By Heather Lusk
It’s a 72-hour experience filled with 15 spiritual discussions about priorities, relationships and faith-based subjects.
The Great Banquet, open to all denominations and held semiannually in the fall and spring at Zionsville Presbyterian Church, brings 30 to 40 people together to eat, sleep, learn, pray and sing. The event lasts from Thursday to Sunday evening on separate weekends for men and women.
“Each individual experiences something unique,” said Steve Wright, one of the community lay directors for the Great Banquet. “Each individual is impacted differently.”
Those who have previously participated may only return to serve on the team that organizes the event or may volunteer by helping with discussions, serving food or assisting in a myriad of other ways.
Randy Laffoon, also a community lay director, estimates that 4,500 people have gone through the experience at ZPC since it first began in 1992.
“We feed them spiritually and physically,” said Laffoon, who noted that the food receives high praise.
Most of the participants are from Central Indiana, but Wright said that this year will include visitors from Ohio and as far as South America.
“They’re starting a new [Great Banquet] community in Brazil,” said Laffoon, adding that ZPC has “helped start or had roots with” 20 of the 33 communities in the U.S.
The main focus is “Christianity 101” according to Laffoon, “to remind people of what their priorities should be and to get them involved back in their churches.”
The men’s weekend is Oct. 1 to 4 and the women’s weekend is Oct. 8 to 11. A separate teen “Awakening” for high school students will occur in February. Registration for the upcoming event ends Sept. 30 and is available at www.zpc.org.
The roots of the Great Banquet stem from a similar Catholic program, the Cursillo, which was adapted in 1982 for a Methodist church. The program is governed by an ecumenical board of directors and persons of all faith are encouraged to participate and volunteer. The name comes from the parable of the great banquet, in which a man invited guests to a banquet but they gave excuses not to attend. So the man invited downtrodden townspeople in their place to share his feast.
