Dubois County students and families will have an opportunity to gather across school lines this month when local high schools join Redemption Christian Church for a county‑wide Faith Night at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 8. The event will take place at Redemption Christian Church, 1450 Energy Drive in Jasper, and is free and open to the public.

The evening’s program is scheduled to include times of worship, student testimonies and a keynote address by the Cleveland Guardians’ Major League Baseball team chaplain. Organizers say the format is intended to center student voices while bringing in an outside speaker with professional experience working with athletes and young people in a team environment.

For a rural county like Dubois, county‑wide gatherings such as this serve multiple local purposes. They create a neutral space for students from different high schools to connect, provide a platform for young leaders to share personal stories, and reinforce social networks that contribute to community cohesion. Publicly accessible events that are free to attend also reduce barriers for families who might otherwise be unable to participate in extracurricular or faith‑based activities.

The presence of a professional chaplain from a major league organization highlights how sports‑affiliated pastoral roles have grown in visibility in recent years. For local youth, the chaplain’s keynote may offer perspectives on teamwork, resilience and mental health drawn from work with athletes at the highest level — themes that have relevance to student athletes and non‑athletes alike.

Partnerships between schools and faith organizations in settings like this are typically structured as voluntary, extracurricular gatherings held off campus to ensure that participation is a matter of personal choice. That structure helps preserve public school boundaries while enabling community organizations to provide supportive programming for adolescents and families.

Local economic effects from a single evening are likely modest, but community events can channel activity to nearby restaurants and businesses when attendees gather before or after programs. More importantly for residents, such events contribute to the stock of local social capital: networks, trust and shared norms that have long‑term value for civic life, volunteerism and informal support systems.

Residents interested in attending should plan to arrive at Redemption Christian Church at 1450 Energy Drive in Jasper by 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 8. Because the event is free and open to the public, organizers encourage families, students and community members to come and participate in an evening focused on student voices and countywide fellowship.