Did the 'Fill the Stadium' Christian outreach live up to its name? What you need to know

NORMAN — A free Christian event featuring a Chance The Rapper concert drew thousands to the University of Oklahoma's iconic football stadium on a busy Saturday in this college town.

The "Fill The Stadium" event — a combination concert and evangelism outreach — did not draw enough people to completely fill the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on OU's campus, but it is being hailed as a success by the organizers, their supporters and an evangelist who shared a message of faith at the event.

Roughly 30,000 people filled the football stadium with an 80,000-plus seating capacity. Prior to the event, OU seniors Josh Robinson and Nathan Wong, co-founders of the student-led outreach, told news outlets that about 60,000 tickets had been distributed and thousands of people were placed on a waiting list.

Saturday, people filled chairs placed on the football field, while many others sat in the stands. Volunteers from various churches and ministries throughout the Oklahoma City metro area prayed with attendees in the stadium concourse after the evangelist Nick Hall's message and after the event's finale. Some elements of the event were livestreamed.

"I thought the event was incredibly successful," Wong said on Monday. "We had over 2,000 people respond to the Gospel and while that's exciting, that's just the beginning. We will never actually know all the life change that happened on April 29 but we know that God moved on that night and when God moves, special things happen."

More: Why two OU students are on a 'miraculous' mission to 'Fill The Stadium'

History made

Regardless of how many people attended, FTS made history as the first non-football event to be held in the stadium in more than a decade.

The FTS co-founders told the media that they love OU football but they were excited about seeing people crowd into the OU stadium with faith and not sports on their minds.

"It's crazy, especially if you grew up getting to see these football games all the time," Wong said. "That this (stadium) could be used for something different, or something God honoring, is really special."

Robinson said he wanted to emphasize that a series of "miracles" led to the event.

"Like. this is not normal," he said. "This does not happen every day. We're stepping into something that I truly believe God is leading."

Headliner Chance The Rapper seemed to imply the same thing.

The Grammy Award-winning recording artist and current coach on NBC's reality TV show The Voice, said he felt God had a plan for him to be part of the evening's lineup. The Chicago native said he felt humbled to be asked to join the event and he thanked FTS organizers and sponsors for putting it together.

"I came here to fill the stadium," he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.

"My Father has a very important plan that's specific and I think I saw being here was a part of that plan. I think there's a lot of people here from different walks of life that maybe heard about the free show or that I was gonna be here or that Chandler Moore was gonna be here ... I just want to thank God that we're all here tonight."

He performed a 45-minute set for an enthusiastic crowd full of many people who seemed to know the words to his music.

The event's founders said they chose the singer-songwriter who is generally considered as a secular rapper to headline FTS because he was popular and because often sang songs about his Christian faith and songs incorporating Christian themes. The recording artist told the crowd he had wondered what he would perform during for the faith outreach. He ultimately performed "Melodies From Heaven," by well-known contemporary Christian recording artist Kirk Franklin, before launching into his own music, in which he rapped about God's faithfulness and his own need for the Lord.

More: Shared date for Christian faith outreach FTS and Norman Music Festival sparks controversy

Overall, the concert combined evangelism and music with powerful performances by contemporary Christian recording artists Kari Jobe and Chandler Moore. Jobe was the first recording artist to take the stage and she also talked about being grateful to the people who organized the campus event. Moore, formerly with Maverick City, performed several of his popular songs before singing new music. Prior to the event's start, he told the media that he felt the main goal of FTS was to offer the gospel of Christ and that the Lord would "honor the generosity" of the organizers and sponsors who decided to offer the event in a setting free and open to the public.

"Tonight's goal is really simple ― I think it is to make Jesus known," Moore said. "I think we, as a Church, we've had a bad habit at pointing to the issues of a generation, and not really provide solutions. So, I think tonight is about, hey, we have to answer, even though you may have a lot of questions or may have a lot of issues ... there's one guy who can answer and I believe he's going to do that tonight."

Meanwhile, any doubts that the event was an evangelism effort were erased when evangelist Nick Hall, founder of Pulse, took the stage. Hall, wearing OU crimson and cream, moderated a brief panel discussion featuring several OU students and Curtis Loftin, former OU and NFL linebacker who is part of the S.O.U.L. (Serving Our Uncommon Legacy) Mission program at OU, in which former OU football players mentor current members of the team.

In his message, Hall said Oklahoma had a profound effect on his faith testimony because he had attended a Billy Graham evangelistic mission effort in Oklahoma City as a young man.

He urged the crowd to shine their cell phone flashlights if they had ever suffered from depression, knew someone who committed suicide or contemplated suicide themselves. He said he didn't have all the answers to their challenges nor did anyone else on the program lineup, but God did.

"I want to tell you something about God. God sees you. God loves you," he said. "I think we're in a famine of people being heard. I want to tell you whatever you're going through tonight, he loves you."

Athletes with Oklahoma ties and an internationally recognized Oklahoma minister weighed in on the evening's activities. Former OU star quarterbacks Baker Mayfield and Sam Bradford, both Heisman Trophy winners who went on to play in the NFL, spoke to the crowd via video. The Rev. Craig Groeschel, founder and senior pastor of multi-site Edmond-based Life.Church, took the stage to offer a prayer right before Chance The Rapper's performance.

Attendees from different places

People from across Oklahoma and other states showed up for stadium event.

Debione Sherman, 22, of Oklahoma City, said a friend invited him to the event.

"I think it's a cool idea to show people about religion and to have people here all as one," he said.

Joy Hughes, 43, of Norman, said her daughter Makaela, an Oklahoma State University student, told her about FTS when it was in the planning stages and she joined a Facebook group that kept her in the loop about all the preparations. A member of Norman's Victory Family Church, Hughes said she was part of group of about 18 people who attended the event together.

"I think it's what going to bring people closer to God," she said as she looked out into the stadium.

Misty and Dustin Hawkins said they drove from Pauls Valley to attend FTS. Dustin Hawkins said their 16-year-old son wanted to see Chance the Rapper and they like the idea of bringing their children to a wholesome event.

Unity, offering hope

FTS occurred on Sooner Saturday, OU's largest recruitment effort aimed at high school and transfer students. The event also occurred on the final night of the popular Norman Music Festival held in downtown Norman, with all of the events drawing lots of traffic. The outreach also drew controversy for coinciding with the music festival, with critics chastising FTS organizers for having a concert on the same night as the annual festival's finale and for promoting FTS as a Chance The Rapper concert as opposed to an evangelistic outreach.

The student founders said they asked OU athletic stadium officials to consider three dates for the FTS event and stadium officials ultimately chose April 29. Saturday, Hall shared some comments about the controversary after a reporter asked the event's founders and leaders how they were responding to the criticism. He said the secular world would expect him to respond to the criticism in a negative manner but he said God was at work and "you're able to see that Jesus welcomes everybody."

"He welcomes those that are easy to believe and he welcomes those that are really cynical and skeptical and have a hard time understanding," Hall said. "Because the motive of this event, from start to finish, has been to impact those that yes, are part of the church, but mostly those that have felt judged and separated from the church for a long time. And if you want to go after those kids, you have to do it in a language they understand, and with tools that will let them know that they matter."

The Rev. Clarence Hill, senior pastor of Norman's Antioch Community Church, FTS co-founder Robinson's church, Hill said he did not initially know of the conflicting events like the Norman Music Festival. He said he tries to encourage people to work together and collaborate where they can, although sometimes it can't be helped. He said he knew it was not FTS organizers' intentions that the outreach conflicted with another events.

The minister said the unity he saw at FTS was amazing to see and if only one person left the event filed with hope, it was a success.

"As far as the number of people who came to the event, the stadium was not completely full, but the goal of the event was to create a space where those of us who have found hope in Christ Jesus, and have seen him transform our lives, we wanted to see a space where others would have that opportunity also," Hill said.

The preacher said some of the more riveting and "heartbreaking" moments of the event came when he saw many flashlights being held up in response to Hall's questions about attendees who have experienced the suicide of someone they know, contemplated suicide themselves or experienced depression.

"So, regardless of how many people were in the stadium, if one person had found hope that night, it would have been worth it," he said. "But there were at least 1,000 who raised their phones, and wanted to trust in God. And the best answer I can give someone is that Christ is alive, he changed my life. Regardless of the number of people that showed up, if someone can discover what God showed me, then it was worth it, and I'm super grateful to the gentlemen who hosted it."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: From crowds to student response, what happened at 'Fill the Stadium'