Lathams News: LIFEPOINTE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS...

It’s Time to Celebrate.. Christmas at Lifepointe!

This event apparently that brings 10’s of thousands of people to celebrate Christmas as a community and so it is one that we did not want to miss; Christmas at Lifepointe!

We have only managed to go once before and that was back in 2015 just before Max was born when we had Willow and took her up to the Sunshine Coast for a few days.

This year because of Covid, they were holding it a bit earlier and for only six nights. It was being held from the 10th to the 16th of December from 5:30pm – 9:00pm. Lifepointe Church opens their doors to the community to celebrate Christmas and we were able to go on their first evening open to the public.

This is the 18th year since Christmas at Lifepointe began, with the aim each year to spread a message of hope, joy and the true meaning of Christmas to the Sunshine Coast.

Like a moth attracted to light you too will be drawn in by the big, bright Christmas lights display. It's so bright you can see them from the Sunshine Motorway as you drive by. But there's more to this than just the lights - it's a brilliant reminder of why we celebrate the season.

Christmas Lights at Lifepointe...

We were unaware that you could actually park at the Immanuel Lutheran School in Buderim which is about 1km from Lifepointe Baptist Church and have the shuttle buses ferry you in and out to the event. We will know for next time we go. There is no real parking at the church as most of their car park is taken up with the Market Place, jumping castles and other family activities for people to visit.

They also put on a concert show which is free and it is wonderful. They do three shows per night and we attended the middle one. Mostly it was well known Christmas carols but beautifully choreographed and about three quarters of the way through, they had a video clip of someone talking about life and just the mundaneness of life and how often people feel hopeless. The Pastor then game a 5 minute message of HOPE and how we can find that hope in Christ. It was very well done...

I love the fact that they re-tell the true Christmas story and offer people the opportunity to explore what the Christian faith is all about through ‘Alpha’ courses we run each year. It is a great way to reach out to the Sunshine Coast community.

It’s A Christmas production that combines story lines about Christmas, with music and dance and everything from rock anthems to age-old carols which is drawing thousands each night.

The audience was even encouraged to get involved by turning their torch light on, on their phone and waving it about. A much safer way than doing it with lit candles... but still create a beautiful sight...

Everyone waving their phones...

Again, like COP in Rocky, this church is blessed with some amazing musicians and singers and the production really was first class..

Pastor Phil, gave a short message of Hope especially for those that have really struggled this past couple of years with all that has been happening around the work. It was a very clear message that Jesus came that we might have hope and life eternal and he also invited people to come to church there if they were looking to find a spiritual home...


Pastor Phil gave a short message...

The last few songs where quite theatrical with super large white balloons bouncing around the auditorium and then heaps and heaps of confetti falling from the ceiling covering everyone...

From the Christmas concert we made our way out through one of the side doors out into the Market Place where they had lots of folk selling their wares. Most of the stalls were selling homemade wares and some would make wonderful Christmas presents. We wanderedd through there checking out many of the stalls, although we didn't buy anything....

Face painting, popcorn, fairy floss, balloon art, a kids' play zone, an animal farm, cafe and market stalls are all part of the free Christmas festival. The Lifepointe volunteers were very busy making popcorn and fairy floss as we strolled past. The beautiful part of it all though, was that they seemed to be having lots of fun.

Next we walked through the area where all the Food Trucks were lined up. They looked to have quite a bit of variety, but in the end we decided that we would prefer to get a Pizza Caper's Garlic Prawn Pizza and take it home to eat. There was also quite a bit of live entertainment that was also free with plenty of seating to sit and get your breath back and just sit and relax for a minute or two. The jumping castle was also situated in this area and there and there were plenty of children taking advantage of the fact that it was free.. There was also a little Cafe set up that had a desert bar and ice cream stall... Again, all very popular...

This then took us back to the entrance of the church which now looked beautiful once the evening got dart. It looked like a magical wonderland...

From here we walked across to check outThe Stable and Animal Farm where you could actually pet and hold the animals. Unfortunately this visit we didn't have the children with us, but they would have loved it. We must make sure that we have them up at the coast with us next year just before Christmas so that we can take them.

They even had weavers set up weaving the lama wool and making hats.

The last thing we ventured over to check out was the Tunnel of Lights. This was beautiful and led you into the chapel where people from the community could write out their needs so that the church could pray for them. We were very surprised to see that quite a few people were writing requests on the pieces of paper supplied for them.

Walking into the chapel where people from the community could leave prayer requests for the church to pray for them...

It's been a lovely evening and we are pleased that we have made the effort to visit. A very nice evening out and it is wonderful that the church are able to reach out to their community with the good news and the reason we hold this season each year..