East Texas

By KELLY GOOCH
Staff Writer

JACKSONVILLE -- Harvest Fest started out six years ago with about 250 in attendance. But the annual Christian event has grown over time, and this year, with Christian hip-hop artist KJ-52 as the main performer, about 1,000 fun-seekers are expected to show.

Vincent Lankford, co-founder of the event, said the idea for Harvest Fest came about when a group got together to bring a youth rally to Jacksonville.

That group went to churches that first year, he said, and those churches agreed to be involved in the idea.

There will be more denominations present this year than there were last year, which is in keeping with the group's original goal to have churches working together, Lankford said.

Everything kicks off at 5 p.m. Saturday in front of the Tomato Bowl with an opportunity to see professional freestyle skater/evangelist Tim Byrne.

Robin Butt, co-organizer of the event, said Byrne will perform ramp tricks before the program officially starts inside the Tomato Bowl at 6 p.m.

Byrne has performed many places in recent years and has been featured in newspapers and magazines across the country, he said.

When the program officially starts,



After Byrne's display, the audience will get to hear the music of Rusk/Jacksonville area band Mud Creek Revival and Nacogdoches-area band Considered Rubbish.

Drama and a speaker will also be part of the festivities.

Butt said the Desert Streams Drama Team will do about a six-minute presentation before Leighton Flowers speaks.

Flowers is with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and comes from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, he said.

Perhaps the most anticipated performance of the evening will come from KJ-52.

Butt said the artist has won Dove Awards and is slated to perform about 8:45 p.m.

"He's also a youth minister," he said. "He's really gone way out of his way to be a part of this."

When the artist's people were contacted about being part of Harvest Fest, Butt said KJ-52 wanted to be involved, even though the artist was taking a month off.

"It's just a blessing to have him," he said.

Last year's main performer was Krystal Meyers.

Concessions will be available at the event and Butt said there will be giveaways throughout the entire night.

He also mentioned that this year's Bible verse is Psalm 21:13 and that youth ministers from East Texas will be in attendance.

"We had a lot of non-Christians that were there (last year)," Butt said. "It's kind of a time to bring everybody together."

Last year, he said, there were 17 people who came to Christ at the event.

Harvest Fest is funded by local churches and businesses, and they do not worry about the money coming together because, Butt said, God "always meets our needs."

Lankford said that, this year, there were more churches than businesses that gave.

Admission is free for everyone.

"They can come and enjoy and not have to worry about paying a lot of money," Butt said.