Dennis Magaña – Montrose, Colorado … The Pathfinder and Adventurer Clubs of the Maranatha Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church in Montrose, Colorado, participated in the Parade of Lights, December 7. In years past, the Maranatha Church decorated a float to participate in the parade. This year, club leadership decided it would not decorate a float but would set up a stand where Parade of Light viewers could get a cup of hot chocolate, fresh baked banana bread, and Adventist literature.
With temperatures dropping into the 20s, over 400 cups of hot chocolate were handed out by our club ministries team. Especially heartwarming was the sight of people taking literature to read and getting to talk to our youth about their clubs.
A big hit was the clubs’ Pathfinder Grinch, with folks lining up to take pictures. The Pathfinder Grinch loves Christmas and took every opportunity to let people know what the true meaning of Christmas is all about, Jesus.
“What really surprised us was how many people could not believe that we were just giving away hot chocolate, banana bread, and literature,” remarked one of the organizers. “Many of them wanted to pay us but our young people respectfully declined, letting them know that it was a pleasure and honor to serve them.”
It brings to mind what Ellen G. White wrote in Testimonies for The Church [9:109 (1909)]: “In the cities of today, where there is so much to attract and please, the people can be interested by no ordinary efforts. Ministers of God’s appointment will find it necessary to put forth extraordinary efforts in order to arrest the attention of the multitudes. And when they succeed in bringing together a large number of people, they must bear messages of a character so out of the usual order that the people will be aroused and warned. They must make use of every means that can possibly be devised for causing the truth to stand out clearly and distinctly.”
—Dennis Magaña is head elder at Montrose Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist Church. Photos supplied.
