Why I value our Harvest Festival.

This coming Saturday, thousands of people will visit our church grounds for our 6th Annual Harvest Festival outreach to our community. Last night, as part of our annual vision night/business meeting, I shared some of the reasons I value Harvest Festival as a meaningful outreach effort. Here are some of those thoughts:

• I value the wisdom of veterans

Over the weekend, I spoke with one of our longtime volunteers, Marcus Vincent, and he reminded me about the first time he got involved. He was worried that it wasn't going to all come together -- but it did. Now he can look back and rest easy this week, knowing that God will provide everything we need, as we continue to work and prepare for the event.

• I value the enthusiasm of newcomers

While I was out of the country, Helen Moran made dozens and dozens and dozens of phone calls. She gave me a huge list of highlighted names, and info added to the list, and all sorts of other details. Then she asked what she could do next. I passed along a project. She got that done within a day. Then she send me an email asking for a new project. And then another, and another. Such enthusiasm!
I'm also enthusiastic that Pastor Randall and our Celebrate Recovery team will have a booth at the event this year. We know from experience that many hurting people will be on our church grounds that day. This is a great chance to connect them with a ministry that can help them with their hurts, hangups and habits!

• I value the smiles of guests

That's really what each person is Saturday: a guest. They're coming to our church, and we need to treat them with dignity and respect as our guests. Some of them will be happy guests, and some will be rude, unhappy guests. But we still treat them correctly and have the right attitude -- even if they don't!

• I value the sacrifices of our congregation

Sunday morning, we had a first-time guest at church who offered to donate some portable bathrooms for the event. We've never had that donation before! We have so many people willing to sacrifice their time and energy. Our parking areas are already done because of the hard work of David Sherr and Javier Moran, who spent all day Friday preparing the ground.

• I value the prayers of the team

We ask all our volunteers to take time this week to pray for the rest of the team, pray for the guests, and pray for the spiritual seeds that will be planted in people's lives this weekend.