Happy Halloween

Well today is Halloween and yes we will be celebrating. Now we're not celebrating evil but celebrating people! I'm not sure how the discussion began but a couple of years ago we were thinking about what we as a church could do on Halloween. Let me be frank here and this is just my opinion but Harvest Festivals are kind of lame. Lame candy and just a bunch of Christian mooching. One church in our area did it and had over 5000 people come. They later reported that they only saw one family get connected to their church over it. So we had the thought let's bring the Harvest Festival to the people.

So we have for the last couple of years had various Commmunity Groups at our church host block parties. A family friendly way to meet neighbors. Groups have games, hot dogs, awesome candy, and other fun stuff. We don't have witches and ghosts, maybe a Scooby Doo costume but we also don't have Jesus junk either. You know what I mean! All those lame cards with lame sayings that I have never heard change someone's life!

The block parties are a part of our culture now. Groups on their own do them to invest in their neighborhood. One guy went so far to build his own putt-putt golf course! His neighbors were so touched that they have been asking for weeks if the block party was still on! Another guy in our church has actually had an unchurched neighbor come over and offer to do all the cooking for the event. Wow, an unchurched person is helping a follower of Jesus invest in his neighbors!

I am so proud of our church on Halloween. They really show that it's now about us! It is about taking the message of the Gospel through words of truth and deeds of love to our neighbors and world.

For more great thoughts may I recommend my friend Bob's blog. Gary Lamb's imfamous blog about Harvest festivals is also worth reading.