Palau Assoc. joins big SXSW event


By Luis Palau Association,

WEDNESDAY, March 15, 2023

Praise God for all He did this past weekend at SXSW!

For the first time in the history of SXSW, a group of Austin-area churches were allowed to host an officially sanctioned evangelistic gathering at the famous SXSW annual conference. Excited by the opportunity and committed to making it the best it could be, they asked the Palau Association to help lead the charge. Together, we saw God move in powerful ways.

For more than 30 years, SXSW has been a major driver of art and technology for our entire world. It is where trends have been set and new technology has been launched.

This is where Twitter first caught on, where ground-breaking movies have been debuted, and where Grammy Award-winning musical artist have been discovered.

Past speakers at the conference have included President Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Edward Snowden.

Attendees from all around the world come to learn, launch, network, and dream. They are the best and the brightest in their fields. They influence culture — for better or worse.

And this past weekend, they also had the opportunity to encounter the Living God!

Taking over the iconic Stubb’s Bar-B-Q on Sunday, March 12, we gave SXSW attendees an opportunity to experience powerful music, enjoy free BBQ, and learn from panel discussions with leading Christian tech industry experts.

And of course, throughout the day, Andrew and others shared the clear Good News Gospel and gave attendees the opportunity to commit their life to Jesus Christ.

Our good friend Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, joined us for the day and brought great interest and excitement to the program as he shared his testimony as well as thoughts on faith in the workplace.

Also involved in the gatherings were Grammy award-winning artist Lecrae, virtual reality expert Renji Bijoy, former Meta executive Nona Jones, and tech expert Mark McClain, to name a few.

Each speaker brought their own experience and knowledge to the program, sharing clearly how their faith in Christ has impacted their work and influenced their trajectory in life.

Many people responded to the Gospel as a result of the testimonies and messages.

In the days leading up to the Sunday events, hundreds of local believers hit the streets to promote the events and share the Good News. We heard of many great interactions with SXSW attendees – some even prayed to receive Jesus right there on the street!

In the end, thousands of individuals were impacted across the two main experiences and panel discussions, making it one of the larger SXSW gatherings of the year.

“The strategic impact of an evangelistic event like this is so powerful. SXSW attendees are influencers from around the world. And while a venue like this doesn’t attract the sheer number of a typical Palau festival, the impact is just as great. Those we reached this past weekend are the thought-leaders of our culture. They will take this new-found faith back to their areas of influence where it will go on to impact many more.” – Carl Grant III (CEO, Capital Raise)

Thank you for your prayers and partnership for this out-of-the-norm outreach. We look forward to seeing this movement continue as Austin-area churches and local business leaders look to make this an annual outreach.


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