Summer is past. School is starting. And that means the events of Fall are around the corner!
We have two main events to look forward to: Missions Revival (Oct. 12–16) and our Fall Festival outreach (Nov. 9). These two events are linked by the Missions Revival theme verse of Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
We want to focus on our “Jerusalem”—the Temecula Valley—by inviting people to our Fall Festival. Now that we’re not doing “Scrooge,” I’d like us as a church to put all that effort and budget into reaching out to our neighbors and inviting them to the Fall Festival. The purpose is the same as the Christmas play—we want to use an excellent event as a platform to preach the Gospel—but the timing and the venue will be different.
Without going into ALL the details (wait until October for that), here’s what you can begin talking to your friends about, and it’s all FREE:
Pumpkin patch
Smoked meat lunch
Horse rides
Petting zoo
Bounce houses
Fun entertainment
If people came to the Christmas play, they’re going to be expecting excellence from us, and that’s a good kind of pressure. We want God to get the glory as we do our best for Him, so that means that for the next couple of months, we work extra hard on whatever role we can fill.
A couple of years ago, someone promised a huge Willy Wonka experience with rivers of chocolate, huge candy decorations, and an immersive land of make believe! People looked at the ai-generated images and expected excellence, but when they arrived at the tumbledown warehouse that was rented as a makeshift “wonkaland”, attendees were greeted with some of the worst costumes and decorations you could imagine.
Reality did NOT meet expectations that day.
I would hate to have the same thing happen to us. We need your involvement in both the preparations and the outreach. If we have the greatest production but no one to share it with, that would be equally disappointing!
I trust you’ve been praying about this since January when we announced it. Back then, I said you had 10 months to invite 10, bring one.
Who will you have at the Fall Festival?
It could change their eternity. —Pastor Ryan