Over 250 students, parents and teachers attended the fifth annual Back to School Blast at South Luverne Baptist Church Sunday evening. The event was filled with music, worship, and words of inspiration and encouragement to the young people as they head back into the classrooms and as they move forward in their lives.

Pastor Mike Green welcomed everyone.

“We started this five years ago as a way to bring our students, parents and teachers together for a time of fellowship,” Green said. “We all should pray for our schools, our teachers, our parents, and our students every day.”

The Riverside Worship Project provided special music for the evening. The Troy-based group leads worship for a community of fellow college students at First Baptist Church of Opelika.

Auburn University’s Whit Smith, associate director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was the guest speaker.

“We ask a lot of questions while we are growing up, but the most important question we need to ask ourselves is what do I need to do to inherit eternal life?” Smith said.

Smith took his sermon from Mark 10:17.

“There’s this belief that if you’re a good person and you follow the Ten Commandments, you’ll go to Heaven,” he said. “But that’s not what Jesus told the rich man to do—He told him to go and sell everything he had and give it to the poor and come follow Him.”

“We don’t need to trust in things or even in other people—Jesus clearly tells us not to trust anything else and to come follow Him.”

Smith said that most people allow all of their things, or their “stuff”, to get in the way of their relationship with God.

“We can’t get to Heaven by ourselves, but through God all things are possible,” he said. “You need to leave behind whatever it is you’re depending on and just hold on to and trust in God,” Smith said.

Those in attendance received free T-shirts and free hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and drinks.

Pastor Mike Green thanked everyone who contributed to the Back to School Blast and for making it such a success.