Meet Ryan Hoppes

Festivals can be overwhelming. 100,000 people packed together, the air thick with anticipation, energy crackling through the crowd. It's loud, it's massive, it's... a lot. But here's what I've learned after sixteen events and hundreds of thousands of photos—the real magic happens when that enormous crowd of thousands suddenly becomes just one person having a conversation with Jesus.

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That's when I know to hold my breath and click the shutter.

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My first Palau festival was in Tyler, Texas, back in 2019. I'd been supporting the association for years, writing checks and believing in the work, but I'd never actually seen it happen. As someone who loves photography, I reached out on a whim—could I maybe document the event? They said yes!

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Looking back now, that simple "yes" changed everything. Since then, I've traveled to nearly every corner of the globe with Andrew and Wendy Palau and their incredible team. From the prisons of Malawi to community churches outside Buenos Aires, from migrant detention camps in Panama to the slums of Kenya—my camera has been there, capturing moments that still take my breath away.

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Before I started traveling with the team, I'll be honest—I struggled with something. I knew Palau was doing important work, but I couldn't quite grasp how my support directly impacted lives. Sometimes I wondered if my resources might create more immediate change supporting food banks or homeless shelters—you know, meeting those tangible, physical needs we can see and measure.

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But then I witnessed what actually happens at these events.

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When someone encounters Jesus—really encounters Him—something shifts at the deepest level. I've photographed it thousands of times now: that moment when spiritual hunger gets satisfied, when purpose replaces emptiness, when hope floods in where despair used to live. This isn't just feel-good inspiration; it's transformation that radiates outward, touching families, communities, entire regions.

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I realized that helping people come to know Jesus isn't just one good option among many—it's the foundation that makes everything else matter. When someone finds their identity in Christ, they become unstoppable forces for good in their communities. They're the ones starting the food banks, caring for the homeless, fighting injustice. The Gospel doesn't compete with meeting physical needs; it creates the people who dedicate their lives to meeting those needs.

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That's why I keep my camera focused not on the massive crowds, but on the intimate details that tell the real story. Through my lens, I'm hunting for those quiet, profound moments when the enormity of the gathering becomes intensely personal. A hand lifted in surrender. Tears streaming down a weathered face. Eyes suddenly bright with hope. An embrace full of compassion between strangers who just became family.

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These moments—these are what the Palau Association is really about. Not the impressive logistics of gathering 100,000 people (though that's remarkable), but the fact that within that crowd, 100,000 individuals are having authentic, life-changing conversations with their Creator.

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I've found myself in tears behind the camera more times than I can count. There's something about witnessing these raw, vulnerable encounters between people and God that cuts straight to your heart. Whether it's a successful entrepreneur in Austin attending SXSW who decided to come into Stubb’s BBQ to see what all the commotion was about, or someone who walked miles from the slums in Kenya to the festival grounds to hear the Good News, the hunger is the same. The response is the same. The transformation is equally profound.

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These are the images that matter. These are the stories that capture what's really happening when the Palau team shares the Good News around the world. Thousands of individuals walking away renewed from the inside out, ready to impact their families, their communities, their cities, their countries—and yes, God willing, the entire world.

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Don't get me wrong—practical needs like food, clothing, and shelter will always be essential. But without the hope and spiritual foundation that comes from knowing Jesus, without the sense of purpose and identity that transforms someone at their core, I believe we're just putting band-aids on symptoms instead of healing the disease.

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The Palau team understands this. They've dedicated their lives to sharing the one thing that changes everything else. And I'm incredibly blessed to help document their work, to capture these moments of transformation, to tell these stories that matter eternally.

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As I pack my camera gear for the next event, I'm already anticipating what God will do. Because I know that somewhere in that crowd of thousands, there will be quiet moments of profound encounter. And I'll be there, ready to capture the heart of God at work, one frame at a time.