The tent set up Saturday morning went great. Lots of help from the church showed up and pitched in. That is the key every time and it proved true again. Lots of willing help equals a great day for me and Kelly Jo! 59 minutes after we began the tent was standing on its own and in 1 hour and 41 minutes the tent was tight, the carpet was down and the chairs were in place.
When all that is completed we hang our PA cords, lights, banners and more over the next few hours. Someone from the church was grilling at some point and we all had a picnic meal about lunchtime. It was a great day.
Later in the day, Kelly Jo moved the BoggsMobile from the far side of the parking lot where the electrical hook up is. She pulled it in next to the light pole and tan garage building in the picture below. I directly wired a 50 amp plug into the panel of that building so that we could be closer to the tent.
The last two tent revivals we have run the bus generator the whole week and it seems a little odd to be in tent revival without the sound and subtle vibration of the generator.
Some of you have noticed the discoloration of the tent. It shows up pretty good in pictures above and the two pictures below.
The blue of the valance is the original color of the blue stripes on the tent. The top is faded badly and it gets worse every week it is in the sun.
We can trace that back to a single event in 2016 during City Reach. The tent endured a horribly strong wind storm that was whipping sand and dirt so bad that we could not even attempt to have church under the tent that night. The tent was still standing when the storm was over so we counted that as a win.
The tent was up another week there and two weeks later we washed the tent at the next location and I noticed then that the top felt different. I did not realize at the time, but the protective finish on the vinyl had been sandblasted off in the storm. There was nothing I could do at that point, but witness the deterioration in the color each time we put the tent up again.
It has now reached the point that the tent is not wearing well. The vinyl is more brittle and seems to be much more susceptible to punctures and might come apart more quickly under a strain.
We have two options. We can replace the two round parts of the tent or we can continue to use these pieces until we are forced into a decision. I would hate for that decision point to come as we are setting up for tent revival in some city and we have to cancel. I still try to live by the Cub Scout and Webelo Motto: Be Prepared.
Some of the consideration is how much longer Kelly Jo and I will be physically able to do the work of tent revival. If we have more than a year or two left in us, then we should probably replace the top.
However, even if we do not use this tent very long into the future, my plan was to pass the tent in good condition to someone else to use without problems for many years. We are waiting on pricing from the tent company and then we will move forward with a decision.
The services have been outstanding with great community and church response. We have four more nights and we are excited to see what God is going to do in lives.
Davy
