Okay, so now on to the real blog.
Last night SHINE hosted Trunk or Treat for BFA. It was AWESOME!!! We had a tone of volunteers and people from the community come out! We had games set up, a photo booth, and of cores lots of yummy junk foods. We had a huge crowd from the moment it started right up until the very end! There were only a few minor problems during the night, one of the biggest being we had to limit how much candy a kid could get at each game because we ran out TWICE. And if you ask me, that is a pretty good problem to have.
For me, a good part of the night was spent running around, getting this or that for someone, making sure all the games had everything they needed, and basically doing 100 things at once. But I loved every minute of it. I love that chaos that sometimes comes with ministry. There is a normal side, where you can sit and calmly answer emails, plan an event or have coffee with someone. But there are also these moments that are just pure chaotic energy! Moments where you are literally running all over the place, having 10 different people call your name at once, your heart it racing, and 10000 things are going on around you! I totally love it! But sometimes in the chaos you forget things. Example, last night I forgot a costume (yes...I forgot a costume to a Halloween event...don't judge.) So I joked and said "my costume is I have my life together!" HA!
I love the energy I get from diving head first into the chaos. I also love that when I take on the chaos, it frees up others. That might sound kinda weird, let me explain. While I'm running around getting extra balls or putting out more candy, it frees up other people and allows them to focus all their attention on just building relationships. Last night as I was running all over the place, I saw CU volunteers encouraging kids, giving high fives, playing games and I even saw one very manly (and sexy) tennis player having a hop scotch race with a little princess who couldn't have been more than 5. I saw BFA volunteers having conversations with parents and CU volunteers. I love being able to do behind the scenes stuff, providing resources or even going to get an extra ball so they don't have to take time away from one-on-one ministry. Don't get me wrong, I love building relationships! I am the definition of an extrovert, I crave people and desire relationships. But I also really love getting the ideas, materials, resources, or games together so others can just take it and then put all of their focus and energy into building relationships.
And the really cool thing about all these relationships that were being built is they weren't forced. We didn't do Trunk or Treat as a way to get people from CU or the community to come to BFA so they could be a project. We recognized the need that children of Angier needed a safe place to come for Halloween. We (SHINE and BFA) don't see people as projects. We make friends, meet needs and just live life with people. Ministry isn't about projects. Its about asking someone how their day was while munching on Halloween cookies, celebrating with a mom who told you her daughter has gone up a whole reading level, praying with a college kid who has just had a bad week or giving a 9th grade girl advise about boys. (All conversations from last night.) Just because someone is in a different situation than you, doesn't mean they should be a project. I was so proud of CU and BFA last night. There were no projects going on. Just people building relationships with one another.
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