Church communities unite as one at annual picnic

Esther Short — Nearly 2,000 people from church communities across Clark County came together as one Aug. 4 for the annual All Church Picnic organized by Vancouver’s Detour Ministries. From noon to 6 p.m., churchgoers from the community partied and prayed in Esther Short Park. Visitors listened to worship music by both the Jonny Wright Band and Westward, ate picnic foods and watched a messy pie-eating contest, a new event this year. Visiting evangelist Doug McCary, from Florida’s HisLight International Ministries, also took to the stage that day to perform as a Roman soldier who made the cross used to crucify Jesus. After McCary’s lesson, 80 people wrote down their troubles on paper and symbolically stuck them to a nail on the cross.