{"id":38738,"date":"2016-05-03T10:33:10","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T10:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=38738"},"modified":"2016-05-03T12:38:38","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T12:38:38","slug":"fans-support-donnie-mcclurkin-despite-rainout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738","title":{"rendered":"Fans Support Donnie McClurkin Despite Rainout"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. CROIX — It rained, and it rained some more; yet droves of Crucian fans packed the John H. Woodson Junior High School grounds to see award-winning, gospel artist Donnie McClurkin perform Saturday<\/span> night.<\/p>\n

Cars lined the outskirts of the compound before the gates were even open, but for these folks, the wait had just begun.<\/p>\n

Sylene Joseph, waited outside the gate from 5:17 p.m.<\/span> When she finally got onto the campus, she found herself in the middle of a wave of anxious fans until about 8:30<\/span> that night. It was a 3-hour wait of pushing and shoving, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were children getting trampled. People were fainting\u2026people screaming in each others\u2019 ears \u2013 it was utter confusion,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cThere was possibly 200 people just ramming back and forth \u2013 security pushing us back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, local performers were on the inside. But instead of preparing their acts for the show, they were cleaning \u2013 chairs, floors, and bathrooms.<\/p>\n

Sound engineers were on the inside too. They hustled to make the stage show-worthy just a couple of hours before the scheduled start of 8 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

An intense, last-minute effort was underway to create a Plan B when Plan A became a bust. Plan A was an enormous stage that took about two days of preparation at the St. Croix Educational Complex track, where the concert was originally slated to be held.<\/p>\n

But not only did the stage collapse, much of the sound system equipment got wet during the rainy weather around noon<\/span> that day.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, concert coordinators \u2013 the Global Gospel Entertainment Network (GGEN) team \u2013 launched a social media and telephone blast to dispel rumors that the show was cancelled. News soon spread that both the venue and time had changed.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

Coordinators anticipated 1,500 to 2,000 people would show up to the Complex grounds. Just shy of the expected numbers, a strong 1,100 showed up to Woodson, according to GGEN Marketing Director CJ Thomas.<\/p>\n

By the time they finally packed inside, sound engineers were still trying to cram what would normally take a day\u2019s work into a few hours. Nonetheless, the show finally began around 9:40 p.m.<\/span> \u2013 sound limitations and all.<\/p>\n

As a result of these limitations, many local acts were crossed off the show line-up. At this point, coordinators could only cater to performers who were using music tracks in lieu of a live band, according to GGEN Musical Director Kendra Young. That left performers like Papa Das out of Tortola, Anthony Ryan out of Florida, and the Music in Motion dancers.<\/p>\n

For some local performers who\u2019d been preparing months in advance to open for Mr. McClurkin, the cuts were disappointing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little upsetting because we put a lot of practice into it,\u201d said Voices of Inspiration Performer Otisha King, \u201cbut at the end of the day I understood the reasons for it \u2013 for us not performing.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Young, the cuts were difficult to make but necessary for the show to go on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel good,\u201d Young said, \u201cIt was rough, but what could we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Collapsed<\/a>

Collapsed stage at the sports field behind the St. Croix Educational Complex facility.<\/p><\/div>\n

Artists like Papa Das and Ryan were able to get the audience on their feet with high-energy performances. But as the hours rolled by, the intermittent screams for Mr. McClurkin\u2019s arrival on stage intensified. Anticipation skyrocketed as Mr. McClurkin taunted the eager crown by peeping through the closed curtains every now and again.<\/p>\n

When his 6\u20191\u2019\u2019 frame finally appeared on stage with a dynamic performance of \u201cDays of Elijah,\u201d almost the entire auditorium stood to their feet with waving wash rags and the familiar tune on their lips.<\/p>\n

It was midnight<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Some had been waiting for more than 6 hours, but the cheers were still overwhelming.<\/p>\n

Mr. McClurkin and his band kept most of the crowd on their feet with moving performances of his popular hits like the \u201cI\u2019ve Got My Mind Made Up\u201d Caribbean Medley, \u201cGreat is Your Mercy,\u201d \u201cI Call You Faithful,\u201d \u201cWe Fall Down,\u201d and his new single \u2013 \u201cI Need You.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sweating out my makeup; I was in heels; my clothes were drenched, but I didn\u2019t care,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cAll the fatigue went away. I was no longer sleepy or tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the best worship experience I\u2019ve ever had in my entire life, and I\u2019ve been to some pretty awesome concerts,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Of his own performance, Mr. McClurkin said it wasn\u2019t about entertainment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about Jesus,\u201d he told VIC in an interview about 24 hours before the show.<\/p>\n

At the concert, he told the audience that instead of entertaining them, he\u2019d come to offer God worship. Near the end, the artist and minister made an appeal to those listening. He asked those who hadn\u2019t given their lives to God to do so at that moment and to make plans to start attending a local church.<\/p>\n

Thomas said GGEN plans to use future events to promote that same force of spiritual empowerment. The team has learned from their mistakes, according to Young, and will work on \u201chaving plan A, B, and C\u201d in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST. CROIX — It rained, and it rained some more; yet droves of Crucian fans packed the John H. Woodson Junior High School grounds to see award-winning, gospel artist Donnie McClurkin perform Saturday night. Cars lined the outskirts of the compound before the gates were even open, but for these folks, the wait had just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":38740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5000,11,2474,147],"tags":[4471],"yoast_head":"\nFans Support Donnie McClurkin Despite Rainout - V.I. Consortium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Wyndi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738\",\"name\":\"Fans Support Donnie McClurkin Despite Rainout - V.I. Consortium\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-03T10:33:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-03T12:38:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed18a62babb0e84695c613edb54e5fdd\"},\"description\":\"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fans Support Donnie McClurkin Despite Rainout\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/\",\"name\":\"V.I. Consortium\",\"description\":\"Uniting the Caribbean\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed18a62babb0e84695c613edb54e5fdd\",\"name\":\"Wyndi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b18c67839210d7e241f1128e1da0444?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b18c67839210d7e241f1128e1da0444?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Wyndi\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Please feel free to contact me with news tips or corrections at the following email address: wyndiambrose@gmail.com . Both tips and corrections will be considered based on journalism standards of newsworthiness and ethics. Telling your stories in the best and most accurate way is important to me.\\\"\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=53\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fans Support Donnie McClurkin Despite Rainout - V.I. Consortium","description":"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Wyndi","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738","name":"Fans Support Donnie McClurkin Despite Rainout - V.I. Consortium","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-05-03T10:33:10+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-03T12:38:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed18a62babb0e84695c613edb54e5fdd"},"description":"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=38738#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fans Support Donnie McClurkin Despite Rainout"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/","name":"V.I. Consortium","description":"Uniting the Caribbean","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed18a62babb0e84695c613edb54e5fdd","name":"Wyndi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b18c67839210d7e241f1128e1da0444?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b18c67839210d7e241f1128e1da0444?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Wyndi"},"description":"\"Please feel free to contact me with news tips or corrections at the following email address: wyndiambrose@gmail.com . Both tips and corrections will be considered based on journalism standards of newsworthiness and ethics. Telling your stories in the best and most accurate way is important to me.\"","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=53"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38738"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}