Giving Thanks: Trunk-or-Treat
Snow. On October 29th. During our Trunk-or-Treat Halloween outreach event. Is that even possible? Well, it’s not only possible – it happened! Many thanks to all who with very little notice jumped in and transformed their creative car trunk decorating ideas into inside, car-less decorating ideas.
We had 46 spots filled with decorations, games, and wonderful people in costumes giving out candy to the hundreds and hundreds of children who came out to trick or treat with us. I have to admit, I had my doubts about how many people would venture out on a cold and slushy night with their kids in costumes – but as usual, the Lord showed me what a waste of time worrying is. With a warm and bright place to trick or treat we had an overwhelming turn out, with kids and parents dress in costumes and ready to spend a safe, fun filled evening with their family. After playing games and trick or treating, the children were treated to a puppet show and snacks, or could stop by and do a Halloween craft. For me the best part was there wasn’t a single crying child getting scared of what might pop out in the dark. Many of our neighbors and friends from Guilford came to see what we are about.
Our “parking spots” were amazingly creative with the Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter Tea Party, pirates, campers, and Christmas, just to name a few. Our grand prize winner for creativity was our new Pastor of Young Adults, Wayne Johnson and his Shepherd Group who did the movie UP, complete with the house, balloons, Carl (now we know what Wayne will look like when he’s 80!), Russell, and the rare bird, Kevin.
A huge thanks to everyone that helped – set-up, clean-up, snacks, crafts, and of course the “parking spots”. It takes a lot of help to put on an event like this, and we couldn’t do it without our wonderful volunteers.
In the end – despite the snow and last-minute adjustments due to less-than-ideal weather – we were able to serve RBC families and bless many neighbors from our surrounding community (several of whom showed up for worship services the next morning!) We continue to pray for hearts to open to the Gospel as we show the love of Christ in fun and practical ways through events such as this.
