WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY

THE CHRONICLE 

When a church can worship, pray and fellowship together each Sunday, it strengthens the entire congregation.  Building on those principles, Christ Cathedral Church of Deliverance has taken their fellowship beyond the walls of the church by holding “Vision Night Out” at the Carl H. Russell Community Center.

The idea for the event came to church pastor Bishop Freddie B. Marshall earlier this year and the first night out fellowship came together five months ago.  The church gets together once a month, usually on the first or last Tuesday of the month.  He wanted to use this event as a way to reach out to the community around Carver School Road.  He connected with Ben Piggot and Brian Leak of Carl Russell and the event took off from there.

“Our vision is to touch the community and specifically the families,” said Marshall.  “This is an opportunity for those kids to first of all have interaction with people within the community that literally want to see them understand what community really means.  It’s really about community, so our vision is to be a church in the community that’s literally touching the community, but at the same time we’re trying to win the kids.”

Marshall went on to say that many people forget the idea of the “village” and how it takes a village to raise a child.  He says many don’t have the concept or perception of what a village really means.  He touched on the issues Carver High School has been dealing with concerning enrollment and how the Carl Russell Community Center is key to revitalizing that particular area of the city.

When the church meets for the night out, the community is also welcome to fellowship with the congregation and to play the games along with them. The church participates in a number of physical activities, from kickball and basketball to volleyball. Arts and crafts are also provided for the younger children who are too small to play with the adults.

With his busy schedule, Leak stated that he wanted to help put the program together because he was not able to make it to church many Sundays, so this was a perfect way for him to fellowship with the church family.

“I enjoy seeing the kids have fun and the grown-ups fellowshipping and having fun as well.  It’s also great to be able to have fun with my pastor,” says Leak. According to church member Brittani Lane, the church wants the community to know they want anyone and everyone to come out and enjoy themselves during the Vision Night Out.  She says they will soon have community officials come out and answer any questions that those in the community may have. Along with the fellowship aspect of the event, there will also be attention brought to health and wellness of families as well.  Dinner is also served for those in attendance. Marshall believes that this concept can work and really wants to see the program grow as much as possible. He says the focus is not on the church, but on just fellowshipping with the community. “Above all I think people enjoy the fellow-ship and the fun,” said Lane.  “The healthy competition is what everybody enjoys the most.  We definitely love having our families, our ministers and our pastors come out with all