In the process of this shaking, things will fly-off people – the things they do not need. People have the tendency to want to go back to those old things. He stressed that people who are always talking about the past are stuck. "Do not allow anybody to get you stuck," he said. "Life is too important to get stuck and started complaining over stupid stuff." At this point T.D. Jakes told the large audience that he was not planning on celebrating as many birthdays as he had celebrated in the past. Time is running out for most people around his age and he was not planning on wasting his time on ridiculous stuff. He urged the audience to start working to move forward despite the recession, and not to get stuck. God is planning to give them blessings if they can get out of the depressive situations they find themselves.

Bishop Jakes told the story of how he was upset with his children for not appreciating the beauty of celebrating Christmas at home. He told the audience that the Christmas was always very special when he grew up where the children appreciated Christmas stockings, the beautiful aroma of turkey and dressings, mashed potatoes and gravy, beautiful sweetness of pecan, apple, and peach pies spread all over the table for many hours and some times for days. He said, his mother who was in charge of cooking all that food to celebrate Christmas was happy to watch the children eat for hours, go to sleep, wakeup again and eat more – it was a celebration. Today, his children told him they did not need all these foodstuffs or the presents as much as they wanted to spend quality time with their parents. They ended up going to Kentucky Fried Chicken place on one Christmas and he said, "I know my mama is turning over in her grave!" He told us the story to illustrate that what he used to appreciate was difficult for his children to appreciate the same thing because they have never been hungry for those things. He was trying to let them appreciate the past but the children were ready to move forward.

He also told us another story with his ten-year-old son whom T.D. Jakes was teaching how to be a man. But the boy wanted to catch some tadpoles and little fishes. In the end, Bishop Jakes said he had to learn to jump like a little child when the wave of the ocean came to the shore - playing with his son just like a little kid. After a while, he started to enjoy the process of jumping as the waves came to shore. His point was, people needed to learn to jump into the waves as the new waves of glory and blessing from God approach. Do not sit down and continue to complain about what you lost, or did not have. Just learn to jump into the waves of blessings coming down from God.

The giant highlights of the evening started when Bishop T.D. Jakes started doing his favorite Holy dance, and the entire audience of thousands of people joined him. He started with his usual slogan, "Get ready! Get ready! Get ready!" The music ignited the atmosphere and he started dancing. What an event? It was the time the building started shaking for real. I thought it was an earthquake, but it was a chorus of thousands of people in synchrony doing the Holy dance. TD Jakes set the place on fire! Even God knows, the brother can preach! From here he led the whole audience into a prayer devotion, asking them to hold hands, rebuking the enemy and saying numerous blessings over them. Bishop Jakes continued to shower the entire audience with continuous blessings for a while. At this moment, the wave and the heaviness of the Holy Spirit started to move across the hall. It was a critical moment during worship that tears started falling from those who were moving with the waves of the Holy Spirit. You could feel the heaviness and the trembling presence of the Holy Spirit. Praise God!

The 103rd Holy Convocation of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) was a very inspiring, orderly and highly successful event. There were so many people in the hall; many have to be turned back. To experience such a move of God in such a very large congregation was highly impressive. The program started from November 8^th- 15^th, 2010 with Bishop Charles E Blake, Sr. the Presiding Bishop and Chief Apostle. The theme of the event was, "Great God, Great Vision, Great Accomplishment!" The event took place at the American’s Center and Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis, MO. There were many different Christian seminars, a parade of beautiful hats by the women, many Christian items for sales at the booths, and different places to eat at the food mart. The event was a giant success! Praise God Almighty!

‘Yinka Vidal, Reporting for OUTCRY Magazine

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