The worship center was to be as unadorned as the savior being honored there. A simple setting, as minimalist as the message to be presented. About 150 acres of natural lawn surrounded by another 450 acres of grassland.

No Nashville-based musicians on display. No T-shirts available for sale in the lobby. No coffee barista brewing cafe lattes off to the side.
No coffee? What was Richard Ross thinking?

Answer: He wasn't. He was dreaming.

A little more than a year ago, Ross was deep into his morning praise and prayer time when he enjoyed a vision of a large, grassy field surrounding a throne. Scattered across the field were students praising and adoring the Son of God.

Ross initially thought the vision was simply a blessing from God, an encouragement for the 57-year-old Texan who had spent 30 years in youth ministry.

But when the vision occurred again and again during morning Bible studies, Ross had a new thought: what if the scene was not a snapshot of heaven but an imprint of what could – and should – happen here and now?

“What if this was not to be just in the age to come? What if it was to happen on earth?” he said.

After much prayer and much discussion with other Christian leaders, Ross and those leaders resolved to turn his vision into reality. The result will play itself out over 12 hours on May 25 in a grassy field in Kansas, about 30 miles south of Kansas City, in the form of the Paradise praise event for high school and college students from across the nation.

What makes the Paradise event unusual is not so much the emphasis on Christ – most praise events can claim that objective – but the de-emphasis on all things not directly to do with glorifying Jesus.

“There will be nothing for sale at Paradise, not one T-shirt or CD, not one pretzel,” Ross said emphatically. “No product tents and no ministry tents. No banners or signs for other causes.”