Worship Night returns to Sears Centre on Saturday
For the second year in a row, the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates will host some of the biggest Christian recording artists and most inspirational speakers, all in one night.
Grammy Award-winning singer Chris Tomlin brings his Worship Night in America back to town on Saturday, and it features a blockbuster lineup of entertainment.
Performance artists range from five-time Grammy winner Steven Curtis Chapman to contemporary artists Matt Maher and Phil Wickham, as well as Tomlin himself.
“Chris Tomlin and Steven Curtis Chapman are among the top five acts in Christian contemporary music,” said Kurt Gephards, campus pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows. “They could sell out venues individually.”
The husband and wife team of Bryan and Katie Torwalt, whose albums have broken through on the Billboard magazine charts, also will bring their Christian alternative rock and worship music to the concert.
If that isn't enough, the popular disc jockey DJ Promote will turn up the energy with his mix of Christian hip-hop music, lighting and media.
At the heart of the evening is worship, and Louie Giglio, who founded the Passion Movement and wrote the book “The Comeback,” is up to that challenge. His own personal story of coming back and of God's ability to provide a fresh start resonates with audiences.
The evening also will feature Max Lucado, a best-selling Christian author and preacher from San Antonio. His storytelling ability has warmed people's hearts since he began his ministry in 1988. Lucado keeps his message about God's love simple and, in doing so, he especially reaches those who are hurting, lonely or discouraged.
It was Tomlin's vision to bring people together in one night to experience the power of song, preaching and worship, and it appears he was on to something.
“God put (the vision for Worship Night in America) in my heart to bring together people to worship — and to pray for our nation,” Tomlin tweeted on June 30 in advance of the show at the Forum near Los Angeles.
Over at Harvest Bible Chapel, Gephards agrees.
“This is an excellent opportunity to experience comprehensive ministry,” he said. “Not only the worship music, which offers believers a powerful release to God, but from the speakers. These are world renown communicators, who connect with young and older people.”
Last year's tour sold out at Madison Square Garden in New York, as well as at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver and the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento.
This month alone, the tour hits venues in Denver, Daytona Beach and Miami, before closing out July at the Garden in New York.