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Thousands of people flocked to the Earle May Boat Basin on Saturday for this year’s Glorify concert and trunk-or-treat event. Put on by Glorify-Bainbridge, 10 local churches participated in the event, with the main event being musical performances by Colton Dixon and Jordan Feliz, with Matt Vickers, senior pastor at Eastside Baptist Church in Cairo also participating as a guest speaker.

According to Kyle Kelley, multiple churches from across the Southeast came to the event. “We had attendees from churches in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and North Georgia that we are aware of,” he said. “There may have been more but it was impossible to talk to everyone that came.” Kelley estimated that 10,000 showed up over the evening, double last year’s turnout.

The response has been largely positive; “We have received excellent feedback from the community,” Kelley said. “Many have thanked us for bringing an event such as this to Bainbridge, since there is currently not another event like this anywhere in the area.” Kelley thanked the event’s sponsors, as well as Southwest Baptist Church for their support. “Next year, Glorify-Bainbridge will be its own non-profit organization and we cannot thank Southwest Baptist Church enough for helping us to get this ministry started and to bring our vision to life.”

Glorify-Bainbridge is a non-profit that began last year. The inspiration, as Kelley says, “was the need for churches to get out of the church building and into the community to reach those souls who would otherwise never attend a church or have any exposure to the Lord, Jesus Christ.” He continued, elaborating, “There are so many people in our own community who have never even been to church and there are many kids that do not even know who Jesus is. The purpose of having the trunk or treat along with the concert is to hopefully expose all of the kids and adults mentioned earlier to God’s Word which will hopefully plant that seed that will one day come to fruition and lead that individual to give their life to Christ.”

Kelley concluded by saying, “I would like to say thank you again to every single one of our sponsors and to anyone who contributed to this event in any way.  I would also like to thank every member of the Glorify team for all of their hard work and dedication in preparing for this event.  These individuals have sacrificed many hours of their time to help make this event possible.” He concluded by thanking God, “Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing outreach that has already touched so many people.”