Sunday, April 12, 2009

2nd Annual Easter Event

Last year, our church held a special event in our city the day before Easter Sunday. The event was totally free of charge to all families that came out. We had free hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, snow cones, popcorn, and water. We had bounce houses, games, an Easter egg hunt for toddlers thru fifth grade. It was fantastic. Our church is fairly small so to put on something like this was a big deal to all of us. We had roughly 750 people show up last year.

This year, we did the same thing. Last Wednesday night, all of our Primetime (bible study) groups met at the church to stuff 10,000 eggs with candy. It was a great time of fellowship and fun!

The place was packed out! There were people EVERYWHERE! There were all different races present. It gave me a vision of what Heaven is like....all of us together rejoicing and having a good ole' time with our Savior.

Well, we were expecting at least 1000 people to come out. God's vision is always bigger than ours, right? While at service today, someone mentioned to me that there was close to 2000 people there yesterday!!!! It was absolutely amazing!!!!

I got to witness something truly remarkable yesterday, too. As Jae and I were sitting at a table eating, I heard someone being led to the Lord. I quickly got my camera and took a picture of this. I later talked to the guy who led this woman to the Lord and he said that he had just prayed to the Lord for a devine appointment to save someone. WOW!


Look at ALL the kiddos lined up just for the first egg hunt. These pictures only show a small fraction of the kids at just this hunt. We had four hunts with over 1000 kids total. This being said, we've already talked about stuffing around 25,000 eggs next year. Look at this!






I took over 400 pictures, but can't share too many of them without permission. So, you'll get to see just most of my family and me with friends. Sorry! lol!



That's Jae and Morgan with Rovercomer, the Faith Dog. Rovercomer is kind of a mascot at our church. He's a creation of Willie George and Kids on the Move in Tulsa, OK.















I pray that you all had a blessed Easter worshipping our Risen King!!!

42 comments:

Kristin said...

Wow Daphine!!! AMAZING!!! I love how you said it reminded you of what Heaven will be like. I LOVE that! And the picture of someone being led to the Lord.......oh my goodness, that just gave me chills. There really is nothing more important that we could do here on Earth, is there? Your church sounds exactly like the kind I was talking about in my post yesterday....a church that is reaching out and leading people to the Lord. That really is what it's all about!! I'm so glad you had a great day and I know that the Lord is smiling so big at the work you are doing!

Denise said...

That is so beyond awesome my friend, praise God.

Melissa said...

what a great day, Daphine! Looks like lots of fun, but also lots of work!

That's great that your church did something so great to bless so many people!

Edie said...

Wow that was quite an event!

Just wanted to wish you a Happy Easter!

Much love to you!

Unknown said...

What a great day!

Anonymous said...

2000???!!! Really???? I hadn't heard that, but I'm not too surprised. I think I served 1/2 of them just in the hour I was working the food table. Whew! Lots and lots of people. I pray they all felt the presence of the Lord and know that our hearts' desire is to reveal Christ to them. I LOVE THE HARVEST!!!! Thanks for taking so many pictures and sharing the day with everyone.

Love you, my sister!

Jennifer

Lee said...

That looks like so much fun! Our church did a little easter egg hunt today, but we're more of a small-congregation with only about 20 little kids.
I witnessed something yesterday that warmed my heart. While it's not as amazing as the man leading that woman, it still reminded me of the good in people. So I think the Easter season is GREAT in bringing out the wonderful people. :)
That seems a bit like rambling. Oh well!

Brandi said...

Daphine,
That looks like so much fun!!! I'm so excited that the woman was saved right there at the Easter Egg Hunt! God is AMAZING!
Thanks for sharing!

LisaShaw said...

Sweet Sister, what a beautiful event in the LORD! I love the photos and I'm so thanking the LORD for the woman who gave her heart and life to Him. Praise the LORD!

Thanks for sharing with us dear sister. Love you.

Anonymous said...

Wow... your pictures are just precious. BUT... the top one--- WOW!

I am so glad you had a great day. The smile on your face proves it. :)

Anonymous said...

Wow Daphine.... 2000 people! That is amazing. I love to see the Lord work in these ways. It's such a blessing to watch people come to the Lord. It looks like you all had a wonderful time!

Stacey said...

Looks like an amazing day! Your church is reaching out to welcome people and that is what we are called to do. Welcome people to God's love.

April said...

Daphine~
What a wonderful way to reach out to the community! You had such a huge turnout...that's fantastic! I really love the pic. of the woman getting saved...that is definitely a keeper and a true testament to the power of God's love!

I love all the pictures you posted...your smile is so engaging! Your girls are beautiful, as always! Thanks for letting us be a part of this great event! Happy Monday, sweet friend!

Shell in your Pocket said...

Wow..now that is one BIG easter hunt!!! How fun~
sandy toe

Alicia The Snowflake said...

Oh wow! It looks like you guys had a great day! Praise the Lord!

I love seeing people of different races coming together to do God's work. It gives me a small glimpse of what Heaven will be like. Thanks for that great reminder my friend!

Hope you have a wonderful week!

He & Me + 3 said...

That is awesome that you had so many turn out. God is good! What a beautiful day you had too. Great pictures and you even had Chuck E. Cheese. Stunt Man loves that rat. LOL
What a ministry your church has...keep it up.

Anonymous said...

What a fun day! It looked like a great time! I was at my parent's this weekend so I missed all the fun at my church. :(

Heather said...

wow that is a lot of people! look at all those eggs and kids, lol! i'm glad you all had fun. great photos of the day too.

Darlene said...

What an amazing Easter event!!! Looks like it was a BEAUTIFUL day for the fun event. Fun, FUN, FUN!!! Your church sounds FABULOUS. We are still on the hunt for the "right" church.

God's Girl said...

WOW! What a great outreach! Looks like it was a wonderful event. : )

Thanks for sharing! I especially love the picture of someone praying to receive Christ. Now that is what Easter is all about! Awesome post my friend!

Love you,
Julie
P.S. Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement! And Have I told you that you are just beautiful? : ) You are!

really.truly said...

Daphine that is awesome....truly! What a neat day you put on for your community. The fact that woman came to the Lord..awesome-r(made up word).

You have such a beautiful family!!I always love the pictures that you share.

Have a great day!

Jill said...

Great pictures Daphine! You can tell everyone is having a blast. Glad your family had a happy Easter. If I lived a little closer I would've been there :)

Unknown said...

I love churches that reach out to the community! It is my favorite thing! Our church has a big easter egg hunt too. It is SO awesome that someone came to know Jesus because of your hunt! I hope many new people begin coming to your curch because of this outreach. God is SO GOOD!

Beth E. said...

Oh, my...the pictures may represent merely a glimpse of the powerful ministry your church family provided, yet they have truly blessed me! What an awesome time everyone must have had...including the volunteers at your church!

Thanks so much for sharing about this event.

Love you...

Jill said...

WOW! Looks like so much fun! You're girls are the cutest!

More Than Words said...

Those are beautiful pictures, girl!!!!! And what a turnout! That is an awesome outreach to the community! Even if there is only one person who got saved then, it was well worth it! The angels are so rejoicing!!!!!!!

I got your email the other day, and I will reply back soon. I am just catching up on peoples blogs now! It takes so much time!!

Love & Hugs,
Alicia

Laura said...

Great pictures! I can tell you all had a blast. That is amazing what your church is doing for the community!

Jennifer said...

Wow...what an exciting event! Looks like the Lord really blessed - and so glad you had good weather! So many blogs I've read today included rain and wind!

Looks like a lot of fun....

CMB said...

What a great way to spend the weekend! Loved all your pictures!

Divamom said...

That was really awesome! Ours was a much smaller scale, but the kids enjoyed it. I'm going to suggest next year that they invite more kids, because it was just our members (20-25 kids) and 300 eggs!!! Waaaaaaay too much candy per kiddo!!!

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

Christ is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

What a day of blessing with all glory for Him!

Susan said...

Hey Daphine,

Oh what a major blessing!! I took my grands to a Easter Egg Hunt at a church in our town, it was a huge success as well.

I love when churches go beyond their walls and reach out to the community.

What a great moment you caught on film. If it was all for that one lady, it was worth it all!

Blessings to you my sweet friend♥

PS Thanks for stopping by!

Lorrie said...

What a wonderful event Daphine--I love seeing all the pictures. So much prayer and work went into the day, but it was so very worth it. By the way your girls are just sooo pretty--I love seeing them in these pictures.

michele said...

What a BLAST! And what an awesome ministry!
Your pictures are great!
Hope you are having a wonderful week!

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Daphine, this is just wonderful. I'm so glad you shared, and I love seeing you, your family, and friends and that person receiving the Lord into her life. Looks like a great, great day!

XO,

Sheila :-)

Unknown said...

I thought of you and the girls today! And I prayed for all 3 of you : ). Hope your day was great!

4 Lettre Words said...

What beautiful and fun pics, Daphine! You even had Chuck E.?!?

Katie said...

Gotta love Chuck E.. My kids would have loved all of this.

Heather said...

hey just stopping in to say hi! haven't seen you in a few days. oh my MIL is here and i was telling her of the plans for us to meet when we come to Texas and she asked me where you were and I forgot again, lol. you would think I would write it down or save it on the computer or something! when you get a chance email me and let me know the town/area you are in so i can let her know. thanks! i hope you have a good weekend!

Bay Jones said...

That seem like so much fun!

LisaShaw said...

Hey Sweetie - came back over to reply to you. I don't get to watch her that often on TV anymore and a lot of it for the summer will be powerful reruns that I've seen a thousand times. She's been special to me since 1986. God used her to stir my faith as a young single Mom holding an infant on my shoulder rocking her once again back to sleep at night. Joyce was on my small b/w tv screen. It took some time but I got it together in JESUS NAME!

Many people sadly place her into the category of those who inappropriately teach "prosperity messages" but that is not who she is. Labels are such a dangerous thing.

We can label and miss out on huge blessings.

Love ya.

Shayne said...

it has been a while since I have visited and the girls look like they have grown up so much. Where does the time go.