COMMUNITY MARCHES FOR JESUS SATURDAY

Hundreds of Christians in Southeast Missouri will gather Saturday to march for Jesus. Participants should gather at 9 a.m. at May Greene School for the 10 a.m. march to Common Pleas Courthouse Park.

Organizers expect thousands to participate in the annual event. Marches are planned in 525 cities across the United States and in 100 nations around the globe.

In Cape Girardeau, the march takes on a festive air. Trucks follow the marchers, who often carry signs or wear T-shirts emblazoned with Christian messages, broadcasting Christian music from KUGT/1170 AM radio station.

The Rev. Fred Poston has been organizing the march for the past two years and hopes to see it grow again this year.

"We've done advance work with the churches so that should work in our favor," he said. But crowd size often depends on the weather forecast and any other activities in the city.

March participants are asked to bring canned goods to donate to the FISH food pantry. The canned food drive is an new addition to the march this year.

Although marches are planned in hundreds of cities, Cape Girardeau's event is the only one for the immediate area, Poston said. Other marches are set in Poplar Bluff and Carbondale, Ill.

The March for Jesus began in Austin, Texas, about eight years ago. It started in Cape Girardeau in 1993 after a woman learned about it from her daughter who was living in Texas.

Although it originated in the United States, other countries also participate so that the event takes on a global dimension. Poston said he knew about the march because he had participated in one while in Vienna, Austria.

"They want to get everyone marching on that one day," he said.

The local march once covered a larger area from Arena Park to the Common Pleas Courthouse, but was scaled back so that marchers wouldn't be spread too far apart.

"We aren't hooked on this route," Poston said. "But we like it because it's a good area of town to be marching in and proclaiming Jesus Christ. And it's more residential."

A special Jesus Day is also being planned in June as an emphasis for Christians to help feed the hungry and orphaned and offer help to people with AIDS.

For information about Jesus Day, contact Tom Pelton at (512) 416-0066.