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Mineral Springs Baptist Church is partnering with JAC’s Party Rental to bring the community a free back-to-school celebration for the whole family to enjoy July 28, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the church.

Festivities will fill the lot from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring over 15 inflatables provided by JAC’s Party Rental, free hot dogs and water, music, games and prizes.

“We really want it to be a carnival midway atmosphere for the kids to come and enjoy,” Pastor Jason Green of Mineral Springs Baptist Church said.

As a unique perk to the party, a team of licensed cosmetologists will offer free back-to-school haircuts, kicking off the church’s new ministry of free haircuts every month.

“At 1 p.m., we will gather in the church gymnasium for a special prayer service for our schools, students, teachers and administrators,” Green said. “The event will feature worship and a time of encouragement.”

Prayer will be a key point to the service, blessing the efforts and impact in store for the coming school year.

“We want as many of the local administrators to come as we can,” Green said. “We want to pray over the principals. Our church is blessed to have so many teachers in it, so this is something that’s very personal for us.”

Green said the back-to-school celebration reflects the church’s aim to demonstrate the love of Christ to community members.

“We have people in our church and our community that are consistently laboring in love, and it’s exciting to be able to give them the opportunity to bring people alongside them to work out what God’s called them to do,” Green said.

Guests are encouraged to participate in the impact by donating school supplies toward packing about 75 backpacks lining the playground fence at the event, each pack to be distributed among local students.

A full list of needed school supplies can be found on Chilton County schools’ websites, according to Green.

“We’re committed to making sure the schools know that we’re in this department with them, and we’re intent on covering our students, our teachers, our administrators [and] our staff with prayer. That is a commitment that we’re making for the coming school year,” Green said. “But more than that … we want to be hands and feet of ministry, so anything that we can do to support our schools and those that lead them, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Green extends special thanks to Scott Guess, Abbi Bowman, Brandi Bean and T.J. Phelps, who were “key players” in organizing the celebration.

Mineral Springs Baptist Church is located at 8316 County Rd. 51 in Clanton.

For more information, visit msbcal.org or the Mineral Springs Baptist Church Facebook page.