Easter Outreach Party

Saturday was filled with the unexpected, as is to be expected whenever you try to pull off some sort of 'event.' Hard-boiled eggs were breaking like teenage punks under the lights, our pre-separated 'gospel beads' turned up missing, some of our help forgot to come, we couldn't procure our normal bean-bag (kid occupier) game, it never stopped raining, etc....

But despite thoughts to cancel, we had the Easter Outreach Party at our house anyway. The rain dictated that we have most of it actually 'in our house.' We swept out the garage and turned it into a 4 square area. That kept the kids occupied for a bit until we headed inside for the gospel lesson.

One of our youth led the gospel bracelet time, where the kids made bracelets with beads of different colors representing a different part of the gospel story (for instance, gold meant God, black-sin, red-Jesus blood, white-cleanness, etc....).

After that we were back to the garage for the egg dyeing. The kids loved it. We had 4 or 5 different students from Amy's class, but each one brought siblings or cousins. So we had about 10 kids, including 2 from the church. Not as many as last time, but it was well worth it to share the gospel with some kids who don't usually hear it. And they left wearing the bracelet, something that we hope will continue to point to Jesus as long as they wear it. We'll see if they're still on their wrists come Monday.

It was hard work, especially for my pregnant wife, but I'm glad we did it. Seeing youth lead stuff, teach the gospel, and take ownership of the event is totally worth it. But then again, I'm not the pregnant one whose back still hurts!