“You are the light of the world . . . let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
Powered by the light of Jesus and an abundance of volunteers and givers, Quest Church’s beacon shone brightly to the community on October 31 for its 7th annual Harvest Festival. Quest’s largest Halloween outreach to date drew as many as 2800 guests for a slew of activities and events which included trunk or treat, hay rides, petting zoo, inflatable slides and mazes, face painting, a variety of games, live music, and dancing by Quest Kids. Hungry visitors could avail themselves of a range of free edibles from snow cones to hot chocolate, or purchase dinner at one of several food trucks.
As Quest’s workers interacted with people in the crowd, one little girl, upon being handed a small bag filled with treats and surprises, exclaimed, “Everyone here is so kind!” An adult who had asked the cost of one of the attractions was very surprised to learn that there was no charge for any of the activities that evening.
Tucked beside the stage was the Pumpkin Light House, with three small rooms set up for visitors to walk through and receive a progressive presentation of the gospel. In the first room, filled with pumpkins and hay bales and scarecrows, they were told how God picks each of us, just as we are, from the “pumpkin patch,” then calls us His own.
Black lights in the second room accentuated dark walls painted with multicolored graffiti indicating sins: lying, stealing, hate, envy, bullying, talking back, etc. A sad-faced pumpkin sat on a table, stringy “goop” spilling out of it onto the table. Children and adults who entered this room were told about the need for a Savior to cleanse us of the sin that lives inside of us.
The final room was bright and cheery, with a smiling, light-filled pumpkin sitting on the table. In that room the visitors were told how to get rid of the ugly, goopy stuff in their hearts, and how to be filled with the light of Jesus. As the worker explained that we can all have Jesus’ light inside of us when we turn our lives over to Him, she rotated the pumpkin and removed a heart-shaped cutout in the back, saying, “The light got in through the heart!”
Well over 100 adults and children walked through the Pumpkin Light House and heard this simple presentation of the salvation message. One woman who came through with her two daughters said she had never seen the gospel presented so beautifully. As it turned out, she was an Israeli missionary, visiting here with her American husband—and she now intends to take the same pumpkin presentation back to Israel. She remarked on how special the Harvest Festival event was, that even strangers such as her family felt very welcomed and cared for.
As the pastor who originated the concept of the pumpkin presentation once said, “It is possible to count the seeds in a pumpkin, but how many pumpkins are in a seed?” We trust that a harvest of new “pumpkins for Jesus” will grow from the seeds of His love and light planted on October 31.
Fair, 67°
