Hmm, a new Harvest Festival event?

I wonder if my boss would approve of this feature at our church:

What can you do with pumpkins? The list is not all that long. You can make pumpkin pies and breads, carve jack-o'-lanterns or use them to decorate your front porch.

Or you can send them hurling into the autumn sky at 400 mph with a 30,000-pound cannon.

It's pumpkin-chucking season!

Probably not. But still a fun idea.

More pics from Harvest Festival.

Today I received some more photos from volunteers who were part of the team at our Harvest Festival yesterday. Thought I'd share some of the really cool pics.

It's 6PM, the day of Harvest Festival

Wow, it's all over. Our 6th annual Harvest Festival is done, in the can, finished, complete -- and man am I tired!

We don't keep an exact count of the number of guests each year, but here are some facts that I do know:

We had more volunteers than last year

Our construction work was nearly complete by Friday night, giving us lots of time this morning for decoration and atmosphere

Our men did an incredible job handling all the cars, with more volunteers in that area than the last few years

We had lots of new faces among our volunteers, always a healthy sign

We had plenty of veterans return to help, another healthy sign

We ran out of ministry brochures within the first 90 minutes and had to print more, which has never happened before

Our "Celebrate Recovery" and "Fired-Up Ministries" booths got lots of inquiries from people

It rained much of yesterday, but no one got stuck in mud here

We gave away at least 2,000 hot dogs

It's 6PM and I can go home!

This is an incredible event each year because it shows the power of a church coming together, all of its ministries and all of its leaders and all of its team members, focused on the single cause of creating a fun, free event that sends a positive message to our community.

And at the end of the day, isn't that what a church should be doing every week? Focusing on helping others and not fighting petty battles? Working together as a team and not defining territory? Looking out for others and not worrying about the sacrifices that must be made?

An awesome day indeed.

It's 9PM the night before Harvest Festival.

It's 9PM on Friday. A small crew of us is wrapping up some projects here at the church, getting ready for our Harvest Festival tommorow.

First volunteers arrive in 10 hours.

Main set-up crew arrives in 11 hours.

First early-bird cars arrive in 14 hours.

Gates open in 15 hours.

Cleanup begins in 19 hours.

Rob crashes hard in his bed to get a good night of sleep in 23 hours.

And we pray that whatever seeds God planted in people's lives will continue to grow and eventually produce a harvest. That's why we do this!

What a team.

We're 48 hours away from the official start of our 2007 Harvest Festival outreach. Wow! It's come down to the wire. Fortunately, we have a team of volunteers already on campus constructing and preparing and creating.

The last couple of years, most of our construction work -- we build various facades for the food booth, prize booth, etc. -- has happened the day OF the event. That's just madness.

This year, some of our men have really risen to the occasion, and they're working today. I'm proud to see the team working this hard and this well.

Regardless of how many people show up Saturday, it's already a winning event for our volunteers!

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.