November 2, 2009,  10: 10 a.m., C.S.T., Christ Community Assembly of God Church, Nashville, TN~

Good morning, everybody!  How are you this fine, gloriously sunny day?  We are a little tired, but it's a "good tired".  I think we've accomplished in setting out what we planned to do:  over 30,000 people attended our annual Harvest Festival here at our church, and we all had a marvelous time!

The weather was a little wet at first; however, by the morning of the following day, when our festival really got cranking, it cleared up, and we had a stunning Sunday:  not a cloud in the sky, bright sunshine, and cool fall temperatures.  Absolutely pristine weather conditions, which brought the people out in droves.

We passed out enough candy and trinkets to choke a horse, and the Bibles (and other goodies) went like hotcakes:  they were gone within the first two hours after the festival started on Friday!

Everyone was in a gala holiday mood:  so many smiling faces!  And so many costumes!  Witches.  Warlocks.  Ghosts.  Frankensteins.  Mummies.  Angels.  Devils (at a church festival, yet!  LOL).  Princesses galore.  Even some people dressed up as fire hydrants.  Siamese twins.  Babies.  Fairies.  Farmers.  Cats.  Dogs.  Pigs.  Cows.  Butterflies.  Ladybugs.  Spiders.  So many unique costumes! 

I dressed up in the scariest costume of all:  I came dressed as myself!  LOLOLOL

The music that was provided was enjoyed by many.  The MacGruders, McKameys, and the Spencer Family had the audience on their feet more than once:  they were absolutely fantastic!  (We will have to invite them back again!)  And the local entertainment proved to be just as good.  We have some marvelous talent within our church family!

The only snafu that we ran into (besides running out of Bibles!) was when I got pegged in the eye when a kid threw a ball backwards.  She couldn't have aimed it better!  So now I have a good-sized shiner, and I find myself trying to convince people that my dear, sweet wife did not beat me up!  LOL 

We also had some kids lose their socks and shoes and people lose their wallets or pocket change off the Zipper ride, but nothing too major, thank goodness.  (Most of the lost items were eventually returned to their owners.)

We can now rest our weary bodies and enjoy in the successes that our festival brought in; we can't rest for long because we will soon be feeding our Veterans on Veteran's Day, feeding our city's poor and homeless on Thanksgiving Day (and again on Christmas), having our Christmas Cantata the week prior to Christmas (the choir is in full practice mode), as well as our children's Christmas program, and we will be starting a brand new series for the new year ("Nothing's Too Hard For God"). 

We do not know what 2010 holds for Christ Community Assembly of God Church, but we plan to embrace the new year with a sense of expectancy and hope, and pray that God continues to bless us as He has done in the past, since our church has been in existance.

~Written by Pastor Bruce Bilkey, Senior Pastor, Christ Community Assembly of God Church.  :)