AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! And that doesn't begin to describe it!

Our 6th Neighborhood Pork Roast and Fun Fest was a huge success!   It was our best ever!  And not just because we had so many people!

We enjoyed nice weather and had between 325 and 375 people stop by and participate in our event.  I get the number by knowing how many plates we had and used.... we uesd 313 plates - a few people might have had seconds with a new plate... but several moms came and got hot dogs for several children on one plate... some babies in the crowd didn't get a plate as was true for some small kids and we gave some people take out containers instead of plates.   The firemen gave out over 100 hats to the children in attendance that checked out the firetruck!

But more than the crowd or the weather... it was a success because so many in our congregation jumped in and served in all kinds of ways... from praying for the event, inviting friends and co-workers, making desserts or other food items, serving the food, making music, painting faces, watching the bounce house, greeting our guests, setting up or tearing down, giving money for the event, making the yard games....   It was so awesome to see so many of us working together using our gifts for the purpose of blessing our neighbors!

And more than that, it was a success because, while it was promoted as a "No strings attached" event which means that we didn't do any hard selling of Community of Joy, we had many people ask questions about Community of Joy and some even already joined us in worship!

Beyond that still, it was a success because of the large turnout of families from Pinehurst Elementary School - our neighborhood school that we are faith based partner for and have worked so hard to bless for the past 4 years!   It was awesome to meet some of those families and to see children that we recognized from our times serving in the school!    Several families really expressed their appreciation for the event!

And to top it all off, both Sharon and I had a chat with one of our city councel folk who was there with their grandchild but who has noticed all the ways we have sought to bless our community and was praising our congregation for the inspiration and brightness we bring to our neighborhood. The councel person said they were delighted we were in the neighborhood! And that was our original purpose of the Pork Roast... to make a positive impact on our neighborhood!

While I was beat at the end of the day (it was a marathon weekend with a wedding and funeral on Saturday with 150 miles traveled between the two) I was riding a mile high wave of excitement and appreciation for the ability of a small congregation to take on such a huge event with such finesse!