On Monday I took my group-home kids to New Venture Church in Vista, Ca for a Halloween festival.
A Halloween festival.
Not a harvest party. Not an autumn bash.
A Halloween festival. On Halloween day.
There was a petting zoo there. A magician performing. Live bands.
Over a dozen bouncy houses and slides. A couple rides.
Human bowling. Laser tag. The Velcro wall jump thingy.
And a VIP room stocked with pizza, hot dogs, cupcakes, and soda.
Oh, yeah. And there was candy by the barrels. Literally.
Basically, it was all free.
It truly was an outreach. Fall parties are a great substitute for churches and families not wanting to participate in Halloween activities (Although, eh hm, would a rose by any other name smell just as sweet? Uh, yes.) Anyway, these types of things are really directed towards people already involved in the church. People who share similar beliefs.
But this Halloween festival I went to? All sorts of people, all sorts of ages were there. Hundreds and hundreds of people. No one was looked down upon for dressing up a little too scary or gory. Ironically, I even saw a couple devils there.
Jesus wasn't a discussion. Jesus was a demonstration. People of the community were loved on unconditionally. If I wasn't so busy chasing after my kiddos, I would've taken notes.
I was that impressed.
And if nothing else, practically, a couple hundred kids were kept out of the streets for a night and had fun safely.
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