Country music superstar Martina McBride made a concert stop Thursday night at Jobs.Com Arena in Glendale, home of the Phoenix Coyotes. Her Waking Up Laughing Tour was shoe-horned into the schedule for what was known as the Glendale Arena until its sponsor-naming last fall. The building had already been booked for the three-day District Convention of the Jehovahs Witnesses, which was to begin hours later, at 9 a.m. Friday. The convention runs through 4 p.m. Sunday and attracts about 10,000 each day.By the time the arena cleared late Thursday night, there was no way that the arenas maintenance crew could have cleaned up the concert trash, tidied the restrooms, swept down the huge 17,500-seat space and set up chairs on the main floor in time for the Witnesses to be ready to start Friday morning. So they worked out a dealAt 2 a.m., almost 2,000 Jehovahs Witnesses, some from as far away as Prescott and Flagstaff arrived at the arena, next to the University of Phoenix Stadium, to go to work. Technically, Jehovahs Witnesses contract had them taking possession of the arena on Thursday. Out of a cooperative nature, they asked us if she (McBride) could come in, said Richard Melseth of Mesa, overseer of the weekend lectures and presentations. They yielded to the concert and volunteered an army of Witnesses to help the arena staff. We overwhelmed them, Melseth said. They were working as hard as they could, but considering that they just had a big, ol concert, and a lot of trash from McBrides fans, it demanded a practical solution. We did it in record time because they would have taken many, many hours in order to prepare for something like this — something that was 180 degrees different from a (religious) service like this.Gil Garcia, a media spokesman for the convention, said Witnesses responded to the request to help on short notice. This really gives us the opportunity to rise to the challenge and test the mettle to be able to respond quickly to a challenge like this. Added Melseth: I think it demonstrates the unity as well as the cohesive nature of our community, as well as sharing a common objective in educating us how to work together.It was better than moaning and groaning for being inconvenienced, he said This weekends convention is the third and final three-day annual district convention offered this summer to the Witnesses in Arizona and New Mexico and Las Vegas areas. The first two were June 22-24 and July 20-22 (Spanish language). About 30,000 Witnesses and the public will have attended them.Meanwhile, Martina McBride began her 50-venue tour April 12 and it follows the release of her ninth album, Waking Up Laughing. The Kansan turns 42 on Sunday and has been called the Celine Dion of Country Music.

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