Bless Fest surrounded attendees with good will, good resources and fun
Attending Lansing Bless Fest at Adado Riverfront Park on Saturday (Aug. 29) was more of an educational experience than I’d imagined. Moments after my feet hit the fairgrounds for the annual free event, I decided to park my feet at the center of the park. With the speed of a kiddie carousel ride, I turned to see everything the community needs: smoke billowing from grills and a long line of people waiting to be served burgers, hot dogs, chips and beverages at no cost.
Jeremyiah Cole of Media Messengers, the non-profit inter-denominational organization behind Bless Fest, was among the cooks sizzling the eats. He explained that local ministry leaders and Messengers’ founders the Rev. Rudy and Collette Henderson wanted to create a cookout for everyone in the Lansing neighborhoods.
“It’s all free here, and we’re just blessed to visit with our friends and neighbors,” Cole said. “Every Bless Fest is good, but they look different each year because you have new people coming, the same people coming, and people from all walks of life. It can get a little crazy but God uses crazy for good!”
It was good to see families, especially the small children, enjoying inflatables, raffles and giveaways. It was heartwarming to see the variety of charitable organizations and others like MissionsFilled, Soul Winners Sisters Cleaning Service, Habitat for Humanity, Coreshift Counseling, Love the City and Moneyball Sportsware. The popular clothing brand provided basketball hoops for 3-point shooting contests.
MissionsFilled’s director and founder Adam Williams said Lansing needs Bless Fest every year to bring organizations of faith and charity together.
“The churches represent multiple spaces of charity that people give millions of dollars to, as well as millions in time as far as volunteer hours,” Williams said. “That’s the beauty of having this event because it could a hub for churches who need to get more involved and invested into their communities.”
Bless Fest also welcomed a diverse team of volunteers who helped out across the grounds. A set of those helpful hands belonged to Lansing resident Nicole Mifflin and her family.
“We’re involved with Bless Fest because we saw a need,” Mifflin said. “We needed to help our friends out by helping to organize. We felt God leading us to help them and get more involved with their ministry. We’ve been behind the scenes helping with setup for a couple years, but there were a couple years where we just came to attend as well. The whole welcoming of everyone, no one being turned away, and the variety of music that comes is why we keep coming back.”
Bless Fest began its carousel of mainstage performers on Friday night (August 28) with its Hip-Hop-centric kickoff event Flo Fest. Lansing duo (by way of Detroit) 50K Journey and Kalamazoo solo act Deonte Hall each set the night’s energetic tone. Headliner KEVI turned it up with his hit single “We Outside,” which has been streamed more than a million times.
Saturday’s more eclectic lineup of gospel band Michelle Miller-Bell, Christian act Joe Jarvis, father/daughter rapper/singer duo Bobby Bendito & Cierra, rock/soul fusion group His DNA, rock/worship group Chosen, gospel act Spoken Praise, and gospel ensemble The Lansing Collective Worship Encounter made the Bless Fest audience sing along, cry and raise their hands in praise.
“People hear our music streaming and people watch us online, and that’s one thing, but to actually be able to interact with the people who are listening to the music, or people who may have never heard it, the biggest part is the hand-to-hand fellowship,” Bendito said. “Being able to have different encounters with people, hear their testimony and share my testimony, the biggest part of being here at Bless Fest is the people.”
