Praise God for the work He accomplished through you during our 18-month campaign through West Michigan. We’re celebrating all that God did in your partnership – and rejoicing over the hundreds of thousands of people who heard the Good News because of this movement.
CityFest West Michigan united more than 30,000 people in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids for a 2-day outdoor music festival September 8-9. Because of this campaign, more than 1,830 people made a decision to follow Jesus Christ!
The week of outreaches and months of service before CityFest culminated in the 2-day festival over the weekend at Ah-Nab-Awen Park. CityFest featured something for everybody including a Family Fun Zone including bounce houses, appearances by VeggieTales, face painting, field games, and ventriloquists. Additionally, Action Sports Demos included some of the nation’s top teams in BMX, freestyle motocross, and skateboarding. Musical performances by award-winning artists such as The Afters, Danny Gokey, LeCrae, Mandisa, Mac Powell, and TobyMac filled the evenings, and Luis and Andrew Palau shared the Gospel throughout the week at various events.
The movement sparked thousands of volunteer hours in Grand Rapids and the surrounding region, focused on improving the local educational system, racial equity and justice, and affordable housing.
In addition to the festival, this campaign included several initiatives in outlying communities. Outreaches included outreaches at prisons, a luncheon for women, Latina events, and a gathering for business and civic leaders. And over months leading up to festival week, we saw the Lord unite the Church through a university outreach, the RE:NEW Gathering with Francis Chan, service projects to the community, and so much more.
More than 39,000 people reached in person through all CityFest events, including 30,000 in attendance on Saturday and Sunday
More than 1,830 confessions of faith as a result of the campaign
435 partnering churches
Hundreds of believers trained in friendship evangelism and new-believer follow-up
Hundreds of volunteers
More than 220,000 people viewed the events through multiple broadcasts online
This large-scale evangelistic campaign and region-wide service initiative couldn’t have happened without you. You helped reach West Michigan with the Gospel in powerful and tangible ways.
Listen to Andrew's messages from Saturday and Sunday:
HERE ARE SOME OF OUR FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM CITYFEST:
THOUSANDS JOIN LUIS & ANDREW PALAU FOR A SPECIAL LATINO FESTIVAL ON THE EVE OF CITYFEST
As a special treat for the Latino community in Grand Rapids, Luis and Andrew Palau joined with a handful of Latino musical artists for La Fiesta Latina at ResLife Church. You can watch the livestream of the event below.
EVANGELISTIC OUTREACH SHARES GOSPEL WITH 1,000 BUSINESS & CIVIC LEADERS
The Business and Civic Leader Luncheon was a special event as we gathered with influencers from throughout West Michigan to celebrate all that has been accomplished through CityFest and share the real reason behind the effort.
Guests heard a powerful presentation of the Good News of Jesus Christ from Andrew Palau and special guest speaker, Michael Passero. 108 people made a public confession of faith in Jesus. Praise God!
DONORS COME TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE CITYFEST
At a small gathering, specific partners with CityFest West Michigan came together to be thanked by the team and city leaders for their investment and to celebrate their involvement rejoicing in the way God is already using the campaign to positively affect the region.
“There’s no greater joy than bringing people together in our community, but we can do that in a lot of ways that is very temporary,” Doug DeVos said. “There has to be something that brings our community together in an eternal way – and the only way we do that is through the Gospel.”
HUNDREDS FIND JOY IN JESUS AT WOMEN'S LUNCHEON
CityFest West Michigan’s Women’s Luncheon proved to be an inspiring night of encouragement and good news. More than 1,000 women gathered at the beautiful Devos Place in downtown Grand Rapids, many invited by friends and family to hear a message of hope.
Wendy Palau and former Miss Universe Barbara Palacious both shared their personal stories of a grief and struggle and how it was during those difficult times that they learned more truly of the sweetness and goodness of God.
The Holy Spirit was definitely at work throughout the night. Not only was it a memorable evening for all who attended, but more than 200 women indicated a confession of faith in Jesus Christ by the end of the evening. 234 women who arrived at the luncheon with discouragement, pain, questions, and guilt went home with new-found hope, peace, forgiveness, joy, and the assurance of salvation.
“It was such a great way to start the week,” Wendy Palau said. “And it was so evident that the orchestrated the details around everybody’s lives to have them at this event.”
THE GOSPEL SHARED WITH HUNDREDS OF INMATES
The Palau team visited four local correctional facilities to share a message of hope and encouragement. This was in partnership with Celebrate Recovery, Prison Ministries, Cornerstone Ministries, and Prison Chaplaincy. In Brooks, over 100 men listened to a powerful message from Andrew, and 12 of them made a decision for Jesus. In Muskegon, there were 250 inmates in the yard listening to the message with 30 clear responses. An additional 1,000 inmates could see and hear the message from their cells. We rejoice in knowing God used this time to plant seeds for the Gospel to transform lives in the prison, and we celebrate those who were drawn to make a clear decision for Jesus.
ABOUT CITYFEST
CityFest West Michigan was a free, 2-day, family festival at Ah-Nab-Awen Park in Grand Rapids on September 8 and 9. CityFest began with a series of outreach events strategically designed to share the love of Christ with key groups of people in our community, including university students, business/civic leaders, prisoners, etc. The final event, a family-oriented festival on September 8-9, celebrated this amazing effort and share the message of Jesus with thousands through the ministry of evangelists Luis & Andrew Palau.