It Started Raining Right at 4pm...
For the past several years, a member of our worshipping community has hosted Holy Halleluia on Halloween. Each year, this night is planned with much prayer and preparation as we seek to proclaim the Name of Jesus on a night that usually promotes fear, darkness and the hope of receiving candy as a gift. Holy Halleluia provides an alternative while handing out Bibles and Christian comic books, inviting our neighbors to join us at Hope For Renewal on Sunday mornings. We grill hot dogs, provide cookies, coffee, and water, and everyone gets a chance to make a s'more over the fire pit in the front yard. Praise music fills the air and the families that join us get the chance to ask for and receive prayer.
In 2024, our congregation worked together to prepare for this event, like they do every year. All week the weather forecast was saying cloudy but no rain. Then the day arrived and early that morning the forecast changed to rain and wind from 4-8p.m.. The exact time of our event. Sure enough it started to rain and became very windy at 4:15. Pastor Gary checked the weather radar and there was a green blob that looked like it would last for the entire evening. We all started to pray.
At 5p.m. the rain and the wind stopped as quickly as it started. Another look at the radar showed that the green mass was gone! That night, over 150 people attended Holy Halleluia. It is hard to put into words the awareness of God’s presence and the joy of proclaiming the love and Name of Jesus that filled our minds and hearts during the entire evening. What could have been a night we gave up on, became a night where God showed off a little, people were loved, kids had fun, and we got to experience just how much the Lord cares about our prayers!
In 2024, our congregation worked together to prepare for this event, like they do every year. All week the weather forecast was saying cloudy but no rain. Then the day arrived and early that morning the forecast changed to rain and wind from 4-8p.m.. The exact time of our event. Sure enough it started to rain and became very windy at 4:15. Pastor Gary checked the weather radar and there was a green blob that looked like it would last for the entire evening. We all started to pray.
At 5p.m. the rain and the wind stopped as quickly as it started. Another look at the radar showed that the green mass was gone! That night, over 150 people attended Holy Halleluia. It is hard to put into words the awareness of God’s presence and the joy of proclaiming the love and Name of Jesus that filled our minds and hearts during the entire evening. What could have been a night we gave up on, became a night where God showed off a little, people were loved, kids had fun, and we got to experience just how much the Lord cares about our prayers!
Summers in the Park
Every summer we host picnics in the community park just up the street from us. This started as just a simple prayer to reclaim some of our neighborhood from the sadness and violence its known for. We followed Jesus' example of gathering over food, and took it to the local playground.
Our first summer in 2017 started small. The first week, we prayer walked the community park and playground, which led to meeting kids as they were playing basketball. We came back the next week with 20 hotdogs. Three years later, we were serving and connecting with about 150 people each week. While numbers have changed since the COVID-19 Pandemic, we still get the privilege to love, honor, serve, feed, and get to know 50+ of our neighbors each week in the summer.
Through the years at the playground, we've watched kids come and go. We've heard from neighborhood grandmothers that these hotdogs are the only hot meal the kids get each week in the summer. We've watched those same grandmothers play jump rope with kids and adults, coming to life with laughter. We've held a 'baby doll' that was just a plastic head, but meant the world to the young girl who loved it. We've fed and served every 'type' of person to be found in our community - the picnic tables look a little like what Jesus' table looked like in the Gospels. Neighbors have shared that the playground is safer, kids who used to be warned to stay away from the park now go play throughout the week without fear or risk.
The playground was our beginning. We started serving hotdogs there for four years before our Outreach Center was renovated. In all our summers of hotdogs, we've learned that serving, loving, and building relationships can be as simple as sitting at a table with a coloring book and child.
Our first summer in 2017 started small. The first week, we prayer walked the community park and playground, which led to meeting kids as they were playing basketball. We came back the next week with 20 hotdogs. Three years later, we were serving and connecting with about 150 people each week. While numbers have changed since the COVID-19 Pandemic, we still get the privilege to love, honor, serve, feed, and get to know 50+ of our neighbors each week in the summer.
Through the years at the playground, we've watched kids come and go. We've heard from neighborhood grandmothers that these hotdogs are the only hot meal the kids get each week in the summer. We've watched those same grandmothers play jump rope with kids and adults, coming to life with laughter. We've held a 'baby doll' that was just a plastic head, but meant the world to the young girl who loved it. We've fed and served every 'type' of person to be found in our community - the picnic tables look a little like what Jesus' table looked like in the Gospels. Neighbors have shared that the playground is safer, kids who used to be warned to stay away from the park now go play throughout the week without fear or risk.
The playground was our beginning. We started serving hotdogs there for four years before our Outreach Center was renovated. In all our summers of hotdogs, we've learned that serving, loving, and building relationships can be as simple as sitting at a table with a coloring book and child.
How Can you Be a part?
If you'd like to be a part of what the Lord is doing here, you can:
1. Come by Glenwood Grounds Cafe anytime Tuesday - Saturday, 7 AM - 1 PM. We'd love to see you, get to know you, and connect you to service opportunities!
2. Join us for worship on Sunday mornings! Service starts at 10 AM but coffee is hot at 9:45 AM. Worship with us, stay for our community meal after church, experience the love of God, and find out how you can serve.
3. Not local to the area but still want to be a part? Make a donation! Donations can be made online or by mail. See our Donate page for more information!
1. Come by Glenwood Grounds Cafe anytime Tuesday - Saturday, 7 AM - 1 PM. We'd love to see you, get to know you, and connect you to service opportunities!
2. Join us for worship on Sunday mornings! Service starts at 10 AM but coffee is hot at 9:45 AM. Worship with us, stay for our community meal after church, experience the love of God, and find out how you can serve.
3. Not local to the area but still want to be a part? Make a donation! Donations can be made online or by mail. See our Donate page for more information!
