Fall festivals have become an annual outreach event for many churches in the United States. In Jasper, 19 churches take it a step further by coming together as a whole to reach their community for Jesus.
With the goal of providing a “free day of fun for Jasper-area families,” at this year’s festival on Oct. 29, the churches did it bigger and better than ever.
Children are encouraged to wear costumes while they spend time collecting lots of candy and enjoying the inflatables, carnival-type games, a hayride and more. Food trucks are also available for those who want to buy meals or snacks during the event.
This idea was devised in 2015 by two ministers at Northside Baptist Church in Jasper.
As fall approached, John Jaye, Northside Baptist’s student minister at the time, and Shawn Stinson, minister of music and outreach, were planning fall activities and events. When the time came to discuss their annual fall festival, they saw that neither was excited about doing it.
Reaching the lost
It was always the same people doing a lot of work for little results. Though the church family and a few guests enjoyed it, they couldn’t think of anyone who had come to Jesus or joined Northside after participating.
Jaye and Stinson started brainstorming reasons and came to the realization that many families would “make the fall festival rounds” each year, which led to exploring the possibility of having a “bigger and better” event at a neutral site that included the involvement of many area churches.
There were advantages both for the churches and the families. The families wouldn’t have to travel from place to place and the churches could do more with the manpower they had. Their thought was that the results would be the same or even better, with hope that even more would be drawn to meet church families and think about going to church.
Seven or eight phone calls later, the idea became a reality. Most of the churches that were pitched the idea also became excited and wanted to be a part.
‘Incredible attendance’
Even though everyone was excited about this new venture, Stinson described the first year as “bonkers.” But he said they learned a lot.
They hadn’t anticipated the incredible attendance, and so there wasn’t enough food for the free hot dog meal or enough space for everyone and everything.
However, as Stinson said, “After that crazy night, we knew we had ‘proof of concept’ and decided to improve and do better the next year.”
For the first few years, they had a planning committee that started in July and worked out the details. Committee members were responsible for logistics like booking the inflatables.
Time and experience made planning easier. For the past few years, Stinson has overseen the event. In August, he sends out emails asking who wants to be involved that year. He acquires permits and handles bookings.
The email communication continues with each church then deciding what they want to do and working together to make sure all roles are filled.
Changes through time
One of the changes they have made over the years was from having a special service at the end that included a gospel presentation to instead focusing on gospel conversations as people were waiting in line.
“’Are y’all having fun at the festival?’ can lead to (asking), ‘Isn’t it great to see all these churches working together?’ And that can lead to (asking), ‘Can I tell you why we do this?’
“Then you’re in a conversation about sharing God’s love and the gospel,” Stinson said.
Another change has been corporate sponsorship. In 2018, Milo’s Hamburgers heard about the fall festival and wanted to be a part. Since then, Milo’s has been the sole corporate sponsor, covering some of the cost.
It could be easy to think that so many churches from Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, non-denominational and Church of Christ denominations would have conflict working together on an event like this. The only issue they’ve had was the first year when establishing goals of the event because some wanted to include fundraisers for missions. However, “pleasant discussion and sharing of thoughts” led to keeping it a free event.
“Every year at Fall Fest, I’m blown away when I look around the event and see all the churches working together and all the families enjoying the day. I will often walk around the event, making sure every church is OK and seeing if they need anything. While doing that I may ask some random kids if they’re having fun. Every year I’ve had at least one child ask, ‘Can we do this again tomorrow?’” Stinson said.
“As I look around the festival every year, I’m reminded that while each church has their own beliefs and ways we interpret Scripture, we all have one main thing in common and that’s Jesus. Every church there loves Jesus and wants to share His love with the young families in attendance. Sure, our differences are important, but if we can just look past the minor differences sometimes and focus on Jesus, it’s amazing what God can do when we work together.
“Fall Fest is about all the churches sharing the love of Jesus. God gets all the glory.”
Share with others: