Rodeo Photos

In addition to an article, the Lititz Record has posted 236 photos of last Sunday's Rodeo.

Rodeo Wrap-Up

Stories continue to surface about the seeds that were planted surrounding the rodeo and Lord-willing, we'll be hearing those stories for years to come. Ironically, three days after the event the field still isn't completely cleared off yet. The port-a-potties are still standing there in the middle of an empty field. It's a funny picture.


Here are some final numbers:

• 12.5 acre field
• 7,000+ in attendance
• 35 port-a-potties
• 2 electric generators
• 3,100 hot dogs
• 3,000 bags of chips
• 3,000 1-pint drinks
  
• 30 gallons of chili
• 10 tents
• 20 trash cans
• 1 dumpster
• 1 refrigerated tractor-trailer
• 2,500 seat bleachers
• 1 rodeo arena
• 34 received minor medical treatment for brush burns, splinters, blisters and abrasions (no medical emergencies)
• 1 Senior Pastor with very tired feet from standing the entire day at the main entrance greeting everyone as they arrived and thanking them as they went home
• 4 shuttle buses that operated all day ferrying Grace Church attenders to/from the parking area at Warwick High School
• 3 Operation Barnabas teams
• 1 ATV
• 2 Gator-type golf carts
• 320+ volunteers
• 3,000 rodeo programs
• 2,409 food coupons
  

Now we look ahead. I had a conversation with the farmer yesterday so I could learn the different crop schedules. In planning for next year, I wanted to know what crops could be planted on the land depending on the church plans. It turned into a fun conversation not much different than a game of Pit as we talked about rye, oats, wheat, corn, soybeans and flax. I learned that oats is the fastest to grow and be harvested, taking about three months from the time planted to the time of harvest. Oats is what was harvested off of the field just a few weeks ago. Rye is the next fastest crop, followed by wheat and corn. Even though the game was invented in 1904, the grain values in Pit still hold true today. Wheat is the only cash crop for the farmer with whom I was talking. Corn is the next in value, though for silage it's the best but it takes the longest to grow. Of course, the ethanol movement is creating a shift in grain values. I always loved Pit, so this whole phone call was a blast. I shared my fascination with the farmer and his response took the conversation to a whole different universe.

He said, "I am constantly amazed at how I can plant a seed, nurture it to grow into a crop, harvest the crop, feed it to my cows and the cows produce milk. To see one little seed ultimately turn into milk is a process man has tried unsuccessfully to duplicate, it's a process only God can do." I replied with the following which is a good wrap to my rodeo coverage...

The cool thing is that on Sunday we planted a different kind of seed and in the coming days, we'll nurture them and watch them grow to produce fruit. And like the seed-milk process, it's a process only God can do.

Rodeo: So what's next?

I previously documented the genesis of the rodeo idea. It hit me recently that in our wish to see our ministries (church, daycare and school specifically) become more cohesive, the rodeo idea was first suggested by one of the Lititz Christian teachers who doesn't even attend Grace on a regular basis. I think it's cool how God worked through that one person's suggestion, close to probably three years ago, to impact as many people as He did.

Of course, the buzz ever since the event got underway has been, "Are you going to do a rodeo next year?" Such sentiments are an affirmation that we succeeded in producing an event with quality. I'm not sure if Lititz had ever had a rodeo or when the last one was. That's probably one of the reasons why so many people checked it out. Whether we do a rodeo next year, I don't know. But I know we will pursue, like an American's Cup sailor seeking the next wind shift, where God is working, how we can join Him in what He is doing all to make it as hard as possible for people to go to hell.

For now, we gave the farmer permission to plant another crop of oats on the field which should be harvested in November. Whether another crop goes in after that will be a season by season decision based on where we are in the ministry planning cycles. The whole farming angle of all of this is almost like a life-sized version of PIT. I'll explain in the next episode of the Rodeo Miniseries on Administering Grace.

Some three years ago, a teacher suggested we do a rodeo. Where do YOU see God working? Has God put a rodeo-like idea on your mind?

Rodeo: Rising to the occassion

It took a volunteer train to pull off the rodeo, but near the front of the train, leading the effort, were several individuals. You've probably met them, heard of them or saw them about during the rodeo. But there's a unique element to them that you're likely unaware of and that didn't strike me until just recently.

Imagine you've just started in a new job as the head of an entire department or division. Along with an able staff, you job is leading about 100 people. You've never done anything on this level before, you've barely gotten your feet wet, but you've got tremendous support from the team around you and your leader. That's not too far from the position in which Doug, Tammy, Susan and Con found themselves last fall; all four of them had assumed new roles at Grace.

Having already identified their strong leadership and organizational skills, and needing people to ring lead the rodeo efforts, when they had only been in their new roles for but a few months, we asked them to take on the additional challenge. As I look back, I'm astounded. They've excelled beyond our expectations. If put in the exact same position, I'm not sure I would have succeeded to the levels they reached.

In addition to being incredible people, they are and have surrounded themselves with a collection of an equally incredible team that empowered them to reach greater heights. And, if I haven't stressed it enough already, through all of us it was really God working and His doing immeasurably more than we imagined.

Oh, and while I've got your attention, I thought of another fringe benefit to the rodeo... we used the land. While we worked hard during the land purchase process to orient people to where the property lines where and which field we were buying by handing out maps etc., I still heard people asking where the field was even just last week. Those who participated in the rodeo have a clear idea not only as to where the field is, but a concept of it's size, what it looks like and the condition it's in. In fact, a lot of us took a good bit of the field home with us covered in layers of dust. Many have even tasted the new property. Hmmm, I'm not sure that if those were the only things to come out of the rodeo that it would've been worth it just for that.

So, are we doing it again next year? Watch for my next post.

Rodeo: Ms. Simpson and others

I enjoy meeting new people and seeing the opportunities God provides to use me to impact their lives, the challenge to show them God's love for them. Though I didn't get to do that anywhere near as much as I'd hoped to do for reasons out of my control, the few interactions I did have were a lot of fun.

I recognized the first family I encountered at the start of the day from our daycare ministry. It was neat to see them being impacted by a different aspect of our church. Later, I was also surprised by several people, who after enjoying the rodeo, were interested in seeing what our auditorium looked like. I enjoyed being able to show them the room, empty as it was, and answer some standard questions about what our church is like. But the interaction I probably enjoyed the most of the day was with Ms. Simpson.

Just after the start of the event, I realized that one of the areas for which I was responsible wasn't covered as I'd expected. This led me to make multiple walks back and forth between the 501 W Lincoln property and the rodeo location. On one of those trips, as I greeted the droves of people walking down the drive to the event, I was asked if we had a wheelchair for a lady who needed some assistance. She apparently had sent her friends on to the event while she awaited my return.

After grabbing a chair and getting her situated, with no one else to help her, I had the privilege of wheeling her to the event. Of course, I had my doubts as to whether we'd succeed in taking the wheelchair four-wheeling across the field. Within a few feet of getting off of the private drive and onto the dusty field, she gladly accepted resorting to staying on the periphery with a distant view of the arena. She was simply content to be in the shade. She took me up on my offer to alert the others in her party as to where she was located, so I was off to find the two among the mass of humanity spread across the field. I have no idea how, but I succeeded in finding the others.

As I headed on my next trip back to the church building, on my way out I let her know that I'd found her friends. In the meantime, Josh (the teen who gave his testimony during Sunday's service) was talking with her. Josh and I wanted to make sure she was comfortable. Someone with a Rita's container caught her eye and while she'd had lunch already and wasn't interested in using her free hot dog coupon, a gelati suited her fancy. Without hesitation, both Josh and I reached for our wallets. With Josh agreeing to help her out and my duties calling me elsewhere, I left her in Josh's care for the time being.

Between Josh and myself and hopefully even others I don't know about, I hope Ms. Simpson sensed God's love through us that afternoon. I've got several more posts in the coming days about the rodeo, but in the meantime, who were some of the people you met and what opportunities did you have to share God's love with them?

What Pepsi, Basketball and a Rodeo have in common?

My parents were part of four church planting initiatives in the course of their ministry in the Philippines. We'd move to a new town as complete strangers with the goal of spreading the Gospel. How do you start a church when you're a complete stranger, let alone a stick out of the crowd foreigner, and you have no idea whether anyone else in town has ever heard that Christ's death on the cross was a payment for their sin?

One of the methods my Dad used was to go to the Philippine equivalent of the local Sheetz, buy a Pepsi and strike up conversations. Multiple conversations led to a regular get together that transformed into a Bible study.

As a 6-foot tall, high-energy, competitive high school student, in a country that loves basketball, I would head to the closest cul-de-sac and play ball each afternoon with the men in town. I'd strike up conversations, explain what a guy like me was doing in their village instead of playing professional basketball (their assumption, not mine) and build relationships with them.

Pepsi and basketball ultimately led to a group of believers who gathered weekly and began sharing the Good News with their friends and family. The Rodeo wasn't much different. It was an opportunity for us to strike up conversations, explain why we would do such a thing like that and build relationships that otherwise may not have been established.

In my next post, I'll introduce you to Ms. Simpson and some others I was able to meet Sunday afternoon.

Rodeo: Analysis

I've spent the better part of a week or more keeping you informed of the behind the scenes details of the Rodeo outreach - it's been fun to be a part of it and to bring you along for the ride. Now, some time for reflection.

What a day! I can't believe how well everything came together and the number of complete strangers that showed up. I'm astounded by the many levels in an event like the Rodeo and at each level I saw the potential of how God could use it for His glory.

The prayer life of Grace Church - I don't have a measure of what the routine prayer life of the body of Grace Church consists of, but for at least the last few weeks, in some cases maybe even the last nine months since we announced the idea, people have been praying. They've been praying for a specific purpose and possibly praying more than they normally do. Pastor Scott, myself and others have challenged people to pray and shared specific areas for prayer, but whether or not people followed was between them and God. If indeed their prayer lives increased, that can only be attributed to the Spirit's prompting. An increase prayer life in a church is just one of the benefits of doing something like the Rodeo. And, if God did nothing else, but to increase the prayer life of Grace Church, I think it was worth all of the effort.

Investing in Grace Church - I'm not talking about cash, I'm referring to lives. We've experienced tremendous growth at Grace over the past four years (yes, the growth trend started even before Pastor Young completed his ministry). As we saw with the Beach Blast, an event like the Rodeo opens opportunities for more people to get involved in the ministry of Grace. Sure, we've got slots that need to be filled across our ministries, but a lot of them are in circles with established networks that can be difficult to penetrate for someone new. That's what makes events like the Beach Blast or Rodeo unique. Because they're completely new, there are few, if any established networks in place, so everyone is on an even playing ground and can get involved. We had 320 people show up at the volunteer meeting for the Rodeo. A bunch of them had not participated in a Grace event previously. They've now had that chance and are likely to invest more of their life at Grace Church. Let's just say that the whole prayer life aspect of this was a mirage, if the only God does through the Rodeo is use it to motivate people to invest their lives in serving Him, it would all be worth it.

Intrapersonal relationships - After the meeting Saturday night, it was neat to see how many people stuck around just chatting together. A number of those conversations were groups of people who had just met. New relationships formed as a result of working side by side during the Rodeo. New relationships that God can use in a ton of different ways tomorrow and into the future. Even if they never volunteer for another activity, if all God did through the Rodeo is build new relationships among the church body, it would have been worth it all.

Leadership Development - Events like a Rodeo are an undertaking that requires leadership. They're in essence a concentrated leadership development program full of delegation, prioritization, working with people, leading people, trusting people, managing a budget, troubleshooting, and on and on. We've seen the leadership abilities of the people on the task force developed to new levels. And if that alone were the single outcome of the Rodeo, it would have been worth it.

Church/Staff Unity - When faced with the impossible, groups have the choice of rallying together or splitting a part. By God's grace, we rallied together, both as a church and as a staff. It was obvious by the conversations. What are you doing in the Rodeo? Are you excited for Sunday? I can't wait for the Rodeo? Who did you invite? The staff rallied together in a way that exceeded everything I've witnessed in my years at Grace. We hit snags, we always do, but as a staff, we solved them together in a positive atmosphere. We flexed unlike I've ever seen, rolled with the punches and methodically found creative solutions for unexpected problems. Those experiences will reap benefits for years to come which is well worth all the toil if God accomplished nothing else through the Rodeo. There are many more I can think of, but that horse is dead.

These are just some of the fringe benefits. In my next post, What Pepsi, basketball and a Rodeo have in common, I'll get to why we did the Rodeo in the first place, which I didn't even get to in this post.

Rodeo: Cleanup and another challenge

It's 8:30 Sunday night, and at this point, you can hardly tell what happened today. The cleanup was as amazing as the event itself. Meanwhile, the 501 W Lincoln property has morphed in a matter of minutes into an Avalanche Ranch for VBS which kicks off tomorrow. This is the challenge to keep praying!!!

The OB Teams have helped immensely to get everything set tonight, but more work is slated for tomorrow as well. Be praying for the 300+ kids that are registered already and invite the kids in your neighborhood to come on out beginning tomorrow night or any night this week. Pray, pray, pray and pray some more!!!

It's great working/serving of Lord and Saviour side by side with each of you.

Rodeo: Winding down

It's 6:35 Sunday evening the day is winding down, but what a day it was. From all reports, the bleachers were packed for both rodeos. I saw a ton of people I'd never seen before and a lot who didn't appear to be from Lititz.

To my knowledge, from what I've heard to this point, there were no major issues either. Unbelievable!!!

Rodeo: The army has gathered

We just finished the gathering of the army - 320 people attended tonight's volunteer organizational meeting for the Rodeo tomorrow. I think we had a small taste of what Gideon and his force may have experienced as they got together.

The field is set. Tents are up and staying up. The sound system is in place. The arena is up, bleachers are ready. The animals are scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning and a few people are camping out on the field tonight for the fun of it and for security. It's all coming together in a very amazing way and I'm seeing so many different positive things coming out of this even before we start building relationships with people we've never met or seen before. I've been taking pictures to document all of this, but haven't shared them because you gotta come check it out in person... even if you live in France, find some way to get over here!

Rodeo: weather update

Don't stop now. Even though it appears God is answering our 6 months of prayers by eliminating the rain concern, we still need God to give us the perfect weather mix. Yesterday, the wind presented some challenges.

We ordered something like seven tents and in normal setups, the company gets them put up in several hours. The tents arrived around 9 or 10 Friday morning. When I left the office at 4:30, two were set up and had been for several hours, two others had been set up and then blown over. Pray that we have just the right weather mix over the next two days.

Pray for the souls too. I took a phone call from a family in Lancaster yesterday that's planning to attend. I'm brushing up on my Spanish.

I look forward to seeing the volunteer army assembled at 7pm tonight. Can you feel the anticipation?

Rodeo: registration count

Though we closed pre-registrations at 2pm today, everyone can still come and fully participate in the rodeo on Sunday. The pre-registration was designed to merely give us an idea of how many people to expect so we could gauge how much food we needed to have prepared. As of 2pm, pre-registrations topped out at 2,409.

The field is in the midst of being converted to a rodeo arena. Tents are being erected, port-a-potties have been dropped off as well as several large generators.

You'll want to wear sneakers or boots as it's still a field. Feel free to bring lawn chairs, though we'll have plenty of seating on bleachers that hold several thousand and lots of hay bales. Continue to pray as there are still many logistical details that need to fall into place. I can report that everyone is working through their tasks list in a very calm demeanor with eager anticipation.

If you're volunteering, see you Saturday night at 7!

Rodeo: Pray and pray some more

The trucks started rolling in at 8 this morning. The bleachers and arena are working their way to Lititz. The field's to be disc-ed today. Lots of logistics need to come together over the course of today and tomorrow and with it a lot of details. Be praying with and for us as we look to coordinate everything.

Rodeo Registrations Exceed 1,700

Registrations for the Rodeo crossed over 1,700 at 9:15 this morning.

Rodeo: Pictures/Video

Though we have a couple of volunteers lined up as official picture takers to document Sunday's outreach, like a wedding, bring your camera/video camera. The more pictures and video clips we have to work with the better!

As of 8:30 this morning, we crossed over 1,500 registrations.

Rodeo: How to engage someone in conversation

Over lunch with the Operation Barnabas teens today I asked them for some help. I heard that they had been trained in how to engage someone they've never met before in a conversation. I thought those tips might be useful to us as we have the opportunity to engage people we've never met before at the rodeo on Sunday. The approach they use is based on the acrostic F.O.R.M.; each letter represents a potential conversation topic.

F - Family
People are usually very interested in talking about their family be it their kids, their spouse or other loved one. On Sunday, there's a high likelihood that there will be a lot of families at the event so questions about their kids/family will be a great conversation starter.

O - Occupation
Second to family topics, the OB'ers explained that adults are usually very willing to talk about what they do for a living.

R - Religion
Similar to what Bill Fay shared a few years ago, questions like, "what do you normally do on a Sunday afternoon?" or "do you regularly attend a church?" will also start a conversation.

M - Message
Unfortunately, the my lunch conversation with the OB'ers go interrupted at this point and I wasn't able to get a good definition of what Message stands for.


As of 2:30, Rodeo registrations have crossed over 1,400.

Rodeo: Parking

The parking plan for Sunday has been finalized. All Grace Church attenders will be asked to park their vehicles at Warwick High School. Shuttles will be running from WHS to the field at regular intervals.

The trick will be emptying the Grace Church lot after Sunday's services. We need everyone to move their cars to the high school as soon as the second service is over on Sunday morning. Thanks in advance for helping us out with this.

Rodeo: Staff Meeting Prayer Walk

We had a unbelievable staff meeting this morning. TK from CE National challenged us based on Ephesians 3:20 and we spent the better part of an hour meditating on who God is and what it would look like if He did immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. It was a humbling and terrifying exercise.

We ended by walking over to the field, forming a circle and committing the coming days as well as the land and the events to God.

I challenge you to consider taking a prayer walk with friends or your family and to walk the field together asking God to make it clear as to how He is challenging us to be a part of what He is doing. If you come by, park in the Grace Church lot and just be cautious when crossing the street.

And before you ask, yes, Warwick Township has offered to assist us with traffic control so everyone can cross the street safely on Sunday.

Rodeo: overnight activity

Registrations for the rodeo crossed over 1,000 overnight (we received 70 since the office closed Monday afternoon). Word about the event is spreading, so much so that we've had several food vendors contact us requesting to join. So as of yesterday, funnel cakes were added to the food menu. How cool is that?!?

One person has responded to yesterday's post and will be helping with phone registrations today, but I've got more slots available if you enjoy data entry and taking phone calls. Don't miss your chance to be a part of this amazing event!

Rodeo: Who did you invite?

Someone was sharing with me yesterday that they were doing projects around the house the other day when their son answered the phone. A minute or so later the parent was summoned. The communication went something like, "We regret to inform you that due to other commitments, President Bush will be unable to attend this Sunday's Rodeo and Western Fair, but he appreciates the invitation."

Apparently a similar call was received from Governor Rendell's office. I'm inviting our two neighbors and my contacts at the bank. Who are you inviting?