The Thankgiving Weekend in Dallas was held from Thursday Nov 27 - Sun Nov 30 at Upendo Baptist Church and was streamed live right here on KenyanGospel.com simultenuosly with celebrations in Atlanta, Georgia. The event was organized by UPYA (Upendo Young Adults) and attracted people from various states including Kansas, Minnesota, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia and Massachusetts among others. This was the 9th year that UPYA had organized the event and saw its biggest turnout. Bishop Dr Douglas "Bish Dagi" Muchiri from Lifenet Christian Fellowship Church in Ohio was the main speaker and tickled everyone with his powerful "PG-13" sermons. Also ministering in the conference was Pastor Richard Munala from Mzizi Church in Minnesota and Pastor Live Wesige from Michigan . Artists who performed included Carol Mbithi, Carol Mungai, Helena Kitheka, Chasemode, Sam Mchalongo and Obed Kissaru aka God's Replikah, comedian Kevin Ngapiani as well as Vessels of Honor dancers from Kansas City, Neema Church dancers and Upendo Youth's Crunk Dancers for Christ. As always, the UPYA crew rented dozens of hotel rooms (Hyatt Hotel) for all attendees from out-of-state and also provided food for all throughout the conference.

Crunk Dancers for Christ

VIEW MORE PICTURES OF THE EVENT

Thursday's activities began with participants arriving to the venue as early as 4am as registration took the better part of the day. In the evening, all were assembled at the church's hall for a session of praise and worship followed by performances. Crunk Dancers for Christ (Upendo Youth) showed some good moves as the opening act giving way to christian rap artist God's Replikah (Obed Kissaru). Chasemode from Maryland and Sam from North Carolina also churned some high energy tracks as Caroline Mbithi from Boston closed out the session with some uplifting worship. Pastor Richard Munala from Minnesota, who was one of the people that helped start the UPYA thanksgiving weekend 9 years ago, took to the podium with some piercing message but not before doing an impromptu jig with Upendo Church Senior Pastor Shadrack Ruto. Hilarious! Thereafter, all retreated to their homes and hotel rooms at around midnight.

Pastor Richard Munala

Friday morning session started at around 10am with some praise and worship. Thereafter Pastor Live Wesige from Michigan delivered a powerful message, and gave a nail-biting life account of how God saved him from the Rwandan genocide in the 90s. After lunch, Rose from Kansas gave a health and nutrition workshop on how to take care of one's body and eating the right food. Seeing from the number of soda cans that were unopened during dinner, we can say that the talk was a success. The evening session started with some praise and worship from CFNI (Christ for the Nations Institute) and thereafter Bishop Dr Douglas "Bish Dagi" Muchiri delivered a straight-talking, hard-hitting message with bursts of humor. You just have to listen to the message on the videos below. Thereafter, there was a serious jam session christened "Banjuka Nite" with DJ Ngugy from Oklahoma and DJ Fresh from Boston serving up the hits. The dance floor remained packed as everyone tried some moves till the session ended at 2am! All this was still streaming live here on this website.

Bishop Dr Douglas "Bish Dagi" Muchiri

Saturday morning, with people clearly sore from the night before, started with praise and worship followed by a Question and Answer session about relationships hosted by Upendo Church's Senior Pastor Shadrack Ruto and the first lady as well as Upendo's Associate Pastor Joseph Mutisya and his wife and Upendo's Youth Pastor Samson Muniu and his wife. The afternoon session served as some free time for participants to interact as they toured the Dallas area. After dinner, the evening session's praise and worship was led by the very talented Yada band with amazing vocals and instrumentation. Thereafter there were performances by comedian Kevin Ngapiani, Carol Mbithi, Carol Mungai, Hellena Kitheka, Crunk Dancers for Christ, Vessels of Honor and Neema Church dancers. Bish Dagi continued his hard hitting message as he ended his message with people pinning their "life giants" lists on a cross. Thereafter, the UPYA team took to the stage as they conducted the closing ceremony and gave vote of thanks. It is worth noting that this was also a farewell for the UPYA chairlady Faith "Imani" Mwaura who is leaving Dallas for Kenya.

Neema Church Dancers

Sunday morning, all congregated at Upendo Church for the Sunday service as Bish Dagi delivered the word. Thereafter, there was an official church farewell for Imani as participants made their way back to their places. The organizers deserve commendation for hosting this powerful uplifting conference for the past 9 years. Last year's conference featured Zaidi ya Mziki and DJ Moz from Kenya. Check out the pics from last year. Now you will not want to miss next year's conference so start making plans.

Email (will not be published)

Name

Title

Comment
 remaining characters

Post