Today's program, presented by Paul Nordvall, featured information on the Cloquet non-profit, Kingdom Builders Ministry.
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The group began over 7 years ago as CHOP, Cloquet House of Prayer, to pray for issues concerning citizens of Cloquet. This group is still ongoing and meets Monday nights, addressing needs brought to their attention by people of faith. The group heard of a need for a faith based music festival in Cloquet, and the Wood City Music Festival was born. Over 1,900 people showed up for the first festival, so they made the festival a non-profit organization. It is a family friendly festival of Christian music with free admission. It is a unique thing that's wholesome, and wonderful to be part of, explained Paul, a representative of the group. The festival has a budget of $75,000 a year, and after 5 years they are debt free. They receive donations from churches, people, businesses, and other organizations. The festival itself is made up of 2 stages on semi trucks, where one band plays while the other sets up for continuous music. They have a 100 KW generator for backup and lots of children's outreach. Bouncy houses, one 78 feet long, Ga-Ga?, Pit with Ball, giant bubbles 6 feet long, and more are some of the daytime activities, plus spiritual outreach, which Paul leads. Their organization bought the old Chief Theater and opened Common Grounds, which offers party rental, business meetings, and spiritual bands 2 to 3 times a month, plus WIFI, and 4 apartments upstairs to be refurbished for people who are homeless. Paul's enthusiasm for Kingdom Builders Ministries is boundless!
Excerpts taken from the Cloquet Rotary log, edited by Rachael Martin