Hundreds of Valley churches team up to throw Fresno CityFest

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A two-day evangelical festival is bringing thousands of people of different faiths to the Central Valley and putting them all under one very large roof.

The outreach to share the gospel drew hundreds Saturday where the first ever Fresno CityFest took over the Save Mart Center.

"This is a culmination of 277 churches all over the Central Valley coming together," organizer Levi Clark said.

Clark says those churches teamed up for nearly two years to raise $1.2 million to put the event on with the hopes of reaching those in need.

"It just seems like we're always bombarded with the negative and just bad news, and today we just want to share there is good news and hope that you can live a life that God intended you to live," he said.

Michelle Ceasar came with her family, and she was impressed by the activities. It showed it is okay to mix church with a little bit of fun.

"There are things for things for young kids and things for older kids," she said. "And people that are involved have a life story that they are sharing with people.

Testimonies came from people like Rich Froning, a four-time CrossFit Games champion. And he's sharing his story of using faith as an athlete to stay grounded.

"If you can concentrate on something bigger than just yourself it makes the harder things in life a little bit easier," he said.

In between all the food trucks and entertainment are dozens of evangelists. Andrew Palau says they, along with the churches, believe coming together will help people hear the word of God.

"We are known sometimes more for what we are against than what we are for," he said. "And we got to work double duty to really let people know that we love them and we're here for them."

The event ends at 9:30 p.m. and opens back up Sunday at 2 p.m., and organizers say by the time it is done they are expecting roughly 25,000.