The parking lot of the Town ‘n’ Country Mall will soon be filled with the words of inspirational speakers and uplifting music as part of a multicultural worship concert.
Moose Jaw Church of God (MJCOG), in partnership with Casa de Gloria (House of Glory) Spanish Church, is hosting the worship concert on Saturday, July 31, starting at 4 p.m. Several food trucks will be on site while English, Spanish, Filipino and Low German will be spoken during the event.
Giovana Garcia, spokewoman for the event, explained that she and her family moved to Moose Jaw from Nebraska — by way of Guatemala — four years ago and started attending MJCOG.
Starting last year, church Pastor Larry Hasmatali thought it was time for Garcia’s parents, Marvin and Rose, to become pastors since they have a heart and vision to reach the Spanish-speaking community locally and beyond. So, MJCOG started Casa de Gloria (House of Glory), and the Garcias began leading online services for people in Guatemala, El Salvador, the United States, and elsewhere.
The idea for an outdoor multicultural worship concert arose a few months ago after the family attended a similar concert in Assiniboia, continued Garcia. This prompted her father to want to hold something in Moose Jaw, so both churches — MJCOG was “super helpful and supportive” — began working on the event in June.
The speakers will share “a word of encouragement or their testimony or how God has worked in their life,” she said. “Our hope is that people would just hear the Gospel, and even if they just come for the food trucks, they will hear something and it’ll touch their hearts and be curious and asking questions.
“We’re here to answer as many questions as we can and just letting the Holy Spirit do His thing in working in their lives.”
The main goal — and one that Mr. Garcia wants to emphasize strongly — is that this event is designed to bring Moose Jaw together regardless of residents’ nationality, colour, or language.
The Garcias have been excited to organize the concert, especially since all pandemic-related health restrictions have been lifted. This means twice as many vehicles and people will be allowed to attend, instead of being forced to distance two metres from each other.
“We’re really looking forward to being out in the open and hoping that people come together, especially after a rough year, just to see faces,” she said. “We just hope people can come and enjoy it, even if it’s just for 10 to 15 minutes … .”
Most of the worship concert will be in English, while Spanish is being featured since that’s the language used in the new church to sing and preach. Further, a band from Assiniboia will sing in Filipino, while one parishioner of the new church will speak and sing in Low German.
Garcia expects the concert to run until about 8 p.m. but thought the event could be shorter as well. While this is a free event, attendees can still donate if they want.
“Our heart is really to share Jesus with people, and we’re hoping that through this, people will hear about the Gospel and that we’re able to come together and worship as one … ,” she added. “Come listen to different styles of Spanish music. It’s a bit different than the English songs, so we’re really excited for Canadians or non-Spanish speakers to see the different cultures and different styles of music that we have.”
The Garcias hope to turn this concert into a yearly event and bring in more languages and cultures to worship.
