It was planned to be a great event. Even Santa's reindeer would be in attendance in the parking lot. But, as my wife might said: "We did not have reindeer. We had rain, dear."

Because of the rain, the Stockbridge Holiday Festival was moved indoors, inside the Merle Manders Conference Center. The Local Out-Team/Celebrate Recovery ministry accommodations was relocated from it's spacious outdoor location to a single table in Meeting Room No. 4 in the basement.

Although attendance was way off because off the rain, all was not lost. Luckily, they put us next to the face painters. Since our target audience was children we were able to draw from their line. At times, we had as many as 15 or more children standing around our table waiting on cross necklaces or salvation bracelets.

Brande and Ronnie made the cross necklaces for the children while Markus helped set-up before he explored the event. A fourth volunteer made the salvation bracelets, giving the gospel to every child wanting a bracelet. It was interesting to note the number of children who did not know what sin is, but most knew at least a little bit about Jesus. Many had already accepted Christ into their hearts and helped remind the volunteer of the meaning of each colored bead.

Salvation bracelets are very easy to make and it takes only a few repetitions of the script to memorize the meaning of each bead. We recommend that any ministry wishing to attract children consider using them in their efforts. We have posted salvation bracelet instructions in our library section. Look for them there.

Considering the weather and the resulting low turnout, the Stockbridge Holiday Festival was a great event. We are looking forward to participating again next year.

Volunteers participating in the preparation and/or execution of this event includes:

Brande Bradford (Captain)	Markus Bradford	Ronnie Driver
Note: If we inadvertently left your name off this list, we apologize. Please bring it to our attention.