California Festival Highlights Jesus’ Love & Christian Unity
Photos courtesy of Calvary Chapel Aptos, CA
An arts section was a major feature of the True Love Christian Festival in July, featuring Christian art and showing the creativity of God. The festival is held in a park in Aptos, CA. Organizers describe it as a huge family reunion, a time to worship God and share God’s true love with the community. Many different types of churches and ministries in the area worked together to make it possible.
In July, over 1,500 people in Aptos, CA, gathered for a day of faith-based music, family-friendly joy and games, Gospel presentations and testimonies, and Christian unity—free for all. A variety of ministries and numerous denominations participated in the event started by Calvary Chapel Aptos. “We were celebrating Jesus and what He’s done for us,” reflected Pastor Tom Meyers.
The True Love Christian Festival was birthed after Simon Cassar, a deacon at CC Aptos, was praying years ago about how confused people are about life and love; he felt God bring up a new thought. What is true love? he wondered. Can we show the true love that only God can bring?
A young man climbs up the Mt. Sinai rock wall to the 10 Commandments, one of many booths sponsored by area churches. Simon Cassar, a deacon at CC Aptos, CA, has led in the effort to birth this festival. The idea came to him years ago when he wondered, What is true love? Can we show the true love that only God can bring?
The answer came, culminating as a joyful festival bringing together over a dozen churches and ministries in an Aptos city park to share the two greatest commandments: to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbor—a festival focused on spreading love, culture, joy, and caring. It has grown exponentially over the last four years: The first year saw about 200 people; the second year, it grew to 400-500; the third year between 600-700 attended, increasing to over 1,500 in 2024.
A young woman dances with joy during a worship session at the festival, just completing its fourth year. The festival has grown exponentially over this time. During the first year, 200 people attended; this year, more than 1,500 guests came.
Simon, a 66-year-old retired aviation mechanic and father of six children, encourages other fellowships to consider an outreach like this—to evangelize the community and unite the churches. “Even if churches in a city can’t put together a ‘big’ festival, they can work together and do something pretty amazing,” he urged.
“The whole purpose is that we see a world that’s kind of torn apart,” explained Simon. “We have different neighbors trying to destroy other neighbors. We are seeing a world that’s being torn apart because of COVID-19 and now through politics. Half the country is one way and half the other. We thought, Let’s bring these churches together and show what true love is.”
A woman washes the feet of another woman at a special festival station, as Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. One theme of the event was uniting a divided world and a divided Church.
A youth immerses himself in God’s Word, with the encouragement of several people around him.
God refined that vision, emphasizing the unity of the church body, Simon said. “In John 17, Jesus prays for the Church to be united, so that the world can understand who Jesus is by seeing the unity of the body. Unity is a big theme in almost every book in the New Testament—yet our churches are so divided. Just like [the Old Testament patriarch] Jacob was filled with joy when his sons, including Joseph, were united again, so the Father has joy when His body is united.”
Simon began to visit church after church, sharing the vision of a huge “family reunion”, a time to worship God and share God’s true love with the community. Each year more and more fellowships and ministries have joined this “family reunion”, Simon recounted, their variety surprising. They include cowboy and biker churches, ministries for surfers and people in addiction recovery, and many different denominations.
“We are all parts of the body of Christ,” proclaimed Simon. “The True Love Christian Festival brings them all together to show the love of Christ and the creativity of God in a big-time way.”
Guests line up for food at the festival. All events and food are free at the festival, designed to share the truth of the two greatest commandments: to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor. Believers in the community were asked to bring friends who weren’t yet Christians; some who attended were passers-by just coming to the park.
The focus of the event is Christian music. In 2024,14 local bands played on two stages; many were worship teams from the area churches. “Instead of a big-name band, we want to let Jesus Christ and our God-given local creativity in music, art and caring ministries be what draws us together,” Simon emphasized.
“I love secular music,” admitted Simon. “But if you notice, a lot of it is about broken hearts from someone you love. And there’s this beautiful music out there, … but it’s about looking for a soul mate. Here, we have a “soul mate” who will be with us forever.” Another important part of the festival was an art show, where Christian art was displayed, showing the creativity of God.
Attendees gather for a time of praise music to the Lord. Organizer Simon Cassar urges other churches to consider planning an event similar to this one. “In John 17, Jesus prays for the Church to be united, so that the world can understand who Jesus is by seeing the unity of the body,” he shared.
Many who attend are already believers, Pastor Tom noted. “However, we ask all who attend to invite their friends who aren’t Christians. And some people are just walking into the park and passing by the festival and go down and see what’s this all about. And you have a chance to tell them and give the Gospel message right there.”
For the first three years, Tom presented the Gospel and taught about the true love of Christ. It’s also in the music. “Teen Challenge men and women give testimonies about what God has done in their lives, as most of them have been through addiction problems. All of that goes out, and there are bound to be people there who have never accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior,” he related.
In the “Feed Daddy” booth, children get the opportunity to feed their fathers as they were once fed. The booth emphasizes a pro-dad, pro-life message.
The festival is also full of activities for families. Events included: Feed Daddy in highchairs (dads wearing large bibs that say, “I love Mommy” with kids feeding them); a Stroller Slalom Race; a Mount Sinai climbing wall to touch the Ten Commandments; and a Sling Fling “to prepare us for the Rapture”. There was also a mechanical bull—"you just hang onto Jesus, so you do not fall”—and bounce houses where kids could leap for joy.
The emphasis of the music at the festival was on local bands and worship teams, rather than big-name groups. In the top photo, Pastor Olu Obembe (center) shares about the prophet Elijah’s prayer shawl. In the second, The Green Valley Christian Worship team performs. In the third photo, the San Jose, CA, Teen Challenge Choir presents their love of Jesus to a joyful crowd.
Simon emphasized that it is the Holy Spirit—not one church or individual—doing the work behind the festival. Ministries and churches are encouraged to create booths; however, a requirement is that each has some way to serve the community. Also, everything is free—"because God’s love is free,” Simon declared. “One church gave out free hot dogs. Another ministry gave away ice cream, and another church roasted a full pig—it went within 20 minutes!” Tacos and sandwiches were passed out in baskets, like the feeding of the 5,000 in the Gospels. “What better way to serve the Lord than to serve ice cream?” Simon humorously asked, adding, “The first commandment is to love God with all our heart and soul and the second is to love your neighbor.”
A team from the churches gather supportively around a man asking for prayer.
Learn more about the festival at TrueLoveChristian.com
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