Our 2nd Annual Easter Event

On April 23, 2011, Arms Wide Open held its 2nd Annual Easter Event which was open to the public. We were very blessed to once again have AfterLife play for us! We had live music, free food, and an egg hunt. Our purpose was to share the true Easter story with as many as we could. David Godwin read straight from the Bible the story of the crucifixion and resurrection to the crowd as they ate. After the egg hunt, I solicited volunteers to help me tell the story using the Resurrection egg set to the younger kids. Eyes wide with awe, everyone listened intently. I didn't have a chance to speak individually with them to find out, but I suspect there were some who were hearing that story for the first time.

We had 172 people, as best we could count, attend. It was an awesome time of fellowship, worship, and celebrating the One who came and died to give us Life Eternal. God blessed us in so many ways, encouraging and helping us to make this possible. Merita Bread donated the hotdog buns, Pepsi Bottling Company donated all the drinks, Mr. B's donated the hot dogs, AfterLife came and performed for us out of the goodness of their hearts, Fresh Beginnings donated cookies, and New Covenant Church allowed us to use their vans for transportation. God's hand was in everything we did!

We were once again amazed at how God performed a "fishes and loaves" miracle with the food. We planned for 200 guests, but in the business and chaos of the event we only grilled about half the hotdogs. Somehow everyone there was fed, and we didn't discover the accidental "extras" until afterward. We were also blessed by the people who attended. One individual was obviously homeless and God led us to donate much of the remaining food to him.

I prayed beforehand for peace and love to abound, and God blessed us with those in abundance. There were no drunken brawls, or thievery, or reason to call in law enforcement, all things we experienced at our last large event. Everyone enjoyed the event and each other's company!

I would especially like to thank the volunteers who so graciously donated their time to us for this event: AfterLife, Helen Chaney, Quincy Smith, Hoyt Hurt, and Sherry Brown. You were a blessing to us and to everyone there!!