October 21, Halloween
I taught and coached in the public schools of Horry County for 9 years. I taught Industrial technology and had a huge building that had formerly been used for something else. My principal came to me and asked me if I'd be willing to do a fund raiser for the school? I jumped all over it. Sooooo, since I was in excellent shape (had graduated from Clemson two years previous) I came up with the idea of putting on a wrestling match. I put on one of my orange hunting mask and took some pictures. Began promoting and was blown away by the response. We sold out the gym. Standing room only. My former pastor (who had played football at Wofford) was my opponent. We had practiced a bunch of fake moves and put on a great show!
Another teacher had another suggestion, what if we turned my building into a haunted house? Several of us put our thinking caps on and came up with some incredible stuff. Had a coffin with someone laying in it and he jumped out at the kids. Another teacher had a life size gorilla outfit. We chained the gorilla up but he always broke the chains. I chased kids with a chain saw that didn't have a chain on it. We had to stop and escort several kids out due to crying. My mentality was, "no mercy, scare them to death." And we did. Through our efforts we made thousands of dollars. By far the best fund raiser the school had ever had.
The following week my pastor shared with me his views on Halloween. I kind of blew it off. Then I picked up a couple books and began reading them. Long story short, I realized how Halloween is nothing short of the devil's day. I won't go into all my thoughts on Halloween, but know that I hate everything Halloween stands for. My kids have never dressed up and went trick or treating. They've never been to a haunted house. (And by the way; they lived) We always participated at a church function.
Now, I said all that because I received an e-mail this week asking why our church was participating in Halloween activities. Understand the couple who sent the e-mail did it in as a loving way as possible. They were just wondering why. A question that needs to be answered.
On October 31st we will have thousands of parents and their children go through our parking lot because it is Halloween. As the pastor of this church I had two choices:
1. Ignore the city wide event and pretend Halloween doesn't exist.
2. Take advantage of this opportunity and show people the love of Jesus.
I opted for the second. That is why we will be giving our kids and others in the community a safe alternative. We'll be giving away hot dogs, drinks, candy and have a bunch of rides for the kids. AND IT IS ALL FREE! We're asking for hundreds of our volunteers to come and just love on people.
Think of the opportunity we have. Thousands of people who do not know Christ will be walking through our parking lot. I'm convinced it would be wrong to pretend Halloween doesn't exist. To pretend all these people won't be walking through our parking lot headed to down town Easley. And for that reason I'm asking everyone who will to help. To bring candy this Sunday so it can be bagged up with a card form our church. To love on people. To answer questions about our church. To be the only Jesus some people will see on the devil's day.
Another teacher had another suggestion, what if we turned my building into a haunted house? Several of us put our thinking caps on and came up with some incredible stuff. Had a coffin with someone laying in it and he jumped out at the kids. Another teacher had a life size gorilla outfit. We chained the gorilla up but he always broke the chains. I chased kids with a chain saw that didn't have a chain on it. We had to stop and escort several kids out due to crying. My mentality was, "no mercy, scare them to death." And we did. Through our efforts we made thousands of dollars. By far the best fund raiser the school had ever had.
The following week my pastor shared with me his views on Halloween. I kind of blew it off. Then I picked up a couple books and began reading them. Long story short, I realized how Halloween is nothing short of the devil's day. I won't go into all my thoughts on Halloween, but know that I hate everything Halloween stands for. My kids have never dressed up and went trick or treating. They've never been to a haunted house. (And by the way; they lived) We always participated at a church function.
Now, I said all that because I received an e-mail this week asking why our church was participating in Halloween activities. Understand the couple who sent the e-mail did it in as a loving way as possible. They were just wondering why. A question that needs to be answered.
On October 31st we will have thousands of parents and their children go through our parking lot because it is Halloween. As the pastor of this church I had two choices:
1. Ignore the city wide event and pretend Halloween doesn't exist.
2. Take advantage of this opportunity and show people the love of Jesus.
I opted for the second. That is why we will be giving our kids and others in the community a safe alternative. We'll be giving away hot dogs, drinks, candy and have a bunch of rides for the kids. AND IT IS ALL FREE! We're asking for hundreds of our volunteers to come and just love on people.
Think of the opportunity we have. Thousands of people who do not know Christ will be walking through our parking lot. I'm convinced it would be wrong to pretend Halloween doesn't exist. To pretend all these people won't be walking through our parking lot headed to down town Easley. And for that reason I'm asking everyone who will to help. To bring candy this Sunday so it can be bagged up with a card form our church. To love on people. To answer questions about our church. To be the only Jesus some people will see on the devil's day.
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