HUNDREDS OF COUNTY LEADERS RALLY BEHIND EVANGELIST’S VISION TO SERVE SAN DIEGO
(March 2, 2010) – International leader Luis Palau, Mayor Jerry Sanders, and Walt Ekard, representing the County Board of Supervisors, joined forces today to spark a community service resurgence among more than 400 San Diego County religious and business leaders.
At Grace Point Church in San Diego yesterday, the vision for San Diego CityFest with Luis Palau was met with unbridled enthusiasm. Palau shared the two facets of CityFest – a Season of Service, and a culminating, celebratory two-day festival. His hope, he said, is that “individuals will come together across religious, ethnic, and economic divides to serve and bring transformation to this great city. And then, I want to see everybody down at the festival in September where they will hear a message of hope and some very good news!”
Leaders readily responded that they would mobilize their churches, organizations, and resources to help transform San Diego County. “We may disagree on some things,” Mayor Sanders said of his involvement, “but we all can agree that San Diego desperately needs the help of each and every one of you.” He continued, “The community gets stronger when they see people taking care of each other.”
On behalf of all of San Diego, the County Board of Supervisors presented a proclamation officially declaring 2010 the Season of Service. The City of El Cajon has also issued a written proclamation.
The Season of Service will work in some of San Diego’s most impoverished neighborhoods, and will focus in the areas of homelessness, hunger, schools, military, and mentoring. Many of the churches represented, including North Coast Church, The Rock Church, Horizon Christian Fellowship, and the Calvary Chapels already engage in large-scale service, and have committed to working together to instigate substantial change. The first event, Sleepless San Diego, will be held in partnership with the San Diego Rescue Mission on April 24.
Ken Blanchard, long-time San Diego resident and international business leader, opened the conference challenging leaders “Are you here to serve or be served?” By the end of the day, an overwhelming number of leaders responded that they were ready for the former.
About Luis Palau:
Luis Palau and his worldwide ministry have shared the Gospel with 1 billion people through evangelistic events and media. He has spoken in person to more than 25 million people in 72 countries and his radio broadcasts in both English and Spanish are heard by millions more on 3,000 radio outlets in 48 countries. Luis has authored close to 50 books, dozens of articles, and has counseled business and government leaders around the world. Palau’s free, family-friendly festivals have drawn some of the largest crowds on record since 1999 in such diverse locations as Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (300,000), Nashville, Tennessee (90,000), Houston, Texas (225,000), Manchester, England (55,000), Lima, Peru (650,000) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (850,000).
For more information about San Diego CityFest with Luis Palau, please call 858.523.1002 or visit www.sandiegocityfest.com.
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CONTACT:
Amanda Fields | (760) 815 5379
Amanda.Fields@Palau.org
SanDiegoCityFest.com