This was our 3rd annual Trunk or Treat experience. Since Halloween landed on Sunday evening, it was a great time for us to pull out the stops and take our investment in the community to the next level. We had 25 cars/trucks/vans in a "U" shaped configuration where everyone could take the loop and receive candy from each family/person. Most of the vehicles were decorated with a theme. One of my 6th Grade class members was allowed to use her grandpa's pickup. Her theme was great and included a cage with three live chickens!

Our goal was to inspire 1000 people to attend. As of this morning I haven't received the final count, but we managed to register over 900 people for the "drawing." We have information on those folks that will allow us to follow up on them. My prediction is that we went well over our goal.

Taking this event to the "next level" this year meant opening the doors of our church and serving the hot dogs inside in Fellowship Square. We also rented 3 major bouncies. One of them was set up in Fellowship Square. For the other two, we had to take out an entire row of pews in the sanctuary, so we could install a major bouncie obstacle course. Then, we had the traditional bouncie on the platform! This is a major step for us...doing something in the sanctuary besideds Sunday morning worship! (Our "Futures Advocacy Team" has plans to promote a major transition in this area of our facility. Hoping to transform that major room into a facility that we can use for a variety of events/ministries. Using the sanctuary for the bouncies, I think, helped us see the possibilities!)

I would rate this as a tremendous success. Since I teach the pre-teen class, I had brochures and presented them to all the 5th and 6th graders I could find! On a side note, my goal is to have double my enrollment attendance on the 2nd Sunday in November. If I can pull this off, we will have 26 that day! It really helped to be able to find some new prospects! I love this age group. We had 12 in class yesterday. When I started to give the closing prayer to the class, it was like the Holy Spirit checked me, so I stopped and asked if any of the class members would like to pray. Half of the class offered a prayer! Amazing!

Kudos to our Youth Pastor, Adam Jurhs, who headed up our Trunk or Treat celebration.

Friend,

Wes