Light Party Reflections

October 30th - I turn to Marty and ponder "am I going to have to do this every year for the rest of my life now that I started this event do you think?".  A sleepless night follows as I run through the zillion things I have to get done in order to make the Light Party work.  Thank God (literally) that it is in his hands, not mine!  For the last 4 years, in about August I start thinking about the Light Party - our biggest community event for kids that our church puts as a positive alternative to halloween.

We have about 40 kids in our church....we had 240 kids at the Light Party last night.  And that number does not include the parents, grandparents and siblings that came along as well - or the 50 or so volunteers that showed up to help make the night happen....I estimate we had close to 400 people at the Light Party in total.  God is good.

A packed church - yay!

At 10am, after picking up 700 sausages and 30 loaves of bread from the Mad Butcher, I headed out to the church property to set up.  First dilemma: attempting to fit 700 sausages into an already busy fridge is not that easy!  Out came the shelves and non-essentials, in went the bags with a shove.

Now, we are blessed with 10 acres of land and buildings at Village Baptist....but that blessing comes with a catch: 10 acres of land and building to set up for the party!  By the time the party had finished, my feet were killing me: I reckon I walked several kilometres last night...memo for next year: wear a pedometer!  My trusty sidekick, Stu (our youth leader) turned up at lunchtime and on we plodded, painting and hanging signage (I got paint all over my top but ah well), moving tables, building games.  Luke sat in his pushchair and watched, then Luke slept...and slept (praise God...although we did pay for that later when he woke at 2am)! At about 2.30pm, there was a definite underlying feeling of "uh-oh"...there was so much to be done and the party started in under 3 hours time!   Luckily reinforcements started to trickle in at around 2pm, and balloons were hung, halls were darkened and bouncy castles were inflated.

By 5pm (kick off time), everything was under control.  So under control that I had people coming up asking for jobs to do - and I didn't even have any!  God is great - not only did he provide the workers, he gave me too many.  I was able to relax a bit, and chat to people.  I looked around and saw hundreds of faces that I didn't know.  Wow.  People who lived locally walked down with pushchairs in groups - wahoo, the letterbox drop was worth it!  Mothers told us they saw it advertised on facebook - technology rules!  People who came for the first time exclaimed at how much their children loved it and that they would be back next year. still others couldn't believe what was included in the tiny $3 price tag (2 sausages, iceblock, fizzy, disco, carnival style games, 3 bouncy castles, live show...).  Families who had come in previous years told me that they noticed improvements each year (whew - would be sad if it was getting worse each year!).

Leading "Crazy Praise"

When it was time for the games to shut down, everyone filed into the auditorium - it was PACKED.  The kids were so hyped up, the energy was contagious!  I had a blast leading "Crazy Praise"...what a rush to see 240 kids all shouting "JESUS!" at the top of their lungs.  The dance troupe were amazing, as was our drama team. The mainly music session for the juniors was well received and there was STILL more to come.  The one thing everyone looks forward to from the toddlers to teenagers to the grandmothers (yep, thats my mum!) ...our half hour discos (senior/junior in seperate rooms) complete with flashing lights and the macarena!  It was awesome.  Everyone had a ball.  Everyone said they would be back next year.

Disco Fever!

As the party drew to a close, I looked around and only saw happy faces (except my daughter, who was ready for bed!).  I have already heard of 3 different people who are interested in coming along on a Sunday.  I wonder what seeds have been planted and which have been watered?  Clean up was quick thanks to an amazing team of helpers.  Glory was given to the one who made it happen (not me) and I was home by 9pm, happy and exhausted.

So will I be doing this every year for the rest of my life? Hmm...I am sure there will come a day when I can hand the baton on to the next crazy children's ministry leader....but not any time soon, I love my job WAY too much!