City Pointe Church is hosting a new holiday event to remind people of how the love of God can change lives.
Bringing the advent to life, the event acts as a real-life calendar. Massive advent candles adorned with Christmas lights are on display in a festive walk through the parking lot, which has been transformed for the event. The walk-through Christmas light display depicts the Christmas story via 10,000 lights.
The event is completely free and attendees can either foot it on their own and take in the lights or for a more in-depth experience they can join one of the tours, where a guide will explain the meaning of each candle and help remind folks of the “meaning of the season.”
“Christmas can be a challenging season for a lot of folks and there’s a lot of things that happen,” Scott McIntosh, pastor of City Pointe Church, said. “We wanted to help people focus on the reason for the season. The Lights of Christmas is a walk-through light experience that tells the Christmas story through the candles of the Advent Wreath. We want to talk about their meaning and really help people make sure their hearts are prepared for the love of God. In the middle of the shopping and the craziness, this is a moment for people to stop and check in on their hearts, to look for Christ and all that He does for us.”
The idea first sparked to life for Ellen Lynch seven years ago during some of her devotion time. She did a little sketch and at the time had no idea what to do with it. Eventually she came to City Pointe and when McIntosh asked for a Christmas event idea, she knew just what to bring to the table.
Though there are already 10,000 lights on display, the plan is for the event to grow in size every year and eventually become one of the city’s most anticipated events. The event was held from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 19-21. City Pointe is joined by a number of area churches and businesses to host the event and the collaboration has led to quite an impressive result.
When folks arrive, they are offered hot chocolate and cookies and there’s live music playing every night. From there they can walk it themselves or take a tour. Everything is free and there’s plenty to do. A designated photo-op stand is also in place for those who want to document the event under some good lighting.
Everything on the tour that’s not festive lights, including the wooden manger scene, candles and the mountains, were made by members of City Pointe Church. More than 50 volunteers helped make Lynch’s dream a reality and a swarm of volunteers offered to lend their services each night at the event.
“The one thing we want people to know when they leave here is that if they’ve never heard about Jesus, or if they maybe had a relationship with Him, but have lost their way over the years we want them to know how much Jesus loves them and how good he is,” Lynch said. “And for those who are all-in, then this is an awesome way to help them celebrate the season.”