Ginormous Game Night

Game night keeps growing in popularity.  This past Saturday we had about 60 people.  It began with a devotion about seeking God's direction in prayer so we are sure to know His will. The verse was 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." The drama part had us all laughing as 10 children rushed to the designated pew while Nathanael modeled stopping to ask God which way to go.  After everyone understood this point, that we need God's direction daily to show us where to go, even if we think we know, we tried again. "1, 2, 3...Go!".  Off they ran except for 4 who bowed to God in prayer first.  Those who ran eventually realized their error and turned around hurrying back to the stage area to pray. We need to do something like this again, but it was fun way to illustrate the idea of needing to pray often for God's guidance.

After the devotion we had a light supper (a hot dog, dip, chips, carrots, and a cupcake).  The teens all helped to serve the food.  It's always a challenge to try and figure out what to serve that serves a crowd of ....who knows how many until they arrive.  I was shopping for the food and had planned on 56 hot dogs and buns, but got this nagging feeling to get one more package to make it 64.  Our largest group thus far had been 48, but I had a feeling that we would have a barn-buster evening especially because I wrote "Bring A Friend" on the invitations. Thank you God for the "one more pack" nudge. It was good to see some new faces and to see some of the new people show up at church on Sunday, too.  Please pray that they continue to come.

After the food we had about an hour of games.  We set up several tables of BINGO, a table for Jenga, and a table for UNO.  For the first time people were allowed to chose what game they wanted to play and later I heard some say, "I picked Jenga." or "I played BINGO."  It affirmed that they enjoyed having an option.  The options was a good thing because it would have been too many people for any one game.  At the half-way point we let people switch.  Although the other games had people switching all night, at BINGO the player had to be there from the beginning, so the half-time switch gave people the opportunity to leave BINGO or join.  The freedom was good. The teens also helped lead BINGO by being the callers.

Enjoy the pictures!

Carmen spent about 45 minutes holding Selena's baby and walking him to sleep outside of the noise and busyness of the game activity.  She did this just because she is such a sweet girl and wanted to let Selena have a break.  I praise God for our teens.  They are learning to serve God with their whole hearts.