The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of
the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
CityFest is more than a weekend festival. It is the catalyst for our community
to begin boldly sharing the Gospel, growing in awareness of the needs in
our city, and uniting with other churches in the area. We are already able to
see some of the fruit of our labors (Luke 10:2).
In the beginning of July, we had a team grow in sharing the Gospel through
spending a week in Detroit. This is one of their stories:
“We were walking and saw a young Muslim guy that we felt called to pray
for. When we talked to him, he told us that he was from Grand Rapids
too. In addition, he hated Arabic, had issues with Islam, and was read-
ing his Bible regularly. In the book of Corinthians, he had been learning
about loving God and others. He told us that it seemed like 75% of Grand
Rapids must be atheist because no one prayed for him. He went to
churches and no one spoke to him while at the mosque everyone talked
to him. He had tried to convert three times before but didn’t know how.
We were amazed and offered to share the Gospel but one of his friends
was watching. Before we left, he told us he would come to our church
because he wanted to hear more!”
We had another trip develop an awareness of the needs in Grand Rapids
through serving Downtown. This is what one of the team members had to
say from their experience:
“I was both overwhelmed and encouraged after spending time with
the underprivileged. Our homeless population is so much more than
the small percentage we see standing on the street corners. They are
also those who stay in shelters, live under overpasses, sleep out of their
cars, and crash on the couches of their acquaintances. The reasons are
complex like. mental illness, disabilities, or inadequate income to pay for
rising rent costs. We saw organizations providing care but in each place
we visited, the needs were great and the volunteers, few.”
If you are excited by these testimonies and are wondering how to move
forward, we will be offering an evangelism training later this fall with one of
our Calvary missionaries, Jon Shepherd. Besides encouraging you to share
the Gospel and extend mercy to others, CityFest has initiated joining with
other churches. With this in mind, we will be offering this training to all of
our CityFest partner churches and inviting them to serve with us. We plan
on dividing Grand Rapids into a grid, utilizing our training by going door
to door, and pointing people to their local chur ches. God has been using
CityFest to reveal the harvest that is ready to be reaped. We pray that you
join us as we work together, pray together, and reach out to our community
with the Gospel.
You're invited to Ah-Nab-Awen Park in
downtown Grand Rapids on September 8-9
for CityFest with Luis & Andrew Palau!
This will be 2 fun-filled days of music,
action sports, activities for kids, and multiple
opportunities for individuals to hear a powerful
message of hope in Jesus Christ. Bring your
family, friends, and neighbors!
This is a FREE event and tickets are not
needed. Doors open at 3:00pm. The festival
begins at 4:00pm.
SATURDAY
4:00pm | Family Fun Zone Opens
4:15pm | Family Fun Zone stage presentation
5:00pm | Action Sports Demo
6:00pm | Family Fun Zone stage presentation
6:30pm | Main Stage
The Afters, Danny Gokey,
Andrew Palau, Lecrae
SUNDAY
4:00pm | Family Fun Zone Opens
4:15pm | Family Fun Zone stage presentation
5:00pm | Action Sports Demo
6:00pm | Family Fun Zone stage presentation
6:30pm | Main Stage
City Choir, Mandisa, Mac Powell,
Luis Palau, Toby Mac
More details at
cityfestwestmichigan.org
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