What would Jesus do on the Fourth of July? Light the Way Christian Fellowship has a different approach to celebrating the biggest holiday of the summer. The non-denominational Christian church is sharing some of the joys of the season with low-income Utah Valley residents -- especially children.

Friday was the first day of the church's annual Utah for Jesus! outreach, a 10-day flurry of preaching the word of God and doing good in the community. An important element of Utah for Jesus! is its children's outreach, a festive, carnival-style event for children of families in low-income neighborhoods and apartment complexes.

Children's minister Sarah Ayala said that the children's outreach follows a pattern that's common in other parts of the country. Ayala, a 28-year-old single mother of three who lives in Orem, saw it firsthand in Oklahoma. Churches visit areas where kids sometimes don't have much to look forward to and provide games, prizes, treats and an uplifting message about Jesus Christ.

"Sometimes when kids get preached to, it's over their heads -- boring," Ayala said. "If it's fun and exciting, they grasp it better."

Light the Way will hold children's outreach events on five different days during Utah for Jesus!, at five different locations in Provo and Orem. In addition to providing food and entertainment for children, the children's outreach will distribute bags of groceries to their parents, no strings attached.

"We're just trying to fulfill the Great Commission," said Light the Way's Michael Bryant, a married father of three who lives in Orem and is overseeing Utah for Jesus! this year. The Great Commission is the commandment by Jesus Christ to his disciples, as recorded in the 28th chapter of Matthew in the New Testament: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

"We want to bless the children and we want to bless their families," Bryant said. "We show our love by giving them food, but we also teach them the gospel."

A group effort

The Rev. Gene Short, who directs Light the Way with his wife, Janet, said that Utah for Jesus! blesses the members of his congregation as much it blesses others. Short said that Christian churches often have activities and programs that involve membership only. By design, he said, programs like the children's outreach help church members think about helping others.

"What it does for a church," Short said, "it turns you outward." When churches stay inside of themselves, he said, members sometimes think too much about each other. But there's a different effect when the church reaches out to the community around it.

"You get so busy working, leading people to Jesus," Short said, "that you don't have so many problems within the church."

Light the Way covers the cost of the children's outreach (about $3,000 this year) with money from donations and fund-raising events. "A lot of people believe in children's ministry outreach," said Ayala, who explained that donations have come from people in Utah, in other U.S. states and, in some cases, other countries.

And it's not just money that flows into Utah Valley. "We have a minister who comes in from Bulgaria every year," Bryant said. "We have people from New Zealand." In some ways, he said, "it's like a big family reunion."

One of the visitors to Utah is minister and magician Paul Smith. Ayala first met Smith, who does magic tricks and has worked in children's ministry for more than 20 years, when she was part of a children's mission to Mexico at age 8.

Ayala said kids love Smith's act. "He does illusions," she said, "but he's very comical on top of that."

The children's outreach is an important part of Utah for Jesus!, but there are numerous other elements. Short said that there are outreach gatherings for adults, including healing services, that have free food, live music and gospel preaching. There's also door-to-door proselytizing -- something that many in Utah Valley could probably relate to -- and outdoor booths to pass out information, such as during Provo's Freedom Festival.

Children helping children

Some of the children's outreach events will be held literally on the doorstep of the families that Light the Way hopes to reach. Bryant said that The Boulders, a low-income apartment complex in south Provo, lets the children's outreach set up activities right on the property. In other neighborhoods, Light the Way will conduct the festivities at a nearby park.

The children's outreach includes games like beanbag tick-tack-toe and ring toss, prize drawings, face painting, candy, food (hot dogs) and puppet shows. There's also uplifting music, performed live -- "awesome songs," as Ayala put it -- and skits that teach moral lessons.

"We have a couple of ice cream trucks that come," Short said. "It's just a really fun afternoon and early evening for the kids."

Kids aren't just invited, either. In some cases, they're the ones running the show. Ayala said that teens and older kids help out with all of the games. Bryant's daughter, 13-year-old Elisha Bryant, did puppet shows last year and is excited to pitch in again.

"Sometimes we'll do a little skit where two puppets are talking about a problem they had," Elisha Bryant said, "and how God can help them out and stuff."

On a weekend when many of her peers will doubtless be dazzled by the Jonas Brothers at Provo's Stadium of Fire, Elisha Bryant will be enchanted by something different. "I like sharing God with people," she said. "I think it's amazing to see their reaction once people really see God, and get touched by God."

Maybe all of the kids who show up for the children's outreach won't have that kind of epiphany, but they also won't go home empty-handed.

"Every game, the kids win something," Bryant said. "You're always a winner. The kids always go home with pockets full of candy. Their parents might not appreciate that after they get home and they're all hyper -- but they have a good time."