I love the sound of this old familiar song…“This Year’s Fall Festival May Have Been The Best Ever!”
You know, there is absolutely no way we could ever get a count of how many people attended. We know the number is somewhere between a lot and all we can handle. LOL. This year’s Festival had guest arriving at 5:30 and not leaving until 9:15…that is over an hour longer that we have had in the past. So the number of guests who attended were spread out over an additional hour.
You could almost feel the joy of those attending to experience a fun, free, family friendly event. Especially after such a long time struggle with Covid-19, Isolation, mask mandates, etc, etc. Man, this party for a thousand people was just what the Good Doctor ordered.
There is absolutely no way we can do an event this big without all the volunteers that came out to make it happen. Every volunteer was needed and help carry the load of serving our community. Thank you to those who prayed, those who gave, those who brought candy, those who volunteered at the booths, those who set up, cleaned up, showed up, came early, stayed late, worked on rocks, played great music, made phone calls, used their friend-fluence, stuffed bags, tended to emergency scrapes, purchased food, cooked food, served food, cleaned up food, picked up trash, brought friends, spoke to new people, loved on old people, and on and on we could go. Job well done good and faithful servants. Well done.
I just talked with a woman who said she and her family do not do “Halloween” because they do not go out on the streets. When I told her about our Fall Festival, she immediately thought of how wonderful it must be to have a safe event for families. We are thankful for Bill, our onsite police officer, the Firemen who stayed for an hour or so and our own safety team that stayed ever watchful. To God be the glory for a safe and fun time.
Our prayer is that every family that stepped on the campus of JIBC felt the love of God and the friendliness of His people. Perhaps, if they decide they would like to try a church out, they will consider JIBC. Maybe, just maybe, if they have a need, they will reach out to the people who seemed so real and genuine. Hopefully, they will remember…and decide to check us out some Sunday, Christmas Eve or some other special day in their lives.
Again, this is reason 2789 of why I love our church family! I love you all,
We are here for the harvest,
Pastor Tom
