Today, the 16th edition of the 2021 annual Gospel music festival tagged “The Experience“, will be held at The Rock Cathedral, Lekki, Lagos with a large crowd of audience expected to be in attendance. The Experience is organised by House on The Rock Church led by Reverend Paul Adefarasin.
The concert promises to be a night of passionate worship, intense prayers for the world, and goodwill messages from leading Christians and thought-leaders from different spheres of life.
Since its inception in 2016, The Experience has become a global brand in gospel music because of its ability to transcends borders, suspend prejudices, and truly unite people of all races, cultures, colors of skin, ethnicities and denominations as hearts fuse in ardent worship, exhilarating praise and fervent prayers to God Almighty.
Several legendary gospel music artistes will be performing live as viewers and worshippers world over are given the choice to watch the show live on social media. Facebook and YouTube users may use: @TheExperienceLagos or via TheExperience Lagos website; https://The experiencelagos.com.
In Nigeria, MTN, Airtel and Globacom subscribers can watch-data free- on the website via live.theexperiencelagos.com. For the benefit of cable TV subscribers in Nigeria and on the African continent, the music festival will broadcast on DSTV Channel 198 and GO TV Channel 29.
The event will be streamed live online and on terrestrial and satellite platforms. The stages will feature some of the finest gospel artistes, including, Sinach, Travis Greene, Chandler Moore, Nathaniel Basset, Donnie McClurkin, Ana Paula Voladoo from Brazil, Sheldon Bangers from India, Sidney Mohede from Indonesia, Planet shakers from Australia, and Mercy Chinwo.
Others are; Tim Godfrey, Eben, William Mac Do Well, Kikelomo Mudiaga, Cher, She Gun One, Nikky Laoye, Emo, The Lagos Metropolitan Gospel Choir and The Rock Cathedral Gospel Choir will minister at the show this evening.
Addressing a large press conference today in Lagos, organiser and founder of the annual festival, Pastor Paul Adefarasin said the vision of the concert is to provide a forum where all is to worship God without hindrance and enjoy the best of music in the world.
“When we first conceived the notion of a musical concert, our vision was to provide a platform where anyone could worship God without inhibition and enjoy the finest gospel music, comparable to the best concerts anywhere on the face of the earth.”
Adefarasin noted that The Experience has grown to attract millions of people to participate in what is arguably the largest single congregation of worshipers in a gospel music concert on the surface of the globe.
He hopes that The Experience 16 Global would usher in a new season of goodwill, good cheer, and gracious new beginning for Nigeria and rest of the world in unprecedented dimensions.
According to him, this year’s edition will be a hybrid event held on-site at the home of the Lagos Metropolitan Gospel Choir, The Rock Cathedral campuses as well as virtually, streamed from other continents including South America, Asia, Australia, and the United kingdom.
The man of God explained the developmental impact of the festival; “The Experience continues to be a huge driver of diverse Kingdom culture and the creative industry, influencing positive ideological shifts, shaping identities, stimulating innovation, forging meaningful relationships and collaborative endeavours, and fostering economic liberation.
He also spoke about the economic opportunities of the event, saying, “Some of the notable positive outcomes of The Experience are the entrepreneurial opportunities for many young people.
“Our numerous feedback mechanisms show that SMEs (Small and Medium Scale Enterprises) have been birthed into sectors as diverse as food, hospitality, clothing, memorabilia, security, technology, media and entertainment, facility management, events management, and logistics including aviation, ground transportation, local and international travel management.
He assured that logistics, security etc have been put in place to ensure the success of the festival.
All the performing artistes of the event spoke about The Experience. For Nathaniel Basset, the programme gave him exposure in gospel music, adding that it has enabled him to experience God in an unusual way.
“With The Experience, the more you stay in God’s presence, the more you see him but the less you see yourself. Every time you see the Lord, you see everything through worship.”
Chandler Moore explained that The Experience had afforded him a great privilege to meet and help people as well as impact on the world through gospel music.
On the part of Sinach, she said what influences her music selection is the Holy Spirit, who directs her path on gospel music.
