GATESVILLE—Coryell Community Church welcomed around 600 guests to its Gatesville campus for an Eclipse at the Crosses watch party on April 8, to anticipate and experience together the awe of totality.
Lead Pastor Eric Moffett said most “were from out of town, out of state, and even out of country.”
Visitors hailed from “New Jersey, California, Washington, Oregon and all points in between” Moffett said, adding he believes the furthest anyone traveled was probably a couple who came from Milan, Italy.
“You do not have a chance very often for the world to come to you, and we did not want to miss that” Moffett said.
Moffett learned about the large number of totality-seeking visitors anticipated to flock to Texas for this eclipse over a year ago. He immediately recognized the opportunity it would be to have an outreach—“to do something for our community and for our visitors,” he said.
“We’re a community-focused church, and so, we understand our role to be living out the presence of the gospel right here in Gatesville,” he said. “So, we try to share our resources, our campus, everything we have with our community.”
Moffett explained the church is situated in the perfect location to do something like host a watch party for an eclipse. The campus has a set of three crosses, one 70-foot and two 60-foot, and it overlooks the city of Gatesville.
He knew it would be a prime spot where people would have a great view of the sky and the city. Guests would have plenty of space to spread out around the campus and relax for the day.
An easy sell to share the love of Jesus
“Coryell Community Church is quick to take risks, if it means we’re going to have a chance to share the love of Jesus with somebody,” Moffett said.
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So, he brought his idea to church staff and elders, noting: “It wasn’t a hard sell. Everybody was on board immediately.”
The church began planning and putting together the events of the day. And it took pretty much the whole year to pull it all together, Moffett said.
In the end, the church offered access to its playground and gaga ball pit, cornhole, volleyball, horseshoes, crafts and other activities for children and families.
The congregation brought in food trucks from Gatesville and Waco. They also provided live music and entertainment by Christian comedian Adam Bush.
While the church didn’t offer guests overnight parking, they did offer clean restroom facilities to everyone who was registered.
“It went fantastic,” Moffett said.
Once visitors decided to travel to Central Texas to view the eclipse, they looked online for related events in the target area. The church had its event registration up and running on their webpage in January. Moffett said it really started filling up in the past month.
“A lot of them said they came to us because they were Christian, or they were looking for a family-focused environment,” Moffett said.
Building personal connections
Since people were spread out all through the campus and the aim was for a welcoming low-key environment, the church opted to have volunteers fan out to meet the guests and talk with them versus offering any sort of call to commitment.
Church leaders did offer a time together at the crosses. And right before totality, they shared the gospel from their main stage. Immediately after totality, they held a time of worship and welcomed people to join them, Moffett said.
Each guest received a handout with a map and contact information to reach out if they felt like God was stirring them and they wanted to respond.
The church already has heard from a couple of families who expressed how much they appreciated the event and the spirit they felt while they were there, including most recently, one family from the Bay Area of California, Moffett said.
Coryell Community Church has contact information for those who registered and will reach out to them by email.
Everyone volunteers spoke with was so grateful to the church for offering the event and appreciated the lengths to which the congregation went to welcome them.
Prayerfully, Coryell Community Church expects the materials and information each family received when they arrived will develop into more contacts and opportunities for spiritual conversations, Moffett said.
And, he added, they trust the Spirit will use that connection in the coming days.
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