Michigan Church Hopes ‘Star Wars Christmas’ Promotion Creates Draw

A Michigan church is hoping that excitement over Star Wars can help draw more people to its congregation this holiday season.

Life Church in Saginaw County’s Kochville Township is offering “A Star Wars Christmas” promotion that continues this Sunday. There’s a create-your-own lightsaber activity, free photos with a Stormtrooper and Star Wars merchandise giveaways for kids.

Life Church, located about 80 miles northwest of Detroit, also is giving away 300 tickets to see “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” when it opens later this month.

The Rev. Jonathan Herron, a Star Wars fan himself, started the nondenominational Christian church about three years ago, according to The Saginaw News. He’s used contemporary music and comedy as part of efforts to attract the under-40 demographic, so he says the latest promotion makes sense.

“Everybody’s going to be talking about Star Wars anyways, and at Christmastime people are looking for a church to just visit, you know, maybe once,” Herron told the newspaper. “So we said, ‘Why don’t we just put the two pieces together?’”..