City Fest began as a vision some 14 years ago. My wife Robyn and I, along with a few pastors, ministers and passionate lay people, first came together in 1992 in a great spirit of cooperation and unity to communicate the good news of the gospel in an "out of the box" delivery. It remains a grass roots movement, consisting of local churches and para-church ministries. Over time it has become an effective vehicle of outreach to local communities.

This summer's City Fest was very successful in getting churches, para-church ministry and social service agencies to collaborate in a collective outreach effort. In conjunction with the Connecticut Food Bank we conducted a food drive of non-perishable food items and managed to collect enough to fill the CFB van (780 lbs of food). In addition, the American Red Cross held a blood drive at the Library as a kick off rally. This allowed for the community to become aware of our event and become involved.  ACTS 4 Clothing Ministry gave out over 50 bags of clothing, dozens of people came to the Prayer  Tent, over 100 free Bibles were distributed to those in need and organizers of the event gave out over 1400 free hotdogs and beverage.

City Fest 2005 was sponsored by Mission Greater Waterbury, an established collaboration of over 15 churches throughout the Greater Waterbury area who have been involved  in spreading the gospel, working towards unity in the local body, and community service. 

Our mission is to reach out to inner cities with the gospel of Jesus Christ, operating with many gifts and creative presentations,   minstering to the complete man, in word and deed; using  various church and agency resources to provide food, clothing and shelter. And in the process, we, as the corporate church, become a solidified body, working together for a common purpose. I feel, though effective in their own right,  is something that workshops and seminars could never provide, which is an actual "hands on " ministry opportunity and experience.

City Fest's mission is to utilize the wealth of gifts and talents available to us in our local area churches and tap into the government's resources of social service agencies to distribute to the needy. The Bible tells us to be ambassadors of Christ communicating the love of God to a dying world, not in word only, but in action and in deed. The book of James poses the challenge of seeing someone in need and ministering not only the theology of Christianity, but the manifestation of God's love and compassion.

In obedience to Isaiah 58 and James 1:27, the City Fest project seeks to fulfill this commission and the great commission of Mark Chapter 16 - to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.