Each fall we invite the community up to campus for an outreach event that showcases God’s love, joy and pursuit of people. In recent years, that has been in the form of Trunk or Treat.

This year the Lord brought more than 1,600 individuals in the span of three hours to interact with Church of the Open Door.

It’s the same wildly fun event every year, but also so unique. Each year God unleashes new ideas, new people and new energy as he sees fit.

While many people get to see the joy and smiles from the event, I wanted to share a few behind the scene gifts I saw this year that encouraged me.

1. Trunks: Trunk registration was slow this year. While normally pretty close to full, two weeks before the event we were at 24/50 trunks. I didn’t have a sense of urgency to hustle though; God gave us peace. We prayed and trusted and knew the parking lot would have the exact number of cars God wanted to be there, be that 30 or 50.

Fast forward, God sent a tsunami of trunks to sign up last minute. We had so many that we had to redirect a few to partner with other trunks because the lot was FULL. We ran out of spots y’all! We had 53 candy stations/trunks for kids to visit. That’s the most we have had since the pandemic.

Thank you, God, for being our recruiter and giving us some wonderful partners!

2. Parking: Every year it is a bit of a struggle to find places for all of our guests to park. Our volunteers graciously park in remote areas to save our convenient parking for visitors, but ultimately we almost always have to park some cars down on the campus’ lowest grass lawn. It is not an ideal space. The lawn is uneven and the walk up from that far south is a hilly trek!

About a week and a half before the event, COD member Ed Cadwell reached out to St. Lucy’s about the possibility of them sharing access to their parking lot. A few days before the event, they graciously agreed to share their space with us free of charge. It was an unexpected, unprecedented blessing that, again, had God’s fingerprints all over it. We have a shared access gate south of the Hillside House that we were able to open up and push traffic through to their lot. It provided a much safer and more convenient experience for many of our guests.

Thank you, Jesus, for being our strategic planner and caring about safety.

3. Candy: This year we estimated needing roughly 41,000 pieces of candy (based on the number of candy stations and the number of kids who attended last year). Each year we typically receive donations of candy and then go purchase candy to help fill in the gap between where we need to be and where we are.

Well, three days before the event, we were down in candy donations. With inflation what it is, this wasn’t a surprise, but it did mean we had to purchase a significantly larger share of candy this year to fill in the gap. That being said, I emailed a heads up to Pastor David Schaller, outlining the need and that I was going to exceed what I had projected in costs for this event. (David oversees the budget.)

Later that day, I’m at the store loading up bags of candy and clear as day I felt the need to stop. This moment threw my head into a bit of a tailspin,because I am a type-A with control issues. If I were to stop and check out then, that would leave roughly a 12,000 candy gap from where we needed to be. Being the sinner that I am, I probably stood in the aisle for about 5 minutes debating, bargaining and praying about what to do. Ultimately, I surrendered my need for control and checked out with less candy than I thought we needed.

Fast forward, I am thrilled to share with you that we did NOT run out of candy that night. I did NOT have to exceed what had been financially projected. Not only did we not run out of candy … we had EXTRA! We were able to use the extra to supply our nursery ministry trick or treat event AND our Live Wire party. Just like God took loaves and fishes in the Bible, I had a front row seat to watch God multiply candy. He filled the gap and then some.

Thank you, Jehovah Jireh, for providing.

4. People: One of my favorite parts of the event is the magnitude of it. One person cannot do it. A dozen people cannot do it. It takes a village of people. People greet, count heads, run candy, grill food, serve food, do security, guide cars to parking, take pictures, host the voting board, serve as secret judges, host check-in tables, spin signs, set up, tear down, float and host trunks. That list doesn’t even include the people who prepare the way for the event through faithful prayer and candy donations. It’s a beautiful cross-generational, multi department family event that reflects God’s bride, the church.

Last year it took 170 people of all ages to do it. My heart was so warmed when I sat down last week and listed out all the people who gave up their night to help make this year a success. This year, the Lord gave us 223 people! God inspired 53 more people than last year to catch the vision and share their time and resources. I saw families serving together. HUBs and friends rallied in collaboration. New friendships bloomed. What an encouragement!

Thank you, Father, for casting vision in the hearts of Church of the Open Door. Thank you for making ministry fun!

Every Trunk or Treat is a gift from God with unique blessings and divine moments. This year in particular I had a front row seat to watch our God do his thing. He literally provided EVERYTHING we needed.

He shared his creativity.

He gave us belly laughing JOY to share with 1,603 guests.

He kept our campus safe.

From A-Z, God was the ultimate party planner. Ain’t no party like a Jesus party!

Thank you for your prayers and collaboration! 

May the candy that went out be a catalyst for us to introduce them to life everlasting with the Savior.

Jessica Lee
Children’s Pastor