We had a wonderful week running conferences in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
But it was not without complications. [smile]
What do you do when 500 people are coming to a conference, the air conditioning in the church auditorium is broken, the weather report says it will be 88 degrees, and the windows don’t open?
That’s what we wondered!
Well, first, you pray. Then … you get creative.
Dad and Stephen bought 100 feet of 8 inch flexible air duct.
They connected it to a nearby classroom vent and ran it through the hall …
… up the stairs …
… and off the edge of the balcony unto the crowd. I think it helped a little bit.
That wasn’t the only idea.
Mr. Houck constructed a large fan system to be blowing air across the room.
Here’s a better view of it.
As the conference was beginning, one lady told me, “Well, they got the air working in here–I can feel it!” I pointed out that it was actually the fans she was feeling. [smile]
In addition, we went to Kroger, bought 1,000 water bottles and asked the manager if he would freeze 500 of them overnight to be picked up the next day before the heat of the afternoon. We passed them out to the attendees as they entered the auditorium.
We also positioned fans to blow in cool early morning air before the conference started, changed the conference schedule (to have shorter main sessions and more of them), and moved the mom’s sessions to an upstairs room.
All in all, everyone survived the conference. No heat strokes. Once again, a problem turns into an opportunity to see the Lord’s hand of provision. Praise the Lord.
Here are our three innovative geniuses. [smile]
They definitely were geniuses! 🙂 My daughters and I were there for both conferences, and I can testify to the fact that those measures worked extremely well I thought the sanctuary was really comfortable considering how warm it was outside. The fan set-up was the “coolest”. I took a picture to show everyone at home. Praise the Lord for providing the ideas and the means to carry them out.
Thank you for all your work and efforts behind the scenes. The conferences were a huge blessing to our family, and we were grateful to be a part of them. We hope you come back to Michigan soon!
Oh, wow! Sounds like quite the excitement! Sad we missed out!
Very cool how that turned out. Praise The Lord.
Our family was so blessed by both of the conferences here in Michigan! Please come back soon!
Very creative! Praise the Lord for innovative and smart brothers and fathers. I am glad to hear that the conference “survived” despite the air conditioning…all the things we take for granted! Thank you to your family for your ministry and blessing to many young women!
Missed your conferences this year. Hope you post your 2014 schedule. Come to San Antonio:)