Creepside Wasn't So Creepy!

Our team had a great time last night at Gahanna's "Creepside" event. This "trick-or-treat" event for kids and families was sponsored by the Parks and Rec. department and hosted at Gahanna's new and beautiful Creekside park area. Thousands of people turned out to enjoy the warm weather and 50 booths/shops that participated. It was a great time of connecting with hundreds of families.

I am praising God today because I felt this was one of our most effective outreach efforts all year. Because of the type of event that it was (children stopping by our table to grab some candy and a glow-in-the-dark toy), it was natural to hand an invitation to our gatherings (or the Main Event) to the parents. We had many positive interactions with people! Many read the information on our card and several expressed interest in checking out one of our Sunday gatherings. It helped that the YMCA (where we meet on Sundays) is a visible location in Gahanna. I was also able to meet and have extended interactions with two opposing local representatives that are running for state representative offices from this district and meet several of the staff members of the Parks and Rec. offices (all good connections for future inroads into the community). In addition to the 500 or so invitations that we handed out, we were able to further relationships with several existing contacts.


Please pray that God would transform several positive interactions from last night into 1) people that would experience ClearView on a Sunday a.m. and 2) people that we can further impact for Jesus.

Thanks For Praying For Oktoberfest!

Praise God for a great opportunity to serve and love people at New Albany's Oktoberfest on October 4. Here are some highlights from the day in pictures:

The day began with loading up our van with stuff we used for our booth and items we were loaning to the New Albany Events Board for use throughout the day. It was a special privilege not only to do our thing (see below), but also help provide resources for the event (tents, coolers, snow cone machine, etc.).


To thank ClearView for our partnership in providing resources for the event, the Events Board bought and placed a 3x5 banner on the main stage! What a blessing!

At the event, God provided the opportunity for us to sponsor 3, FREE!, inflatables for children to enjoy! Special thanks to John and Sandy McDonald (Plane Things) of Northwest Chapel for making this possible for us!



In addition to the inflatables, ClearView sponsored a booth that included face painting, colored hair spray, and array of OSU Football and fall tattoos, balloons, and crafts for children to enjoy.



We were able to connect with many people (some new and some existing contacts) and give out numerous invites to our Sunday gatherings and the Main Event!


I was personally elated at several factors of the day:

• God provided amazing help for the activities we sponsored. Over 40 different people from at least 6 different churches helped us pull off this large scale outreach event. I was so proud of our team, again, as almost every member volunteered in some form throughout the day. Even though we had numerous activities going in several locations, everything ran smoothly and there was always adequate help to get the job done well.
  
• Through the connection God has opened for me to serve on the Events Board, we were able to have a significant and visible presence at the event. ClearView is gaining a reputation in our community as a new church that loves and serves (two things Jesus was known for) freely.
• As our team debriefed the next morning, the story was told of a child that came through our booth and enjoyed face painting and crafts. She then participated in several other attractions at the festival and returned to our booth to another craft saying, "This is the best booth at the whole event!"

I know that many of you are praying regularly for us. Thanks! As always, our continual prayer is that 1) God would use us to influence people towards Jesus, and that 2) God would lead us to people that would be willing to share our vision of beginning a new, Bible-teaching, mission-oriented church in northeastern Franklin County. Please be persistent in begging God to continue moving in these areas.

Slideshow of Oktberfest Pictures

Could We Love 10,000 People In 30 Days?

A thought dawned on me last week...and quickly became a prayer. Once again, God has opened up doors for astronomical impact for our growing ClearView team from October 4 to November 4. This past Saturday, ClearView had a major presence at New Albany's Oktoberfest. Several thousand people attended this event and most came through our booth or were directly affected by our service. On October 15, we will be ministering to children and families by giving out free glow-in-the-dark toys and candy at Gahanna's Creepside event. Over 2,500 children are expected at this event. On October 27, we're serving as a sponsor for the Main Event (see previous blog post), where 15,000 are expected to attend. Finally, on Nov.4th, we'll be serving free Caribou Coffee to thousands of voters at the Gahanna YMCA polling station.

Each of these opportunities present great opportunities to tell people about ClearView and invite them to one of our Sunday gatherings. We could easily have the opportunity to directly touch 10,000 people in this 30 day period! Please pray with us that God would use us as a loving reflection of Jesus, help us plant seeds of Jesus' love and grace, and find people to round out our launch team. This 30-day period of time is absolutely crucial for us to touch many lives before winter hits and people hibernate until Spring.

ClearView To Sponsor Main Event

This is one time where this Nittany Lion backer will be rooting for some Buckeyes! The Main Event, on October 27, features 3 popular, current Ohio State football players and Coach Jim Tressel sharing their testimonies and faith in Jesus Christ. The biblical message of forgiveness and hope through Jesus Christ will be clearly presented by these stars. When the event was held in 2006, 13,000 people attended and organizers are praying for 15,000 this year.

As a church sponsor, our role is to try and get out thousands of invites and door hangers, pray for the event, provide people to be trained in follow-up, and to follow-up with people assigned to us from the New Albany/Gahanna area that make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ at the event.

Praise God with us for the opportunity to co-sponsor this great event. Please pray with me that God would use this event to train several people from ClearView in how to share the Gospel and begin a discipling relationship with people...and that we would be able to follow up effectively with new believers that live in our target area. Wouldn't it be incredible to glean new team members from fresh Christ-followers as a result of God's work through the Main Event!? Pray with us...

You Need To See This Movie!