Chilling temperatures and biting wind could not stop the devoted.

Approximately 1,000 people braved the cold weather Friday night to attend 1, a celebration of music and worship put on by a collection of Christian campus ministries. Groups of people, dressed in sweatshirts and carrying blankets, flocked to a white tent next to the Campanile from every direction on campus.

“We’re here tonight to celebrate the new hope we found in Christ,” says worship leader Matt Heerema to the massive crowd between songs.

At 1, Heerema was joined on stage by musicians from other Christian campus organizations, who together performed a variety of Christian musical selections.

The audience moving to and singing along with the music was of a similar variety, with several different campus ministries being represented in the crowd.

“It’s cool to see what happens when all the Christians can be united on campus. I think good things can happen from that,” says Mike Biang, a fellowship team leader at The Rock.

Biang says he saw the event as a chance to both worship with his friends and make new friendships.

Paul Johnson, staff member at The Rock, says he agrees.

“I really like a lot of the other groups, and I’m glad we can all be together,” he says. “I’ve prayed for it for a long time.”

Johnson, who helped plan the event, says the event was not meant to be exclusive to the groups sponsoring it and says he hoped that any curious person on campus would feel welcome to join.

Biang says he agrees but adds that there were not very many students just wandering around campus because of the cold and that he was somewhat disappointed by that.

Paula Burggraaf, junior in elementary education and member of The Salt Company, says the planning committee prayed extensively for no rain, but did not think to pray for warm weather. Burggraaf, who was involved in the planning of the event, says she braved the weather like so many others because she wanted to celebrate God with other believers.

“This has been a huge blessing for us,” she says. “It’s as if God plopped it in our lap.”

Burggraaf says the university was approaching different campus organizations and asking them to hold events for students during the month of April. The collection of evangelical student organizations accepted the offer and was given $4,000 by Leaders INspiring Connections and the university for the event, Burggraaf says. They also raised a few more thousand dollars themselves in two days.

Alyssa Martens, member of Navigators and junior in apparel merchandising, design and production, expressed gratitude to the university for allowing the event to happen. She says she was excited to have the opportunity to worship with people with whom she normally does not worship.

“I think each ministry on campus may seem like a different group,” she says. “But we all have the same purpose and all are one in Christ, and I think it’s neat that we can all come together on campus.”

The audience was not only made up of ISU students.

LisaGrace Duvick, a junior at Ames High School, said she thinks it is important that Christians, like all other groups, be represented on campus.

“This is a fun and exciting way to do it,” she says.

Duvick says she was excited to see 38th Parallel, a local Christian band, at the end of the evening. The band has a sound that seems influenced by acts like 311, Incubus and Rage Against the Machine, but with a Christian message in its lyrics.

Along with the performance by 38th Parallel and the band composed of members from the various campus organizations, testimonials of three active ISU Christians were shown on two large projector screens on either side of the stage. People were encouraged to pray together and mingle at various points, and a speaker from The Salt Company took the stage to talk to the crowd. Pancakes were served at midnight to end the evening.

The speaker, Cody Cline, junior in agricultural business, told the audience that the end of the evening’s event will not be the end of the unity between the organizations, but rather a launching point for further attempts.

“I love that feeling of working for God,” he says.