What is a harvest party?  What is a harvest party celebrated on the night of October 31st?  Why call it a harvest party when it's on Halloween night?  Who really cares when everyone is having a great tme like they were at the Bridgton Alliance Church last month?

Okay, seriously, many churches are concerned about celebrating Halloween due to its obvious pagan roots.  At the same time, most of these same churches want to be good members of their communities, and provide a fun, safe place for the area kids to have fun on the 31st. Throw in a clear but gentle Gospel presentation, and (as far as I'm concerned) it doesn't matter what you call it; I'm in.

A church in our home town of Bridgton had such an event in October, and I was blessed to be the one who did the 'clear but gentle' Gospel presentation.  This church has had me for their harvest party many years in a row now, and they already scheduled me for October 31, 2025.  

This year's event was a spectacular.  There were carnival games, a bounce house, a fire truck all lit up for people to explore, and lots of candy.  Once the evening had been going for a while, the games were shut down , and it was show time.  I hope, my presentation was as clear and gentle as I think it was.  But some of my favorite parts of the evening included non-juggling related.  Not only was a current student, Faith, present, but former students Alex and Mary as well.  I had not seen Alex since she left my eighth grade class last June.

But as nice as these mini class reunions were, my favorite part was saying something that was long overdue to the pastor of the church.  I don't need to elaborate on this any more, except to say, there were a couple tears and a hug shared.  If you know you there are words that need to be said, especially to a brother or sister believer, say it sooner rather than later.