Grace Family Church conducting revival

One Marion church is hosting a spiritual revival for residents and visitors to attend.

The Grace Family Church in Marion will be hosting a “Revival by the River.” The event will take place Aug. 13-15 at Legion Memorial Park, 401 N. Main St., Marion.

Officials of the event suggest that visitors bring lawn chairs to listen and participate in prayers and songs, as well as enjoy the company of fellow Marion residents and visitors. The events will happen from 6-8 p.m. each day.

“With all that has gone on in the world during the past year, we want to bring life and joy back to people,” said former Antigo pastor Dick Kendall.

Kendall will speak on Friday night. Jerry Ehrhardt, who served as a missionary in Asia from 1997 to 2007, will speak Saturday. Finally, on Sunday, pastor Phil Hohensee will speak.

“We saw the need for this revival and thought that it could benefit a lot of people,” said Kendall.

Kendall added that everyone is welcome to attend and participate in the spiritual revival, no matter their religious denomination.

“Everyone is welcome,” said Kendall. “We just want to get people to understand their relationship with God and Jesus.”

He believes that hosting a revival can help to get people’s minds back on track and focus on their religion.

“I hope that people will use this as an opportunity to mend relationships,” said Kendall. “If they can turn the page back to their lives before the pandemic, then these relationships with their religion as well as their family and friends will be for the better.”

Kendall said that this is the first time that Grace Family Church is hosting an event like this. Due to this being the first time, he said that he doesn’t know what the turnout will be.

“If we see 50 people on a given night, then I will count that as a success,” said Kendall. “If we do have a good turnout and it captures people’s attention, then we will consider running an event like this again.”

The expectation from Kendall is that people will enjoy the event and have positive reactions to it.

“I think that if a lot of people join us that they will understand why we are doing this,” said Kendall. “People are hungry for something positive.”

He said that he wants visitors who attend to invite family and friends to help build relationships with others.

“It will be great if people invite family members and friends who are maybe on the fence,” said Kendall. “I also hope that people who are in the park at the time will stop by, maybe out of curiosity.”

With more people getting vaccinated, Kendall has been happy to see people attending and participating in community events again.

“I am happy that we can host and participate in public events again,” said Kendall. “A lot of people were secluded during the pandemic. It is fabulous that things are opening back up again, and we are able to get back to reality and socialize again.”

Kendall added that he is hopeful that a smaller community like Marion will be able to host this event and see a positive turnout as he believes that having everyone together will result in strength.

“The community that comes together over prayer in a vibrant and fun event will be strong together,” said Kendall. “That is the message that we are hoping to portray to the visitors of the event.”

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com