HANCEVILLE – You’ve no doubt watched the famous ball drop in Times Square on your television on New Year’s Eve. Well, last night, a crowd gathered to watch another ball drop…in Hanceville.
To help celebrate the new year, Life Church of Hanceville hosted a ball drop complete with games, refreshments and live entertainment. While waiting for the countdown to the new year, free games such as mini-golf, air hockey, foosball, bean bag tosses and a variety of board games were provided to give guests a chance to win tickets. These tickets could then be spent on food like popcorn, cotton candy and funnel cake, as well as canned drinks. For those who didn't feel like playing for tickets, they could also be purchased at the entrance for a dollar. Along with the games, the church provided entertainment in the form of live artists. Performances were given by rapper Genesis, R&B artist Brent Hood and local country singer Lane Maury.
This year marks the fifth ball drop the church has hosted. Previous years have seen crowds of nearly 1,000 people come to watch the 10-foot ball, which was built by church member Nick Cornwell, herald in a new year. When asked how the tradition originally started, campus pastor Chris Pettit said that they just wanted to give people who don't come to church an opportunity to see what the church community is like.
"We just wanted to help the community connect," he stated.
Anyone who would like more information on the church, both the Hanceville and Hartselle campuses, can visit their website at www.livelifefwd.com.
During the last fifteen minutes of 2016, Pettit asked the crowd (which was smaller than in previous years due to the rainy weather) to say a prayer for anyone who needs it, and he also invited anyone who wanted to be saved to ask for salvation. When the countdown reached one minute, the giant, glowing ball began to lower. As the crowd's counting reached zero, a group of white balloons was released to help give 2017 a warm welcome.
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