What Is a Luis Palau Festival?
Luis Palau Festivals are a fresh, contemporary outreach to the community and the region in a musical festival format. With a goal to bring "great music and good news" to the heart of a city, world evangelist and author Dr. Luis Palau hosts a free, family-friendly event with children's play areas, extreme sports demonstrations, food courts, and a showcase of some of the best artists in contemporary Christian and gospel music.
How is a Luis Palau Festival organized?
Citywide festival preparation begins when an invitation from the city's churches is received and accepted. A local executive committee is established a year or more before the festival. This group oversees the development of the festival. As advisers to this committee, the Palau Association shares ideas and knowledge gained during more than 30 years of crusade and festival evangelism.
Several other committees are formed to plan the details of the festival. These include pastors' conferences, prayer groups, the training of counselors and other festival workers, and special meetings for women, business people, children, and other affinity groups.
Who serves on these committees?
Representatives of the business community, civic leaders, pastors and lay men and women representing a broad cross section of community. A Palau festival seeks to mobilize the community without regard to church denominations, and to harness and use the individual gifts of each volunteer.
What takes place during the actual festival?
The festival's focal point is a weekend in a park of music, food, and fun featuring top contemporary Christian artists, a VeggieTales® kids area, extreme sports and more, with Dr. Palau as the main speaker. In most cities, he also appears nightly during the week of the festival on a live television program to counsel viewers who call to discuss their questions or personal problems. The live broadcast, called Night Talk, airs on different stations from city to city.
How do you decide where to have a Luis Palau festival?
First, the city's churches must extend an invitation to Dr. Palau to have a festival. Second, the festival must fit the strategic schedule of the Palau Association. Third, using demographic information, the Palau Association considers if the potential festival will have an impact upon the community. Fourth, LPEA considers the evidence of past cooperative efforts, the spirit of unity among the city's churches, the economic and financial potential for support, and the spirit of enthusiasm from the community.
Do the community and local churches really benefit from these festivals?
Primary benefits include a new or renewed awareness of the "good news" of the Gospel and of God's relevance to each and every life. Participants also benefit from the training and experience as festival counselors and volunteers, and from working together with other Christians across denominational lines. People begin asking vital questions about life and lifestyles. A climate is produced for calls to justice and integrity at all level of civic and national life. As thousands of new believers begin putting their personal, family, and vocational lives in order, society can be changed for the better.
The community enjoys a free, family-friendly festival that is professionally produced, safe and secure, and drug and alcohol free. The festival will also leave behind thousands of pounds of food collected for area food banks through Operation Compassion. In addition, the components of the skate park will be reinstalled at locations around the city for different youth programs.
How do you determine whether a festival is successful?
The most visible measure is a record of the number of people who make commitments or rededications to their faith. Other measures of success include increased church attendance and membership, continued cooperation among churches of different denominations, and sometimes the development of new churches and evangelistic outreaches.
How much does a festival cost, and do the results justify the expense?
Festivals vary greatly in cost due to several changeable factors-location, length, accessibility, venue conditions, housing and office space, etc. For example, Portland Festival 2000 was $1.1 million, Boise $800,000 and Santa Cruz $950,000.
A festival's results manifest themselves in numerous ways. Consider that people come to have a new or renewed faith; lives are transformed; family relationships are healed; church attendance increases; and churches are united, energized, and challenged to reach out to the community.
How is a Luis Palau festival funded?
A local finance committee raises the finances. Individuals, churches, and businesses supportive of the festival's purpose, plus companies that become sponsors of the festival donate most of the money.
The finance committee pays all expenses for Dr. Palau and a few members of his traveling team. Their salaries and the expenses incurred by additional Palau Association members are paid by the Palau Association through its own fund-raising efforts. Dr. Palau receives no personal remuneration for his involvement in the festival.
At the conclusion of each festival, an independent certified public accountant audits the festival's financial records. The results of the audit are made available to the public.
A copy of the Palau Association's latest audited financial statements is available upon request.