Crestwood Fall Festival

As a church body, we are currently coming together for Sunday services at the Girls Inc. in the Crestwood area of Birmingham. Since this is the area where we meet together, we have decided to strategically begin our outreach to the people of the Crestwood, Avondale, and Woodlawn general area. We hope to grow deep roots in our ministry here as we form meaningful relationships with the residents, partner with community ministries, aid local schools, and allow the Body of Christ to permeate lives. As we grow as a Body, we hope to continue to expand the breadth of our outreach to other areas, but never at the expense of depth in our ministries. We believe that to best live out the Gospel, we must, as a church body, have consistent and genuine interaction that goes beyond surface level "duty", impersonal programs, and occasional events. As we develop this continual, personal presence in these areas, the Gospel will go forth and Christ will be known.

This weekend we had the opportunity to take a step in this direction: the annual Crestwood Fall Festival (held just down the street from where we meet and a block over from where Joel, our pastor, lives). For the past couple of years, the people in the neighborhood have put on this fun event for families and friends to come to and have a great time. It proved to have a substantial draw since there are so many families with young children in the area. There were booths with games, toys, giveaways, free food, and info on community events and happenings. This year Redeemer had the chance to have a booth and it was tons of fun! In the spirit of equality and peace, they did not declare a "Most Awesome Booth" award, but there is no doubt that we would have easily taken it! I am sure that our appeal had nothing to do with the fact that we had a large inflatable bouncy castle, stellar face-painting, and unparalleled balloon animals.

While Joel and I made a plethora of unique balloon creatures, Amanda Blake designed miniature Sistine Chapels on the faces of little children. All of this while we tried desperately to keep our bouncy castle, full of kids, from literally flying away in the blustery winds (despite being held down with stakes and bricks). It was a great opportunity for the neighbors to gather info on who we are as a church, but also to see us as part of the community. We were very excited to see several Redeemer members come out to enjoy the festival with us. I personally was able to meet several locals and look forward to developing these relationships more! And to finish it all off, I came away with a free Subway sub, a toothbrush, and a 2008 Fall Festival plastic cup. Can this be topped, you ask? I submit no.