Many Thanks to All Who Made the Egg Hunt so Successful

How do you get 7,000 plastic eggs out of a grass field?  Turn a couple hundred kids loose on them, that’s how.  That is exactly what happened on Saturday, 20 April 2019 at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat.  The church calls it Love Ambush #1.  It’s an Easter Egg Hunt with a twist.  The kids were ambushed by many people telling them that God loves them.  There were also plenty of prizes that helped send that message home.

Most of the candy and prizes were funded by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, but many in the community also gave generously and turned this into a community event.  Businesses and organizations that contributed were Walmart, Washita State Bank, Great Plains Bank, Burns Flat Hardware, MODA, Grets, Rudy’s, Pendleton’s, Monterey Restaurant, and Ace Hardware (Cordell). 

Other donations of money and in-kind donations were made by the following families:  Fleming, Price, Schneberger, Murray, Walker, Lovell, Hose, Thompson, Spence, Ferkins, Foust, McConiha, and Wascom.  A thank you is also due to many volunteers who worked many hours in preparation and worked the Saturday morning event.

What’s next for the CPC and its involvement with the community?  Chewy Tuesdays.  Beginning 4 June 2019, the church will deliver kid-friendly meals to children who will be home on Tuesday.  This is for every child in Burns Flat.  The parents just need to contact the church sometime during May.  There are no requirements to participate, but a conversation with the parents is needed to make sure that all food allergies are noted.  Deliveries may also be made to those who cannot get out on their own.  In any case, each meal is delivered with love and with a message of God’s love for us.

If you were wondering why this egg hunt is titled, Love Ambush #1, it’s because in the fall, there is Love Ambush #2, also known as Trunk or Treat.  There will be more on that at the end of the summer.

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is located at 205 State Highway 44.  The phone number is 562-4706.

A Belated Thank You...and more to come!

The Burns Flat Cumberland Presbyterian Church sends a belated “Thank You!” to many in our community that supported this year’s Easter Egg Hunt.  A few years ago, the church took over the community event deciding to make it a mission of the church.

What’s hunting Easter Eggs have to do with the real meaning of Easter?  That’s a good question that deserve a straightforward answer.  It’s an ambush!

Yes, the church took on this pagan-like, surely secular ritual as an ambush.  Children and their parents would be lured onto the church grounds with hopes of finding candy and prizes and then they would be ambushed with love.  We just call it Love Ambush #1.

Ministry members just love telling others that God loves them.  That often leads to a conversation about Jesus and how much God loves us. 

Make no mistake about it, the children all received enough candy to keep them in cavities for years to come.  The also received Bibles or Gospels of John or Mark, stickers and pencils that say God loves you or love one another, and other reminders that last longer than the stomach ache which follows the candy.

The church budgets a significant amount to support this event; however, the community donations make this an extraordinary event.  The Businesses and Individuals who have donated this year are:

Rudy’s Superette

L&S Equipment

R-N-R Roofing

Great Plains Bank

Washita State Bank

Crown Geochemisty

Pendleton’s Truck Stop

Gret’s Convenience Store

MODA

Ace Hardware, Cordell

S&T Lawncare

Individual donations were received from Donna Townsend, Carl & Marcee Hose, Kendra Walker, Monica Lovell, Tom & Sharman Spence, Heather Spence, Dean & Angie McConaha, and others who donated anonymously.

Next on the God’s Love in Action agenda is Chewy Tuesdays.

OK, time for one FAQ.  If the Easter Egg Hunt is Love Ambush #1, what’s #2?  That would be Trunk or Treat held in October.

Easter Egg Hunt Blesses Many

The weather cooperated and more than 150 egg hunters arrived from places near and far, mostly near, as over 5,000 colored eggs full of candy and prizes awaited children up to the age of 12.  Supplies were gathered and eggs were stuffed in the weeks preceding the event.  At 8:30 on Saturday morning, over a dozen volunteers under the direction of Missions Team Leader Heather Spence assembled at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and distributed the eggs into four age specific sections.

This was a community event sponsored by the church but it was not about honoring the Easter Bunny.  Prizes included children’s Bibles, wristbands, erasers, and other prizes with messages reminding the recipients that God really does love them.  Volunteers circulated among the adults and children with that same message:  God loves you!

The methodology was to lure the children to the event with eggs of all colors, candy, and prizes; then to ambush them with God’s love.  Several years ago, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church adopted the Easter Egg Hunt as a mission.  It has been embraced by the community.  This year, monetary donations exceeded $1,100.  There were also many gifts-in-kind.

Local Businesses that donated were Crown Geochemistry, Washita State Bank, Great Plains National Bank, Gret’s, Burns Flat Hardware, Pendleton’s Truck Stop, and Long John Silver’s of Clinton.  MODA once again donated prize baskets.  Individual donations included the Leon Williams family, the Donna Townsend Family, the Robert Wascom Family.  Donations in the form of Memorials were made in the names of Tonia Duncan and others in the names of Barbara and John Wascom.

(Above:  Drew Walker finds many treasures).

(Right:  Libby Spence helped sort and stage prizes for Saturday morning.)

(Left:  The youngest children seemed to have the most fun.)

Community Easter Egg Hunt set for Saturday at 10 am

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat announced that it would once again host the Community Easter Egg Hunt.  The event is scheduled for Saturday, 15 April 2017 at 10:00 a.m.
15 April 2017 on the church property.

The Easter Egg Hunt is for the youngest of children all the way up to those 12 years of age.  Many in the community have been quite generous and there will be many eggs and many prizes.  The Cumberland Presbyterian Church invites you to come and be blessed!


Where is the Cumberland Presbyterian Church?  It is at 205 Highway 44 (Just north and east of the traffic light).

What if my child doesn't have an Easter Basket?  Not to worry, there will be baskets on hand just for that purpose.

What should I wear?  Check the weather that morning, but the current forcast is for temperatures in the 70's and some clouds.  Please wear shoes not sandals as there may be an occasional grass burr in the field.

WARNING!!!  Someone will tell your child that God loves them!

Church to host Easter Egg Hunt for 3rd consecutive year

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat, Oklahoma announced today that the community Easter Egg Hunt will be Saturday, 26 March 2016 at 10:00 a.m.  That’s correct; the church is sponsoring the Easter Egg Hunt.

Not sure if that is a dichotomy, an oxymoron, or a paradox?  Don’t decide until you hear a little bit of the story. 

Three years ago the Cumberland Presbyterian Church stepped in at the last minute and with the help of several donors, put on an Easter Egg Hunt.  It was not going to happen otherwise.

Then, the real story began. The church session voted to adopt the Easter Egg Hunt as a ministry.

Hold your holy horses!

Hunting Easter Eggs is not about the real Easter story. Why is a church adopting this pagan pageant for kids?  Why indeed?

Does this church not know that the world is invading Christianity? How could they do this?

Actually, the world is not invading Christianity. Christianity is invading a pagan world. The truth that Christians carry is being marched in to community after community around the world. That invasion has been underway for 2000 years.

It is not carried out with tank divisions and air strikes but with messages of how much God loves you.  Strategy and tactics still play a role.

Sometimes people don’t answer their doors when they see the Christians coming with their good news, but they will bring their children to the community Easter Egg Hunt just like they bring them to Trunk or Treat on Halloween.

Church members give out plenty of candy at both events. Parents need not worry. Their children will still receive enough candy to give them stomach aches all night long and keep the dental profession in business for decades to come.

But the kids and adults will receive more than candy eggs or hollow chocolate bunnies. They will receive gospels, Bibles, Bible story books, God Loves You books, and more.  It will still be a blast for the kids, but in the midst of all the egg hunting, the message of Easter will be given to all.

Back to 2016:  Be at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church by 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, 26 March 2015.  The hunt is for children up to age 12.

Donations by organizations, businesses, and individuals may be delivered to the church any time during March or mailed to Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Box 8, Burns Flat OK 73624.  Helpers will be needed to place the eggs at 9:00 a.m. that Saturday morning and to help give out prizes during the hunt.

A genuine thank you to the Elk City Walmart

Sometimes I get upset at the lines in Walmart.  Sometimes I complain that the prices don’t ring up right at the register.  But sometimes, I just have to give a shout out to some genuine generosity on the part of our local Walmart.

Such was the subject of a letter I posted today to the manager and employees of the Elk City Walmart.

Dear Elk City Walmart Supercenter,

Thank you for your recent donations to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat, Oklahoma.

You recently helped us to feed our Wednesday night crowd with several cooked pizzas.  This was a blessing in that the several volunteers that typically cook our Wednesday night meal received a much needed break, and let’s face it, clean up after pizza is just outright easy.  Thank you.

There’s a little more to this story that I want to share with you.  You did not just donate to a church.  You helped a community.  Most of our Wednesday night attendance is children.  Sadly, if it were not for the school lunch that many received, they would go hungry most every day.  Many of the children we feed on Wednesday night before our classes and services are children that are actually hungry. 

That may seem hard to believe, but we feed kids that don’t get much love or food in their homes.

Some of the parents of these children do not even know that they are at the church and many of these parents don’t care.  That could just be a sad statement, except when they come to the church on Wednesday evenings, they run to the front door.  They know they will be fed, and loved, and at least for a couple hours, brought up in the way they should go.

You see that you did more than donate pizzas; you helped us connect with children that are disconnected from the love they should know all the time.

The story doesn’t end here.

Recently, you donated some bicycles to the Burns Flat churches.  Pastor Dwight Shephard picked up some and distributed 2 girls’ bicycles to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  Their arrival was perfect timing as the church recently adopted the community Easter Egg Hunt.  One of the bicycles was put up for a special sort of drawing.  Adults and children were not allowed to enter their own names in the drawing, but were asked to think of a child who could really use a bike but could not afford it.

You might be thinking, “He should have specified a ‘girls’ bike.”  That was the original intent; however, prompted by the generosity of your donation, a church member donated a boy’s bike just in time for the egg hunt.

We were blessed to draw both for both and boy and girl’s bicycle.  Want more?

The reaction of both adults and youth when the names were read was one of divine providence.  I knew neither child, but it seemed that many did and these were perfect selections.

The bicycle that you donated was presented to a young lady who will not be named in this article.  She lives in Burns Flat and received quite the surprise on Easter Afternoon.  The Cumberland Presbyterian Church added several boxes of food and 2 gift cards so that the entire family was blessed.

Want just a little more?

The bicycles that you donated were picked up by the pastor of the local Assembly of God Church, given away by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and delivered by three members of the First Baptist Church of Burns Flat.  How’s that for connecting with a community.

We thank you for your donation.  I hope that you realize it’s more than pizzas and bicycles by the time we put your gifts to use.  

Blessings to you and your employees,                                                                   

Tom Spence

Pastor

Egg Hunt hits target

Burns Flat, Saturday, 4 April 10 a.m.

The sun was shining and the breeze was light, quite the blessing of great weather for hunting plastic Easter Eggs.  Much planning had taken place under the chairmanship of Heather Spence as she coordinated supplies, helpers, and people just to walk around and tell others that God loves them.

By 10:00 a.m. this past Saturday morning, leaders were walking groups of children out to their respective starting points for the Community Easter Egg Hunt that originated in the late 1980’s with the United Methodist Church in Burns Flat, was quickly transferred to the Chamber of Commerce, and last year was adopted as a mission of the Burns Flat Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

The children that arrived were not much interested in the history of the event but the two acres of colored eggs got their attention right away.  Following a prayer by Tom Spence and a briefing by Heather Spence, guides took their groups to their assigned areas and hunting began shortly after 10:00 a.m.

Some hunted fast and some took their time but with almost 2000 eggs scattered across the acreage, every child found plenty of eggs.  That translated into plenty of candy, tickets to pick gifts or candy from the “Bunny Basket,” hamburgers, pizzas, and soft drinks courtesy of Rudy’s and Gret’s, as well as some dollar coins, colorful erasers, and GOD LOVES YOU – LOVE ONE ANOTHER wristbands.

There were of course prize baskets and hollow chocolate bunnies and all of the stuff that has become associated with modern day Easter Egg Hunts; but there were also erasers shaped like a cross, Golden Books of Prayers for Children, God Loves You books, children and adult Bibles, and a gospel of John for every person that walked on the property, and many other prizes that said, “Easter is about so much more than the Easter Bunny can do for you.”

There were a few stickers in the field, fewer now as some participants took some home with them, but children and adults found the occasional thorn to be worth the trip.

There are many people and businesses and groups to thank for making today’s event a success.  The Cumberland Presbyterian Church committed last April to adopting this event so the question of “Will there be anyone to sponsor this?” was answered a year ago and the church primed the well with a healthy contribution.

MODA, Great Plains National Bank, and Washita State Bank were early contributors.  Rudy’s and Gret’s contributed just before the event, and at the very last minute, Walmart of Elk City donated some bicycles to the community, one of which was put up for a special type of drawing.

Neither children nor adults could enter themselves or their own children.  All were asked to think of another child who could use a bike but could not afford it.  Entries were for another child to be blessed by the blessing that the church had received from Walmart.  Initially, there was only a girl’s bike available, but at the last minute; Tony Dorman of Burns Flat donated a boy’s bike.

Winners were drawn at 10:45 a.m. and will be announced upon delivery to the children.

While the real meaning of Easter lies in the love of God that was so great that he sacrificed his own Son to take away our sin; the Community Easter Egg Hunt sure was an example of the abundant life that we can know by believing that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead.

That’s good news on top of a wonderful event.  The church encouraged all to worship God Sunday morning in one of our community churches.

FAQs

How many people came to the event?

Over 200 Gospels of John were given away and some families only took one copy for the entire family.  Best guess is about 250 people counting parents and helpers.

Will the church sponsor this even next year?

The plan has been to adopt this event, so the answer is most likely YES!  Should another group desire to take on this event, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church would certainly be willing to discuss passing the torch, but only if that group has a passion for such endeavors.

Will there be stickers next year?

Between spraying and mowing the church is working to eliminate as many as possible, but this is Oklahoma and those pesky burrs put up a good fight.

Do I have to be a member to come to worship at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church?

Absolutely NOT!!!!  You are most welcome to worship at the CPC.  You will also find that the other churches in Burns Flat will welcome all who seek God and his kingdom.

What is the church’s position on the Easter Bunny?

Let’s start with the hollow chocolate ones first.  Our position is that we eat those “ears first.”  Enjoy the festivities of this part of this special day, but know with certainty that you were bought at a price.  That price was the blood of Jesus.  He lived and died as a man.  He had to struggle with dying a terrible death nailed to a cross.  He endured as much pain and anguish as you or I would.  But now he is at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us.  That means that he knows what it is to live as a flesh and blood person.  He has literally felt our pain and so much more.  He died out of love for us.

So eat the bunnies and the Peeps and all the chocolate eggs that you want, but know in your heart that this special day is about a love that goes beyond what we can imagine.

God is love and we know God in the person of Jesus.