The Denison Ministerial Alliance is taking part in the 150th anniversary celebration for the city of Denison with a community worship service Sunday at Munson Stadium. The worship service, now in its second year, will cap of the city’s birthday weekend of activities.

The worship service and other activities will begin at 4:30 p.m. at Munson Stadium. For this year’s event, organizers with the ministerial alliance are asking believers to think of their neighbors.

“The theme of the event is knowing and loving your neighbor and last year’s theme was back to church,” First Baptist Church Denison Pastor Steve Suffron said. “… This year, it’s more for those who are believers to consider what their role is in blessing their neighbors and their community, and their physical neighbors.”

Suffron said Sunday’s community worship service is a follow-up to a similar event in September 2021 that encouraged people to return to church. Unfortunately, the event happened as the COVID-19 virus saw a resurgence across the region.

“I don’t know if you remember, but we had 9-9-21 yard signs out everywhere,” Suffron said. “We had a billboard and social media stuff like that.

“It was a big back to church push that happened to coincide with another surge of COVID, and so it was a really good event that Sunday night, but it didn’t really cause a big surge in people returning to Sunday morning services.”

This year, the ministerial alliance was asked to partner the event with the city’s anniversary festivities.

The event will start at 4:30 with inflatable attractions and activities for kids and their families. Organizers will also hold a barbeque dinner fundraiser in support of Denison Helping Hands the Texoma Family Shelter and a prescription drug program organized by the ministerial alliance.

Suffron said this will replace the traditional pancake breakfast fundraiser held each year at the Denison Fall Festival for this year.

Sunday’s festivities will also feature a ministry fair where about a dozen community organizations give out information on their assistance and ministry programs.

The worship service itself will begin at 6 p.m., and Suffron expects several hundred people representing about 30 congregations will attend this year’s event.

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