It’s only twelve days until the Second Annual Fido and Whiskers’ Big Day Out, an event in which our church will be partnering with Glastonbury pet businesses in order to put on a fun, free event for our community. For those of you who weren’t around for last year’s event, I had been praying and thinking about ways to get our church out in the community, in order to meet and bless people and connect them to our church, and I thought I might do a Blessing of the Animals. I had been to a couple of those with my beagle Otis that had been done by churches, and I always loved the simple and fun way those churches made connections with people in their community. But as I began planning the event, I thought “why not involve some pet businesses and make it a larger scale event for families and their pets?” And once we added in the agility course, our celebrity judge Rachel Lutzker, promotional help from The River 105.9, and lots of help from the people at NewLife, we had ourselves a great event that drew about 400 people and 200 dogs!
Eric and Sharman doing the Blessing of the Animals
If you’re a part of NewLife, you really should save the date and be a part of this event, which will be taking place on Sunday, September 28th from 1-4 on Hubbard Green in Glastonbury. Last year’s event was such a unique experience in the life of our church, because it gave us five great opportunities:1) The opportunity to work together – we have so many people in our church who serve in various ways – some in the Sunday School, others with hospitality, still others in prison ministry. But this event was the only one we’ve had where there were 20-25 people working together to bless our community. Watching one team give away free drinks and snacks and answer questions about our church, another team talk with children and their parents at the Draw Your Pet contest booth, and others help with the contests, the raffle, and everything else was such a great experience.
The NewLife team Rachel Lutzker judging
the best looking dog
2) The opportunity for people to use their gifts that may not be used at church – NewLife is home to some very talented people, but their gifts and passions don’t always find use in the regular ministries of the church. The Big Day Out, however, gave a chance for some people to really shine. Kristin Burns did an incredible job as MC of the event, Sarah McCoy took unbelievable photos of people with their pets, Denise Kalkstein worked her magic as the vendor liaison, and Matt LaCroix was able to put together a really great event website (www.newlife-glastonbury.org/bigdayout). This year, we’ve got the very talented Darci McHenry doing face painting as well. In addition, this event gave those who have a passion to care for the animals of God’s creation, like Sharman Anderson and Robin Oprysko, a chance to really use their gifts to honor God and bless others.
Kristin with Woofer the River Dog A beautiful photo with your pet
by Sarah McCoy
3) The opportunity to be out in the community – As we’ve mentioned before, as a church without a building of our own, we are invisible to many people even within our own town. For this reason, it takes creativity and intentionality to get out there and meet people and introduce them to our church and to share the good news of Jesus with them. This event is one of those opportunities to come out of the four walls of our Sunday meeting space and be among the people of our town, letting them know we exist and what we are all about.
The Central K-9 agility course Giving away free snacks and drinks!
4) The opportunity to give freely and bless lavishly – From the beginning, I wanted the event to be totally free – free photos, free snacks, free drinks, free contests and prizes. The only reason anyone needed money was to buy tickets for the raffle, which benefited the local Protectors of Animals. The salvation we have been given in Jesus is free, and I wanted this event to be a total blessing to the families who came. I know that people are used to having to pay for everything, so my hope was that a completely fun and free event would be a testimony to our God, from whom every good and perfect gift comes (James 1:17).
The Beckett Vet surgery demo This year we’ve added
Police K-9 demos!
5) The opportunity to invite people who may not accept an invitation to church - We all have people in our life who would never come to church if we invited them but would come to an event like this, where they will meet people from our church and may find many of their stereotypes about Christians broken. Use this opportunity to invite everyone you know who has a pet - you never know who will come!
I hope you’ll take the opportunity to be involved this year; or, if you’re not a part of our church, that you’ll come out with your pet and enjoy the day! Pray that God would be honored by the event, that I would speak clearly about the gospel during the Blessing of the Animals, that we would bless many people and their pets, and that ultimately we would connect many people to our church and our Lord.
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