Seeing Trunk or Treat With New Eyes

Shane Cottrell
Children's Ministry Director

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Last Wednesday was our annual Trunk or Treat event, and we had an incredible night! A huge "Thank You" to the many people who helped make the night a tremendous success.  For many of you this was not your first time at Trunk or Treat as I know some have adopted Trunk or Treat as a tradition that you look forward to every Halloween. I know many of you look forward to passing out candy from your decorated vehicle, while others like to walk through the candy maze, and some families love the games and prizes. This year in my new roles as Children’s Director, I had the rare opportunity to see Trunk or Treat from a whole new perspective. 

In June when Tammy graciously passed me the torch of Children’s Ministry she also handed over the responsibility of planning Trunk or Treat.  Planning this particular event was completely new for me because I had never been to Trunk or Treat before; as you could imagine this added a fun wrinkle to the process.  What should I plan for?  Who is going to attend the event?  How much candy should I buy? (The answer to that I discovered is “ALL OF IT!”) Fortunately for me I had a team of volunteers and staff members that knew the answers to many of those questions and were there to help me along the way.  

When the night of Trunk or Treat came, after all the planning and coordinating was done, I had the opportunity to walk around, to watch and observe our church community reaching the local community in an impactful way.  There were 42 vehicles in our parking lot, and at each one of those vehicles were representatives of the VVCC community passing out candy with smiles on their faces and kind words for the endless hoards of Trick or Treaters. There were over 60 volunteers helping create a safe and fun environment for children to experience the thrills of being a kid. Because of your willingness to invite your friends, family, and neighbors we had about 1,500 people that visited our campus on Wednesday night! Being new to my role as a ministry director at VVCC it was encouraging and invigorating to see our church loving the local community in such a Christ-like way. Well done to all involved and thank you for your continued hard work and dedication.  

If you consider yourself a part of the VVCC community, I hope you are celebrating with me the impact we made by inviting the people we see everyday to come spend an evening experiencing what the church can be when it chooses to reach out and impact the community!