NATCHEZ — Highland Baptist Church members believe music should not be contained within the walls of the church.

So Saturday, for the third year in a row, the church is hosting the From the Bluffs to the Bayous Fall Music Festival.

This year’s event features six acts with Diamond Rio as the headliner.

Event organizer Bruce McCall said the church uses this event as a way to reach out to the community.

“We have a lot of excitement going on within the walls of our church,” he said. “We wanted to find a way to spread that excitement throughout the community.”

The free event begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at the amphitheater on the Vidalia Riverfront.

McCall said there is a need for fun, family-oriented events in the community and he believes the church has created just that.

“There will be a few games for children like face painting and the moon jumps, and we’ll have a few refreshments,” McCall said. “It is going to be a good day to just get out, listen to some good music and spend some time with family and friends.”

Performers will be High Road, a duo from Nashville; Hannah Belle Southerland, a local singer and songwriter; Fragile Stone, a contemporary Christian band from Little Rock, Ark.; Judah Seed, a contemporary Christian band from Crystal Springs and the Highland Praise Band.

Headliner Diamond Rio is a country band formed two decades ago. The group has recorded five No. 1 hits and 32 songs that have charted on the country music charts.

Their debut single “Meet in the Middle” was their first No. 1 hit. Other hits include “In a Week or Two,” “How Your Love Makes Me Feel” and “I Believe.”

The group released their first contemporary Christian album “The Reason” in 2009.

“Every hour, on the hour, we will have someone new performing,” McCall said. “We try to have something that will appeal to all the genres and age groups.”

Admission is free. McCall said the church does not host the event to make money or increase church attendance.

Instead, he said, Highland Baptist members just want to reach people.

“We’re not going to be throwing the Bible at folks,” he said. “We are going to have people in the crowd meeting and greeting with folks and telling them we are happy to have them there.

“We want the community to see Christian folks out having fun and hope we can plant a seed of Jesus’ love.”

The church is able to fund the concert through business sponsorships, donations and fundraisers, McCall said.

Three times a year the church sells barbecue chicken plates and uses the proceeds to sponsor this event and others the church hosts.

“We are not a large church and average 175 to 200 people on a Sunday morning,” he said. “It is obvious that we have been blessed to be able to pull off an event of this scale. We aren’t doing it for our church.

We are doing it to reach more people for Jesus.”