Benton County Churches Join to Host Benton County Fair Booth
Members from the Evangelism boards of six LCMS churches in Benton County met to discuss the possibility of hosting a booth in the Commerce Building during the Benton County Fair – July 13-17. The churches involved in were: St. Stephens – Atkins; Grace Lutheran – Blairstown; Saint John – Keystone; St. Paul’s – Luzerne, Saint John – Newhall; and Trinity – Vinton.
The first meeting in May was electric with many enthusiastic ideas and comments for the booth. It was decided to have a sign with a map of Benton county with pictures of each church placed on each side of it with strings going from the church to the appropriate city. On the side was a list of the churches by name and city. Also, a stand alone of the LCMS cross was put up.
The purpose being to let people in the county know where they could find LCMS churches and handing out information about those churches plus TLC Preschool (Vinton) and Central Lutheran School (Newhall). Information of our beliefs and other pamphlets were also available.
In addition to the brochures, it was decided to have free copies of older Portals of Prayer for those who wanted them. Dan Hahn of Grace Lutheran suggested a Bible Trivia Quiz – one for children and one for adults. Those that tried to answer the questions received a Tootsie Roll Pop for their efforts. Several congregations suggested that we get silicone bracelets as another give-away. The bracelets were a real hit with young and old. Colored in red, black and white and with the inscription “By Grace Alone… Eph. 2:8-9”, they were packaged with a card explaining what the colors meant and the full scripture verse. Dan Newton of Thrivent supplied pencils and tablets as additional give-aways.
The booth was manned by members of each church in two hour shifts. It was one of the most visited booths in the building, largely because of the warm and friendly welcome of the people who were in the booth. Plans are to continue the booth in future years.
