Vol. 27 | Iss. 01 | JAN 2023
SEE OUR
LOCAL CHURCH DIRECTORY
INSIDE ...
AWARD-WINNING ARTISTS COMING TO STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL By Kelly Wise Valdes
17 17
11
18
Columns: Grace Notes: Hooked On Books: Faith & Footprints: News From The Wire:
04 11 17 18
This spring marks the 88th annual Florida Strawberry Festival, which takes place for 11 days from Thursday, March 2 through Sunday, March 12. This anticipated annual event has become one of the best festivals in the nation, ranks among the Top 40 Fairs in North America and is visited by more than 500,000 guests each year. It’s not only known for its strawberry shortcakes, carnival games, livestock shows, food vendors and thrilling midway rides, but it has also become recognized for hosting world-famous headline entertainment. Two major Christian artists will be performing at this year’s festival: For King & Country and CeCe Winans. For King & Country is a Grammy-winning artist and song-writing duo consisting of two brothers, Joel and Luke Smallbone. The Australian brothers have won four Grammy Awards, 10 GMA Dove Awards, a Billboard Music Award and 13 K-LOVE Fan Awards, and their nine No. 1 songs have produced an astonishing accumulation of over 1 billion on-demand streams. The duo’s songs have spent many weeks peaking at the top of the Christian Billboard charts. According to Lee Bakst, assistant general manager of the Florida
Two major Christian artists will be performing at this year’s Strawberry Festival in Plant City. Tickets for King & Country and CeCe Winans can be purchased at www.flstrawberryfestival.com.
Strawberry Festival, this will be For King & Country’s second performance at the Strawberry festival. The Christian artists performed previously to a sold-out crowd in 2017. Another most-anticipated Christian artist making her premier performance at the festival is legendary CeCe Winans. She started performing
in 1981 as part as the Winans family singing group and launched her solo career in 1995. Winans is the best-selling female gospel artist of all time and has influenced a generation of vocalists over the course of her long career. Winans has earned 12 Grammy Awards, 20 Dove Awards and seven Stellar Awards. She’s been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Nashville Music City Walk of Fame. Her performance at the Strawberry Festival will be part of her first national tour in nearly a decade. There are more than 24 artists performing on the Strawberry Festival stage this year. “We have a variety of acts and feel like we have touched all music genres,” said Bakst. According to past numbers, Bakst expects approximately 100,000 concertgoers in attendance over the course of the 11-day festival. For King & Country will be performing on Thursday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m. CeCe Winans is scheduled to perform on Tuesday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. To purchase tickets and see the full list of entertainers, visit www. flstrawberryfestival.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the Amscot Main Ticket Office, located at 2209 W. Oak Ave. in Plant City, or by calling 813-754-1996.
RUN FOR GOD 5K COMBINES FAITH AND PHYSICAL ENDURANCE
By Mary Priolo
Get outside your comfort zone to where real change happens. We are on a journey from a sedentary lifestyle to one filled with endless possibilities. We are headed down a rich spiritual path as well, developing a deeper relationship with the One who makes the impossible possible — the One who can take you from where you are to places you have never been. This is South Shore Run Club. Run for God founder Mitchell Hollis began running in 2007 and quickly became hooked. By 2008, he had completed a marathon and was signing up for every race he could find. But after a few years, he realized he was putting running before his faith and decided to use running to further God’s kingdom. He later created Run for God’s 5K Challenge, a 12-week Bible study that guides running instructors and allows them to combine faith and endurance training in a way that helps take people through their first 5K. “We partner with local runners — like Mary Priolo with South Shore United Methodist Church — who
techniques, the importance of a proper fit and style of running shoes that meet your body’s needs, how to successfully use interval training, weekly Bible study topics and how to prepare to run your first 5K. The next session begins on the week of January 23, 2023. Join on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. at United Methodist Church of Sun City Center, located at 11525 Big Bend Rd. in Riverview under The Portico outside the West Entrance Welcome Center. Please bring A member of Run for God at the 2022 Walt Disney World Marathon. a chair, running shoes and a bottle of water. The session culminates with the want to help others learn how to complete their first 5K, understand more about the Bible and really chal- Easter Weekend Red Rose Run 5K on April 8, 2023. The fee is simply to become a Run for God Run Club lenge themselves,” said Hollis. “I am very excited about leading this 5K Chal- member, which starts at $0.27 per day. lenge,” said Priolo. “Remember, these classes are To register, visit www.runforgod.com/challengeopen to anyone who wants to run a 5K, even if you’ve page/0dc8ac54-ae66-4dff-92a1-6ce5aef39f34 or go to www.runforgod.com and select the “Find A never run in your life.” Now having been taught in over 6,000 communi- Class” tab. ties to over 225,000 students, the class welcomes all “Let us run with endurance the race that is set bebut is focused on teaching running fundamentals and fore us.” — Hebrews 12:1.