Lock-In Blog

Last weekend our student ministry hosted a Lock-in. This is an event that we do about every other year. So, what is it? And…why do we do it?

For our lock-in, we rent out a local sports complex—this year it was the Rec-Plex. Students are then free to play the whole night and sleep is highly discouraged. We schedule a night of events, activities, and tournaments. We provide prizes. We find a bunch of crazy adults that want to hang out with a couple hundred teenagers. Oh, this also happens from 9PM-7AM.

All night long, students are running around from activity to activity. Throughout, there are opportunities for 3 on 3 basketball, dodgeball tournaments, and broomball. Note: broomball is like field hockey…but on ice. Or ice hockey…without skates. Just google it. I also saw an incredibly impressive belly flop at 4 in the morning. A large group of leaders ate Dip ‘n’ Dots at 4:30 AM which I now understand is the best time to eat them. All of that to say, a lot of exciting stuff happens in an overnight lock-in with a bunch of students. The night ended with a huge dodgeball game between the two churches. It is important for me to mention that the winning church was FBC Wentzville. The groups make their way back to their churches to sleepily eat a donut until they got picked up to go home and sleep the rest of the day.

So, then the question is…why? Why would someone volunteer to help with this? The answer—the gospel.

When the students got to the church to check-in, before we bussed them out to the Rec-Plex, we all gathered in the Worship Center. FBC Wentzville students and FBC O’Fallon students, over 230 in number, worshipped together, and heard the gospel—shared by Jeremy Shirley who used an illustration of handcuffing a student to himself for several minutes. Thought that was worth mentioning. As a result, seven students indicated that they started a relationship with Jesus for the first time that night.

This whole event exists as a tool for students to have something to invite their friends to, where their friends can hear the gospel. Yes, it’s a ton of fun. Yes, it’s incredibly memorable. Yes, it’s cool to work alongside another student ministry. But, all of that is minimal compared to providing an opportunity for students, whose friends may not be willing to show up on a Sunday morning, to bring others to an event where the gospel is preached and there is an opportunity for lives to be changed.

As a church, continue to pray for the students that have just made this huge decision. Pray for the students that are asking questions and searching. Pray for the students that are still opposed to the gospel.

Also, pray for all of the adult volunteers to catch back up on their sleep…eventually.

Fall Festival

From the moment the sun was rising on the group of volunteers who showed up early to help setup the first ever Fall Festival 5K, it was evident God was providing a warm and sunny Fall morning perfect for the race and the festival to follow. It was a far cry from our first Fall Festival the year before that we had to cancel due to the frigid rain and sleet.

As the 5K participants arrived the 135 preregistered grew to 168 participants in the Fall Festival 5K Fun Run/Walk. For perspective, for our first ever 5K, the company we contracted to help with the race told us not to expect more than about 100. Our participants were rallying in support of Allie Doell, the 17 year old who had cancer and is still undergoing treatment. As part of the race registration, $5 for each participant went to the Doell family along with the additional donations given that day. We had racers of all ages…from stroller to grandparents…joining in to support the cause. Once it was time to start the race, I guess you could say it got off to a rolling start. Pastor Ralph took the lead right out of the gate by falling down and rolling across the street. Don’t worry, he was fine. It made for great video that you can see on the church Facebook page. The race went from the church, through the neighborhoods by Heritage Elementary School and around Holt High School and then back to the church.

When the runners arrived back at the church, they and the others that joined us enjoyed food from food trucks and vendors like Just 1 Taste, Fire and Ice, and Duke’s BBQ. We had JoyFM and DJ Scott Anthony there playing music and helping us with giveaways. Every 15 minutes during the festival someone that registered won a prize from a local business that donated to the Fall Festival. The children enjoyed going around to the various games like knocking down cans, bean bag toss, knocking over clowns, getting their picture made with motorcycles and inflatables, all while filling out their punch cards in an effort to get the prize at the end…a full size candy bar. In all we had over 250 children participate in the Festival, and obviously many parents, grandparents, and loved ones were with them.

We’re thankful for the many ministry teams that contributed to the Fall Festival whether that was in advance or on the day of the event. It was an incredible opportunity for our church to provide a family friendly event where we could make connections with our community! We’ve already had families attend our church after making a connection with us at the Fall Festival. Pray with us that in the days ahead we’ll be able to make further connections with these families and ultimately have a gospel conversation with them! Also, look for opportunities in 2019 to get involved in the Fall Festival!