Northern Ireland's 1st-3rd September 2000 event review by Aaron Ferris.

In every way the biggest and best In:fusion festival so far with an attendance of 700+ and some penetrating ministry and heartlifting music, the event has now taken on its own identity and has clearly become a significant part of the Christian event calender. ln:fusion's bill this year was bolstered by the late and unexpected addition of two big names from the Christian music world: Maire Brennan, whose ethereal, wistful renditions of her self-written songs brought an air of Celtic tranquility to the packed throng assembled to hear her; while Glenn Kaiser demonstrated again that with his gravelly, impassioned voice and deft blues picking he is one of the finest living examples of Chicago blues. Musical diversity was being demonstrated everywhere at this year's In:fusion. There was smooth and soulful gospel from Gifty Ovire; engaging pop rock from Clay; impassioned blue eyed soul from Joseph; and some heartwarming worship from the In:fusion Praise Band. But alongside all the great music there was a profound work of God going on. To demonstrate this, here's a testimony from chairman of the In:fusion committee David Faulkner: "One of the most representative of the way God moves and changes in the immediacy of it was the chaotic moment in the lunch queue on the Saturday. We were speaking to Yfriday about how they were going to do the whole praise evening right into their gig. Ken Duncan from the band said, 'We'd love you to pray with us later.' Then Des the drummer called me over. He'd been talking to the three dancers from Gateshead who were speaking to him prophetically and he said, "Will you please tell the girls what you said to me in Cross Rhythms?', which was essentially that I felt his drumming was to be prophetic and to take it someplace. Suddenly the Lord comes down and we start praying with each other and chaos reigns in the dinner queue! We were on the floor for about an hour just praying. The queue was milling all around us. Eventually we did have to move out to another room. That was just symptomatic of the spontaneity at ln:fusion, where people were available and didn't say, 'Oh well, we can't do this now.'"
Somebody else who was impacted at ln:fusion was Glenn Kaiser. One of the things I'll remember about ln:fusion is the looks on people's faces when I spoke and sang some of the hardest, most challenging things. There was a real openness, people are open and they hear truth. I think Irish people pick up if you're insincere...they don't suffer fools very easily. It really struck me how they were smiling. I was telling them about the cross and suffering and sacrifice and the cost of being a disciple, a real follower of Jesus and the cost of reconciliation, being forgiving to your enemy, your neighbour, the people who have hurt and wronged you and how it's a command of God, not an option to forgive. It's a bit like going to the dentist and getting a root canal. But people were smiling, and really got it. A lot of people, when I asked them to pray together in groups of two or three and really confess their sin, really seemed to do it." So then, an extraordinary weekend of music and ministry... Here's to next year's ln:fusion.