River Church - Chattanooga Tennessee

That was our goal last night; to Shine!!  And I gotta tell you I think we did.  Please don’t misunderstand that statement.  Last night wasn’t about RiverChurch it was all about letting Jesus shine through us into our community, and man it was amazing.

We only advertised at the school where we held the event, that was scheduled to start at 7pm.  We planned to start when it became dark outside so we could light the hilltop up with tons of lights.  But people started showing up at 5:30 and we held them off as long as we could.  Once all of our cars were in place and the decorating was complete we flipped the switch and the first ever City on A Hill was clear for lift off.

There’s no real way to know how many people came to City on A Hill, but suffice it to say there were a lot of people that came.  We prepared almost 500 hotdogs and before the night was over every last hotdog was gone.  We were even scrounging to find a few pieces of candy for people who were coming  right up until 9pm when we shut it down.

Our team was amazing, they laughed, they dressed up in great costumes, and they smiled and hugged, and oohed and ahhed at every kid that came to their cars to play a game and get some candy.  And these kids loved it.  Some came by themselves and just clung to some of our workers. 

I think the coolest thing about the night was what happened at very beginning.  All day long it had been raining, and although the weather forecast was supposed to clear up there were times throughout the day that it didn’t look very promising.  We started setting up at 3pm under a vey heavy cloud cover, and from a distance we could see what looked like more rain coming.  I walked through the parking lot of ths school praying that God would blow the rain over.  Then somewhere around 5:30 or 6 the sun came out just as it was setting behind the school, and directly over our hill appeared the most beautiful full rainbow.  It was absolutely breathtaking.

The custodian for the school walked up to me, and said “I think somebody’s happy with you tonight!”

I’d sure like to think so.  I’d like to think that we shined for him last night, and it made him happy!”

It’s our very first Community Impact event!!

And we are PUMPED!!!!!

On Saturday, October 31 @7p we will be gathering at Hillcrest Elementary School off Highway 58 and we’re gonna light that hilltop up!  We’re using spot lights, flood lights, Christmas lights and any other kind of light we can find to light up the night sky.  If you’re driving by on Highway 153 you’ll see us.

Its a trunk or treat type event, but when people arrive on the hill they’re gonna find our peeps, sitting outside of their cars, loaded with candy, decorated like city shops, prepared with fun games, ready to have a rockin’ time.  We’re renting an inflatable slide, which will be the city park.

We’ll have a

Post Office,

a Grocery Store,

a Candy Store,

a Pet Shop,

a City Jail,

a Used Car Lot,

a Beauty Shop,

a Toy Store and

a Hot Dog Stand, stocked with over 400 hotdogs!!!!

Our Goal:

- To be a City on A Hill that cannot be hidden.

- To let our light shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.

In other words: To do just what Jesus told us to do.

If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi!!!

See ya at the City on A Hill!!!!

Oh yeah, Mr. Weatherman says its supposed to rain.  Help us pray he’s wrong – just this once ‘-)