There is a Video at the bottom of this post….I wish ALL Zimbo’s health and happiness and a request that a pause for reflection outside of politics is needed at this time……(DFE)

HARARE – It was the dream Crusade of many a Christian, bringing together one of the leading evangelists of our time, Joyce Meyer, and one of the best selling gospel acts ever, Hillsong, right here on Zimbabwean soil.

And from the pulpit it was the dream crusade of many an evangelist – 200 000 Gospel-hungry people hanging onto your every word in a nation on the verge of a new epoch- during the week you turned 68.

The run up to the Joyce Meyer “Festival of Life” crusade was a feat in itself. It was one of the most advertised events that Zimbabwe has ever seen. On the billboard front, no event has ever taken up so much advertising space. In the months coming towards the crusade Econet Wireless converted their huge billboards all over Harare into giant Joyce-Meyer-and-Darlene-Zschech-Are-Coming adverts. Then there was a massive radio campaign, flyers, SMSes, newspapers- you could not miss it.

The results were impressive. Every single day of the crusade, for three days, 4-6 June, over 100 000 people thronged the Harare Civic Centre Grounds (behind Rainbow Towers) to listen to the powerful woman they had only ever seen on TV, DVDs and in magazines and to hear – live – the music that made Darlene Zschech and Hillsong famous the world over.

Darlene is the former worship pastor of Hillsong Church. Hillsong made headlines when their 2004 live CD release, For All You’ve Done, reached Number 1 on the Australian national music charts. Zschech’s best known song is Shout to the Lord and according to her website is sung by an estimated 25–30 million churchgoers around the world every week.

Joyce Meyer’s ministry feeds over 20 000 orphans in Zimbabwe. Her over arching message to Zimbabwe was that of love. She told of how she was abused by her hateful unrepentant father for over 15 years and only won his soul for Jesus through acts of selfless love many years later.

“If Zimbabwe is to prosper the hatred and division needs to end,” she said in her final sermon on Sunday to the loud cheers of the crowd.

The Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, was among those present on Sunday and there were loud cheers when his face appeared on the huge screens placed next to the stage.

The stage itself is a story to be told. It took over a week to set it up. The sound system, lights and other equipment were powered by a huge generator in a truck backstage.

Parts of the crusade were screened live on ZTV.

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