If you happen to be in the vicinity of Heritage Baptist Church, Montgomery, on April 14 at 11:30 a.m., then you may feel very out of the loop if you’re not participating in Rise Up 2012: Dance Your Shoes Off. Participants will perform a group dance routine to collect shoes for local and international ministries, celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and express love for the Lord and all His people.
Shoes donated at the event will be given to Forest Park Ministry Center, a Montgomery Baptist Association ministry that provides assistance with food, clothing and utilities. Additional shoes donated will be taken to Mexico and Nicaragua when church members go on missions trips to those locations later in the year.
The event was inspired by a similar one put on in April 2011 by Second Baptist Church, Houston, which included more than 2,000 participants.
“A staff colleague forwarded the Second Baptist Houston YouTube link to me months ago, and I saved it as a possible resource for the future, which is now!” said Kenneth Loomis, worship minster at Heritage Baptist. “One of our church members, Celia Powell, is leading the effort to instruct the participants, using the choreography created by Second Baptist Houston.”
Heritage has set a goal to have between 300 and 500 participants and is reaching out to local cheerleading squads as well as campus ministry groups at neighboring colleges. It also hopes to attract local TV and radio coverage both before and during the event.
“It’s different enough that people who aren’t even involved in church really will see the need to participate in this,” Pastor Teman Knight said. “It is out of the box, but it’s very attractive even to folks who aren’t really committed to missions or other things like this. That [is] what really excites us about the event. It will give us an opportunity to not only proclaim the resurrection of Christ in our neighborhood but also let us provide shoes to those in need.”
And there are still opportunities to get involved. Come and observe the celebration, come and donate a pair of shoes or come and dance your shoes off.
To be a part of the group, the church asks that you attend at least one to two rehearsal sessions held in the Oasis (the student ministry room). The rehearsal sessions are
- March 25, 12:30–2 p.m.;
- April 1, 4–5 p.m. or 6–7 p.m.; and
- April 4, 5–6 p.m.
Heritage’s website (www.hbcm.net) has a video tutorial so that participants can have extra practice sessions at home.
For more information, email Loomis at kenneth@hbcm.net.
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