USA (MNN) — What do you get when you take the Gospel message to a stage, add professional athlete stunts and band concerts, and plant it in a city of over 466,000 people?
You get the Luis Palau Sacramento Festival which is headed to Cal Expo Grounds in Sacramento, California this Saturday and Sunday, June 16-17.
This free, family-friendly celebration is just one of a series of Luis Palau Festivals that have drawn more than 8 million people around the world since 1999.
“Our whole battle cry this last year really has been that all of Sacramento hears the voice of God,” says Levi Park with the Luis Palau Evangelical Association.
Activities are scheduled from 3:30-10 PM daily with The Amazing Wonders Family Experience show for kids Saturday at 1:30 PM.
Expanding on a community service component has long been a part of Palau festivals. The Luis Palau Sacramento Festival has been collaborating with Sacramento-area service agencies and churches since January under the banner of Season of Service.
The objective for Season of Service has been to provide volunteers and resources for projects that address homelessness, hunger, families in need, schools, health and wellness, and neighborhood revitalization. More than 20,000 volunteers with 436 churches have served in over 200 Season of Service projects leading up to the festival.
Already, they’ve seen the impact Season of Service has had on Sacramento. Park shares one case: “Ten churches came together and approached a [middle] school and said, ‘Hey, we want to be a blessing to the schools in our neighborhood… They did a two-weekend project. Afterward, the principal was just in tears saying, ‘I can’t believe the impact this had on our school here and in our community.’”
The 2012 festival schedule includes Haiti, Jamaica, Paraguay, Australia, Albania, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. The Sacramento Festival will be the only Palau festival in the U.S. this year.
The Luis Palau Sacramento Festival will showcase some of the top artists in contemporary Christian and gospel music, including TobyMac, Mandisa, Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Lincoln Brewster, Phil Wickham, and more.
The Action Sports Area will feature top skateboarding, freestyle motocross, and BMX athletes. The Amazing Wonders Family Experience will offer live entertainment, inflatables, sports and games, and a NASCAR exhibit.
Anyone not able to go to Sacramento for the festival can watch streams of the events by going to www.sacramentofestival.com.
The Luis Palau Sacramento Festival will also have a prison ministry component, with its own mini-festivals in the local prisons. Andrew Palau, son of Luis Palau, will be presenting the Gospel message to inmates there.
“As Sacramento goes, so goes California. As California goes, so goes the country,” Park says. “We want to see revival; we want to see God move in a special way.” Please pray for the message of Christ to impact many lives in Sacramento.
For more information about the Luis Palau Sacramento Festival and Season of Service, click here.
