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..For the 10th year in a row, Trinity United Methodist Church’s youth group teamed up with other spiritual organizations from around Rome and celebrated their love of Christ with Jesus in the Park.
Click here to see a video from the Jesus in the Park festivities.
The annual party, said youth minister Grant Magnus, lets people celebrate their spirituality in an interdenominational environment and also is a way for groups to reach out to those in the community who might not have strong religious ideas.
Click here to see a SnapHappy photo gallery from the event.
The event also lets people in the community have fun.
“We think it’s really important that once a year there’s a place everyone can gather and see that God loves everyone,” he said. “Most of all, we wanted to throw a party for t
Colby Amos, 4, gets his face painted during Sunday’s festivities. (Ken Caruthers / RN-T) |
he community the same way Jesus would.”
And how do the groups think Jesus would throw a party today?
With local musicians playing on the Ridge Ferry Stage, free food, carnival-style games and even ultimate Frisbee. Working hard to make the whole thing come together were the more than 50 youth group members who ran the games and painted faces.
Christina Reid, who was running a “fishing” game, said the day was fun for her despite the work.
“For me, it’s watching all the kids have fun,” she said. “That’s fun for me because I had a part in that.”
Magnus, on the other hand, said his fun came from experiences like
Molly Williams and Luke Batchelor perform Sunday for the crowd. (Ken Caruthers / RN-T) |
he had last year, when a mother of four walked up to the food tent asking how much hamburgers cost.
“When she was told it was free, she didn’t quite get it at first,” he said. “But once she realized the food was free, you could see the relief come over her. And then she asked for five of everything.”
He said for him it’s the “small things that end up being a significant event in someone’s life that makes it a great experience.”
Brandon Luther and his daughter Meagan, 9, said they came to enjoy the different festivities.
Meagan was particularly interested in the inflatable slides and an obstacle course.
She said she just wanted to keep “playing and having fun” throughout the day, and had already gotten her face painted and her nails done an hour after the celebration began.
“We mostly came out to listen to the music and enjoy the afternoon,” Luther said. “But hopefully it’ll give people and their kids something to do after they go to church.”
Magnus said between 700 and 1,000 people were expected at the event, which would not have been possible without their sponsors.
“We have tremendous support from our local sponsors,” he said. “They want to be involved in something like this that’s an outreach to people.”
For Magnus though, the entire event was more about helping through acts than words.
“The biggest purpose of Jesus in the Park is an evangelism of doing rather than an evangelism of preaching,” he said.
