Three Baptist churches in Alexander City recently united to bring a fall festival to their community, and the results were beyond what many imagined.
The idea to go outside the church’s walls and present a community-wide fall festival was initially sparked last fall by Matt Haines, pastor of Sixth Street Baptist Church, Alexander City.
When the idea again resurfaced in August, Haines reached out to several local churches, as well as the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to inquire about using the Alexander City Sportsplex facility for the event.
The two other Alexander City churches involved with the festival, Orr Street Baptist Church and Hillabee Baptist Church, began working with Sixth Street Baptist to implement plans.
“We just all worked together, bringing all of our different [festival] games together,” said Vince Lee, pastor of Hillabee Baptist.
They each promoted the event within their churches and also set up a Facebook page.
The festival, dubbed Alexander City Community Fall Fest, was held on the Sportsplex softball fields Oct. 31.
Each church was responsible for various games and activities. For example, Sixth Street Baptist was responsible for eight games with one or two church volunteers assisting each one.
The event was slated to begin at 6 p.m., but Lee said crowds began pouring in just after 5 p.m. “We went ahead and started letting them in,” he said.
Community Fall Fest was a free event, aside from concessions, and offered a variety of activities for families: hayrides, train rides, pony rides, a petting zoo, photo booths, inflatables, a cake walk and many other games. One field was designated for children up to age 7, and another field for children above age 7.
The churches set up a prayer tent where visitors had the opportunity to stop in and be prayed for.
In all, Lee said approximately 2,500 people came through the festival, a number he certainly wasn’t anticipating. “We’re blown away by the success of it,” he reported. “It was amazing.”
Haines echoed the same sentiment and added that each church involved typically has between 300–500 participants at individual fall festival events.
Now that the dust has settled, the churches will conduct a period of follow up with those who registered. Lee explained the goal is ultimately connecting them to Jesus and encouraging them to be in a local church. “It’s all about the Kingdom,” he said.
Reflecting on the evening, Lee shared that Community Fall Fest is a snapshot of what three small churches can do when they cooperatively work together.
Haines said the festival enabled the churches to conduct an event that had a much bigger impact than if they had planned events individually. He added they want to try to expand and have more churches involved for next year.
“It was affordable, it was safe, it was positive,” Lee explained. He added that on a night (Halloween) that places a lot of emphasis on the dark, this event turned it into an evening with light.
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