In the fall of 2013, one of our congregation members had the idea to light up the outside of the church. He had decorated his home in the past but realized where he lived at that time, no one would see the lights. He proposed bringing it all down to put on our church. This was just the beginning of our Shine the Light Display. The first year we had all incandescent lights. We spent hours going through totes of lights from mini bulb strands to the big C9 strands. Countless hours of detangling, building friendships, and laughter produced a beautiful display of the light of Jesus. Over the years, the incandescent strands have been replaced by all LED's. Numerous components have been added to create a more robust display. Each component is custom built by our members. Adam Gietl, one of our congregation and board members, has been working on the display since the beginning. In 2017, he took lead on the project and has continued since then. This is a huge project for the whole church but much of the work falls on Adam. He does this with a smile on his face and light in his heart. He is service and community minded. He spends hours troubleshooting and fixing issues. This year was especially amazing because there has been a renewed sense of excitement for the light display. Adam was so excited when he realized the extra amount of support he had to make this happen. Weekends and evenings included many volunteers spending time building, soldering, programming songs, and more.
During the month of December, we have community outreach nights. These nights focus on greeting vehicles and handing out gift bags. Each gift bag includes a custom made invitation to our Christmas Eve service, candy canes, and a candle. Our focus is to shine the light of Jesus in many ways. The candle is to represent His light and to show how much light can shine from just one small candle.
Our manger with a beautiful star above is the focus point. We are shining the light of Jesus inside and outside of Cornerstone Church.
The display runs 5:00 pm-10:00 pm, 7 days a week through the new year. We have 10 custom programmed songs, done by congregation members. Each song represents their unique skill and personalities through song. Tune to 104.9 FM to listen to the music as you enjoy the beautiful lights. We would love to see you!
