Annual church night

“There you go,” says Christ Community youth pastor Scott Bryant enthusiastically. “Thanks for coming!”

Bryant has a row of rainbow-colored ice treats in front of him, and they’re disappearing quickly as folks come from conversations at the well-filled Northeast Park pavilion picnic tables for a light dessert.

“We planned for about 300 people,” says Bryant of the crowd. “We probably had a fair number more than that, since we’ve started to run out of food.”

Hot dogs, chips and beverages were on the menu, and have been being served for most of two hours as the iced treats continue to disappear. All around Bryant’s serving location, families are talking; children are playing on the nearby equipment while adults supervise.

Christ Community Church, located just across the street from Northeast Park, has reserved not only the pavilion, but also the nearby waterpark for this evening’s events. The meal they are serving is free to all comers.

The purpose of the gathering, Bryant says, is to broaden the church’s presence in the community. The church has recently finished its summer Vacation Bible School program and is looking forward to its fall programs for children and youth.

“We wanted to provide an event that served families, that gave them a setting where they could mingle and enjoy fellowship.”

Christ Community Church has been in Waseca since the 1960s. Its 250 members are currently served by both Bryant, in charge of youth programs, and senior pastor Rick Wulf. In addition to its regular worship sessions, the church offers a Spanish service on Monday evenings.

Bryant estimates that roughly 40 percent of the people present this evening are members of Christ Community. The rest, he says, are likely present because of the extensive outreach members have done to invite families for the evening. He says he is thrilled that so many families are joining in on the sense of community which the evening is meant to provide.

“And we plan for even more over at the waterpark,” he observes. There, the church has paid to open the swimming facilities free of charge for all comers.

In the pool, people of all ages enjoy the variety of facilities; by 7:30 p.m., nearly 400 people have already arrived.

“This is really fun,” comments diving board gymnast Ashton Hayes. “It was really nice of the church to do this for us.”

“I’ve never come here before,” comments one nearby adult. “This is a great park…and we all get to swim for free!”