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 At
2:40 in the afternoon on Fridays the dismissal bell
rings at
Loves Park Elementary School.
The children leave the school building and get
into the buses and cars or walk home.
Right across the street there stands a building, Grace
Lutheran
Church.
Ordinarily the building is relatively empty and
quiet on a Friday afternoon.
Some Fridays, however, something exciting goes on
at Grace. Pastor
Dustin Lenz has filled the building with the children
and involved them in all sorts of games and activities.
If you visit the church during the Friday Fun
Fest, you will see well organized classes and
activities. Adult
volunteers from Grace interact with the children one on
one and teach them how to knit, cook, dance, operate
computers, create origami projects, build bookcases and
birdhouses out of wood, sew, make arts and crafts and
repair bicycles.
 All
kinds of volunteers show up with tools and supplies an
hour or so before the bell rings.
In the air you can feel the excitement and
anticipation and folks are rushing here and there
preparing for the special visitors.
When the bell rings at the school, there are
volunteers with attendance sheets and each child is
accounted for, given a name tag and escorted safely to
the church.
Upon entering the church, the children are again
accounted for one by one on an attendance record.
They put their belongings into assigned areas and
report to the gymnasium.
Pastor Dustin and his many helpers occupy the
children in all sorts of fun games until all the kids
have arrived. As the students congregate the noise level
rises and the children are very energetic, having been
seated at their desks for the better part of the
previous 7 ½ hours.
Pastor Dustin uses a megaphone to bring order and
give game instructions.
The children play games for about an hour.
 Then,
in an orderly fashion refreshments are enjoyed and each
youngster reports to his or her activity area.
Attendance is taken again in each class.
The operation is very well organized and the
safety and security of the children is never overlooked.
There is a wonderful energy in the building when the
classes are in session.
People are communicating and forming friendships.
Adults are helping children acquire new skills
and children are helping adults feel needed.
There are so many great children from the school.
It is such a blessing to get to meet them and to
invite them into the building for fun and fellowship.
 When
classes are over the children sit in the Sanctuary until
their parents arrive.
Pastor Dustin always has super fun activities
prepared for them and involves them in performing skits.
They are very enthusiastic about performing in
front of each other and watching each other perform.
When parents arrive, some of the children are
reluctant to leave because they do not want to miss the
action.
Senior Pastor Brent Dahlseng greets the parents when
they arrive in the Smith Lounge to pick up their
children. The
pastors at Grace are all very friendly and welcoming.
The children and their parents are becoming familiar
with the church and the people, and the building across
the street from their school is no longer a mysterious
place. It is an
inviting, friendly, safe place filled with people who
are kind and compassionate.
 While
the children are having some fun at Friday Fun Fest,
they are learning skills.
Some will never forget how to knit.
Some may become carpenters and remember the first
time they struck a nail with a hammer at Grace.
The children are our neighbors and will grow up
and share this community with us and our children.
The pastors and the people at Grace care about
their neighbors and want to stand beside each one of
them as they journey through life. It would be good if
as they travel through life the children remember a safe
place across the street from their school where there
are people who care about them and love to see them.
FOR INFORMATION CALL
815-633-8075
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