A community event will bring churches and people together for one day of various activities.
Love Unlimited Ministries and GAP Fellowship will host the first Save One Soul Festival at Brandon Park from noon to 5 p.m. Aug. 5.
What sparked the idea was a friend asking Ron Johnson questions to which he could not find the answers. He had chaos inside and in life.
"Did you ever go to church?" he (Johnson) asked.
Presenting that question to people made Johnson realize that some people never actually had gone to church, but just listened to hearsay, which caused a bad taste in their mouths about it.
Through the event, people can listen to different kids of entertainment, or in the case of Shak the Mime, watch it. They can hear about different churches, but they will not be pressured to visit.
"While they're trying to capture whatever souls are lost out there, for those who don't go to church, out of curiosity, they can see what it's about," said Brian Saunders, an event partner with Johnson. "Some of the ones that don't go to church may hear something that interests them. They might want to start going to church."
Instead of just having people preach, Saunders wants to give people the chance to "let God touch their hearts."
"We provide the atmosphere," he said. "God will do His part. We are just a vessel."
The idea of the event continued to grow.
"We should do it on a large scale," he said. "Maybe we can come together as one to do something for the community. Maybe not just singing and dancing. Instead of selling anything, we'll feed them for free."
Saunders came up with the idea of, in addition to a canned goods giveaway, having a clothing giveaway.
The festival also gives the churches a chance to interact together.
"We wanted to bring churches together to work together, different denominations," Johnson said. "A lot of churches should come out into the community."
However, Johnson and Saunders are not pointing fingers at any specific church.
"A lot of churches in the area do things in the community that no one knows about," Johnson said.
They want to see the success of the event before they start planning another one. It took seven months to get everyone on board to plan the first festival.
"If we can save one soul out of this event, the whole mission is a success," Saunders said. "What better way to give back to the community ... ? Feed them, clothe them, feed with words and take some time."
An Aug. 11 rain date is planned if bad weather should postpone the event.
Saunders is hoping for 200 to 300 people to attend, but the benefit of having it in Brandon Park is that if 400 to 500 people attend they can be accommodated.
Entertainment will include Kim Adair and Soulful, GAP Fellowship Praise and Worship team, Second Sunday - First Methodist, Kate & Friend - Christian ventriloquist, Shak the Mime, Len & Micah - Omega OPC, Serenity Praise Dance - Love Unlimited Ministries, First Baptist Bells Choir, Maple Street AME Zion Praise and Worship Choir, and Christian poetry and praise dance with Donna of Unity Christian Fellowship.
The Queen of Gospel, Marcelene Brown, will emcee the event.
Free refreshments also will be available.
