Pastor Tim and I (sitting with our backs to the wall; I’m on the right with the white shirt) talking with a table filled with people who live near the church, but whom we had never met.

On Saturday, Anchor held a “block party.” We sent invitations to over 100 homes on our street and on nearby streets, passed out flyers, and used a big banner out front to invite neighborhood people to a free chicken BBQ meal (Nelson’s pit BBQ!). We also invented students from the Literacy Alliance, a group which meets at Anchor on Monday and Thursday nights to help people obtain their GED. We rented a Moonwalk outside for the kids. We didn’t know how many would come, but it seemed like a good thing to try.

I consider it a huge success. I figure probably 40 people came. I got the chance to sit down and talk to all but two of them (the two in the picture that Pastor Tim is talking to). The people were very appreciative that we would do something like this. Some attended church, some didn’t. We weren’t intending to hit them with the gospel or some hard sell. It was just an chance to get acquainted, and to thank our neighbors for putting up with our very loud concerts (with concert-goers eating up all of the street parking).

I talked to one family yesterday that lived on our street. They had a junior high girl and a high school boy. Seemed like nice folks. This morning, the girl came, by herself, to the 9:00 (early) service. She was sitting by herself at one of our tables in the back of the sanctuary, so when the music was done, I made a point of sitting there with her. I even remembered her name, which is a rather stupendous accomplishment for me.

Perhaps more folks from the block party will trickle in now and then. I talked to two young boys, as they devoured the chicken, asked me when we would do this again. I told him we would probably do it again next year. One of them told me, “I think you should do it” (and he paused to think) “three times a year.” So I guess he liked it.