Halloween Event was a Treat for All

Happy November!
Hope you all had a great Halloween. Thought you might be curious about the TREATS4U event at New Day UMC - especially after last year's "blood" and "fire alarm" and "naked pastor" stories! If you remember those, you'll know how relieved I am to report that everything went smoothly this year!! It was a WONDERFUL event!

The whole process was very similar to last year's - 1000 candy bar invitations were handed out at the local grocery store (Coborn’s) on Sat. Oct. 24. The event was a combination of trick-or-treat (candy and small gifts) and games (with prizes). There was a photographer taking portraits and "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin" movie playing, and we offered cider (hot and cold), coffee and popcorn. The differences this year included: 1) our New Day Community took about 250 invitations to friends, neighbors, classmates, etc. in addition to those handed out at Coborn’s; 2) the event was held at the church (last year we were at the school); 3) New Day's technology resources enhanced the event (Halloween music playing on the sound system, games played on the SmartBoard, movie projected onto the large wall); 4) there were at least double the number of volunteers who helped out with all aspects of the event.
I wish you all could have seen the church at 4:55pm Halloween night!! It truly had been transformed into a fun, non-scary Halloween maze! The decorations and set up were festive and inviting. There were about 26 volunteers dressed in various costumes scattered all over the church, inside and out, prepared to greet, hand out candy and gifts, lead games (bingo, ring the witches' hats, ping pong pumpkins, pin the mouth on the jack-o-lantern, etc.), serve popcorn, and just be present to share a little of God's love.

And it was at about this moment that I had a bit of a crisis of faith! It's one thing for Jim and I to work ourselves to the bone and pour our hearts into preparing for an event and no one comes. It's quite another, when we have enlisted the help of 35+ volunteers over a two week period, who have spent hours of time and energy also pouring their hearts into it! All I could do at that moment was try not to panic and to PRAY, dear Lord, PLEASE let the people come!!!
Rest assured, my fears were unfounded, and by 5:15, there were children and parents everywhere! In the end, we counted 160 children plus all the parents - our guess is about 225 people total. The best part is that everyone enjoyed it - those attending and those volunteering! Praise God!!!
November is a big month for getting out into the community. Please pray for these upcoming celebrations and New Day's presence out there... 1) Northstar Commuter Rail line opens for business - New Day is one of the 4 major sponsors of the Grand Opening Celebration, Nov. 14, and we will be serving coffee to the commuters from 5:00-7:30am the first 3 mornings, Nov. 16-18. 2) Jim will be preaching at the Community-Wide Ecumenical Thanksgiving Eve worship, held at the Catholic Church this year. 3) In place of regular worship Thanksgiving weekend, New Day is planning a special "We Need a Little Christmas Now" gathering to be held at a community location, Sunday afternoon, Nov. 29. Please pray for the logistics of this event - we thought we had a group from another church lined up to share a special musical, but that may have fallen through...

Church programming continues as well: another New Day Kids’ Night is planned for Nov. 10, New Day Women are gathering Nov. 6, and we're planning a Youth/Children Christmas program on Saturday, Dec. 19th, with rehearsals each Wed. in December. Please join us for any or all!

Wishing you all "new day" blessings,
Janet

WHAT IS THIS?!?

This new congregation is corrupting its pastor!! Green Bay native in Viking's purple?! Between this JERSEY (which makes us feel a bit schizophrenic!) and the SNOW in October, everything is a little weird here in Big Lake! ?Fortunately, things at New Day Church are not weird, but are spirit-filled and hopeful! Although the number of worship attenders was down a bit these last two weekends (we were warned that might happen), the vast majority of those who have come, are returning and feedback continues to be very positive. God's spirit is so alive and the relationships that are starting to solidify are precious to see.

The Vikings Favre jersey gift ("To Jim, From God" on the package!!) is one example of how well Jim is connecting to the people and how people are feeling "at home" - accepted and welcomed, as well as finding worship meaningful to their lives. Leaders are coming forward and doing tasks without being asked, the rhythm of the 3 days of worship is becoming more familiar, and most of the major "building" projects have been completed. This past week we had a Kid's evening and a Youth evening, which were fun and great starts to those programs.

We're planning to get out into the community 3 more times before the end of the year. "Treats 4 U" (Trick-or-Treating plus games, photographer, cider/coffee, etc.) will happen on Halloween night. You may remember we held this event at the school last year. We'll move it to the church this year - using the parking lot for most of the trick-or-treat stations to draw people who are out and about to us. This event will allow those who want to check out New Day anonymously to do so.

Second, the commuter rail from Big Lake to Mpls. will open in mid-November. New Day Church will be one of the sponsors for their grand opening event. We also may serve coffee those first couple of mornings as commuters ride the rail to work!

Finally, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we plan to have a "Preparing for Christmas" (Advent) event - maybe held at a location other than the church. More details to work out as that time gets closer. Jim will also be preaching at the ecumenical Thanksgiving service held at the Catholic church this year.

Being the more practical of the two of us, I still worry about the small numbers attending worship and finances (they sort of go hand in hand). I am so thankful that God continues to remind me to focus on the ministry and have faith! Just a few examples and stories to share...

• Sat. evening one woman turned to me after worship with a huge smile as if a weight had been lifted and said, "I always feel so good when I come here!"


• The mom who told me her son was up at 7:30 Sunday morning, just waiting to come to church to get his copy of the CD with the slide show that he had helped create at kid's night this week. And the mom with 6 kids (senior in HS down to age 3) who so appreciates our casual style, good childcare, crafts for kids during worship, and alternate worship times, that all make coming to church a meaningful experience for the first time for her whole family.


• All of the young men, who haven't been to church in years, and didn't think there was anything in church for them- finding meaning in worship, projects to help out with and good fellowship that has been missing from their lives.


• And finally, two of the youth who have found a place to belong and to use their gifts - running sound board/powerpoint and drumming with the band. And there are more...

Those who haven't had a chance to come see firsthand what's happening, you are most warmly invited! The next worship series starts the week after next (we're taking a "bye" this weekend!) and has a football theme "Tackling the Tough Ones!" The website will have more info... As always, all of your prayers and support are blessings beyond measure.

May the winter temperatures not freeze the warmth of God's love in our hearts...

Love and hugs,

Janet :->

TREATS4U Recap

(Reflections from the Pastor's wife, Janet)

Happy November and Daylight Savings!
As the saying goes, I have good news and bad news, but Jim and I decided yesterday that even the bad news could have been so much worse! So, here's the story...

First, the candy bar hand out at Coborns last weekend went very well, although it was a bit exhausting! As it turned out, Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL fall day which was perfect for standing outside and greeting people as they came to shop. However, the manager thought the weather also kept the usual number of customers low. So after about 5 hours, we still had a couple of baskets of candy bars left, but were tired and losing a bit of the enthusiasm needed to continue. So, we quit for the day.

As those of you in MN know, Sunday dawned cold and SNOWY! Not so nice for standing outside! The Coborns manager graciously let us stand just inside the doorway to greet people and we managed to get all the candy bars into people's hands in a couple more hours Sunday afternoon. The response we got from the people we actually talked to was very positive and the candy bar was a great means of getting the word out. It was also really fun to "treat" people - it felt like handing just a little bit of God's grace to some! I spent the majority of the time in front of the entrance near the gas pumps and it was very interesting how many people (especially the men) started to give a donation. It took me completely by surprise the first time! They were often shocked to hear that the candy bar wrapper was an invitation and the candy itself, a gift - no strings attached!

So, the week flew by, and by Thursday night most everything was prepared and ready, except the number of volunteers. Many of the "maybe's" had turned into "no's" and even many of the "yes's" were delayed and couldn't arrive for the set up time. There were enough, however, to make the event happen and we just trusted that things would work out.

Halloween arrived, warm and sunny, and we packed up our two vehicles to the brim and with a prayer and a few deep breaths, off we went! Well, (here's the first bad news!) we arrived at the school by about 3:15 and by 3:25 our main adult volunteer (Jacob, manager at Caribou Coffee, who had been helping with a lot of the prep and ideas and was so excited about this event), sliced open his finger while hauling in the popcorn maker. UGH! The poor guy! I saw it happen and was trying to tell Jim that "We have blood, there's blood!" without getting too hysterical and (being Halloween) he thought I was talking about an unwanted prop or something!! Anyway, the photographer volunteer arrived at just that moment, so she took him to the hospital and (see, it could have been worse ☺) he did make it back later in the evening after 4 stitches and a tetanus shot!

The set up, however, was suddenly a bit more stressful than planned - with just the two of us and 3 youth! However, 39 hay bales got hauled in and set up, blow-up pumpkins and straw scarecrows and welcome arch and lights and fog machines all were displayed, candy and other treats were prepared for trick-or-treaters, photographer, games and Charlie Brown video were set up in the center room, hot cider, apple juice, coffee and popcorn were all ready to be served and, although it wasn't perfect, by 5:00 we had people waiting at the door and so, with another prayer and no time for a breath - it began!!

We were still missing a couple of volunteers, and Paula, the lady from Community Ed who was our link to renting the space in the school, graciously pitched in and manned the popcorn machine. Paula is what I call tangible grace as (here's the next bad news!) by 5:20, between the popcorn machine and the fog machines, we had set off the fire alarm! YIKES! And it was this moment that Jim was standing in his underwear in the men's room trying to change into his costume! Good grief! Fortunately, (see, it could have been worse - imagine sprinklers and WET hay, firemen and sirens, naked pastor running the halls, etc.! - and here's the grace) Paula immediately called the fire department and the custodians called Honeywell Security to let everyone know that it was a false alarm and within just a few minutes, without any major fuss, everyone was back inside and we continued on - fog and popcorn moved outside!! (Thank goodness for the nice weather!) And thank goodness for Paula's presence!

By 7:30, by counting the pieces of candy in my basket, we figure we had seen about 120 kids and nearly all had parents along - over 200 people total. We were blessed by the presence of at least 15 spirit-filled volunteers at various points throughout the event whose energy, enthusiasm, joy and laughter filled the space with God's love. And we also received several candy donations from various sources which allowed us to be very generous with treats. I would venture to say that nearly all who attended had fun, felt the warmth of God's love (whether they identified it or not) through some aspect of the event and left with a little more info (and positive impression) about New Day UMC. Whew!

The struggle, once again, comes in comparing our visions and expectations to harsh reality. And sometimes even our two (Jim's and my) expectations don't coincide! Trusting God that the harsh reality is exactly what was needed at the time, regardless of our individual expectations, can get tough when we are faced daily with so much "unknown". It will be helpful to gather a community of more "committed" people (hopefully in December) to get a sense that we are "succeeding" in truly impacting lives and to get some meaningful feedback on our attempts to reach out. It's a slow process which we know in our heads; our hearts just need a little encouragement! We do believe, Lord, help our unbelief...

The other thing that keeps surprising us is that many of the people we are meeting have few expectations, since most of what we're doing is totally new to them. (Seems like "old hat" to us!) Many have not experienced the blessings of vibrant, alive, meaningful, loving faith and fellowship, so even the little bit we are trying to provide seems to make a bit of an impact for those whose hearts are open and who are seeking deeper meaning in their life journey. That's what truly gives me hope - and I pray that God will lead those open hearts to intersect our path, that His love can be shared and His kingdom come...

And so, as these events take place, I find that I can't think too hard about what's happening at the moment - only go with the flow relying on God's love through me to encounter all that transpires. And laugh A LOT - thank goodness for a sense of humor and God's grace to use it!

May you find the humor and the blessings on your journey,

Janet :->