, spoke and explained more of our apostolic beliefs. He spoke for around a total of four minutes, and one point that he made truly stood out to me while listening. He explained why the Bible college comes to the Monument Circle- Americans “are losing sight of how precious liberty and freedom is… we don’t want anybody to forget that this nation provides liberty and freedom for the individual.” By bringing this point up, Pastor Mooney was able to draw an analogy between the soldiers who died to secure our liberty and Jesus, Who died in order to give a new heart, mind, and spirit to every person who follows Him with his or her whole heart.
After the pastor of Calvary Tabernacle was done speaking, the Indiana Bible College Choir came back to perform a few more songs, which also seemed to resonate with members and newcomers alike. To close out the concert, Jason Gallion, the Indiana Bible College campus pastor and dean of students, came up to where the various groups had been performing. He ended the concert by telling everyone about the block party the Bible college was going to have the next day, October 6th, as well as providing service days and times for anyone who wanted to visit Calvary Tabernacle. “If you’re looking for a great church, we invite you to Calvary Tabernacle,” he said in closing.
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