Churches planning 3-day festival
A group of churches is planning a free, three-day festival in Butler County, and it seems organizers are starting to gain an audience.
Nearly 200 people attended a public kick-off service last week at Westminster Presbyterian Church, where team leaders began promoting the event.
Set for June 13 to 15 at Moraine State Park, the festival will feature evangelist Steve Wingfield, along with various other attractions.
"We're looking to sign on a nationally known artist," said the Rev. Tim Bupp of Grace @ Calvary Church in Butler, in charge of publicity. That entertainment should be announced by late February, said festival director Dick Lynch, who works for the Steve Wingfield Evangelical Association.
Lynch said past Wingfield festivals have featured country recording artists like Charlie Daniels, Randy Travis, Ricky Scaggs and the band Diamond Rio.
Based in Harrisonburg, Va., Wingfield has done more than 60 festivals in the Eastern United States in the last 24 years, he said.
With projected costs exceeding $400,000, participating churches are planning a series of fundraising and promotional events for the festival, which also will include youth activities like extreme sports and a ventriloquist.Although many of the host churches are based in Butler County, other counties also are represented. Those counties include Beaver, Lawrence, Armstrong and Allegheny.Bupp said the idea began two years ago at an informal pastors gathering, where the Rev. Bruce Geary of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Butler invited a few colleagues to attend a Wingfield presentation in Altoona."When they came back they were all very excited," he said."They shared (their impressions) with us and we said it sounds like somebody we'd be very much interested in."More and more pastors got interested in it, and it just took off."At initial informational meetings in late 2006, Lynch said 26 churches expressed an interest. As of last week's kickoff, 51 are on board."We have a finance team that has actually been contacting people one-on-one and explaining what we're doing ahead of time," said Lynch."They've been very supportive," he said, adding, "We are well on our way" to raising the necessary funds.With so many counties represented, Lynch said the group anticipates daily attendance at the festival to range between 8,000 and 15,000 people."I actually think we'll have people coming from as far away as Youngstown," he speculated. "Our target area is a 50-mile radius around Moraine State Park."The festival team currently includes 17 people from area churches, as well as from the Steve Wingfield Evangelical Association. A number of positions are still available.Wingfield previously pastored in Roanoke, Va., where he founded the Roanoke Evangelical Ministerial Association. He is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Eastern Mennonite College. He also has served as a featured instructor at Billy Graham's Institute for Emerging Evangelists at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, N.C.For more information, visit the festival headquarters at 620 N. Main St. or contact organizers at MoraineParkSummerFestival@SteveWingfield.org or 724-431-2397.
