On Sunday, August 6, Florissant Valley Christian Church members set up tents and tables on the church lawn and offered free ice cream treats to those driving by. Roughly 100 people stopped to enjoy the treats and have fellowship with church members.

To provide ice cream treats for the event, the church engaged an ice cream vending truck. The congregation gave away roughly $360 in treats. Church members brought sack lunches and paid for their own ice cream treats, and visitors were greeted with a welcome and free treats.

Pastor Mike Dixon commented to one of the visitors, “After I preached this morning about Jesus feeding the Five Thousand with free bread and fish, we fed the community with free ice cream.” Burma-Shave style signs and the church sign advertised the event ahead of time, and church members and children stood at the sidewalk waving towels and shouting “Free Ice Cream!” helped draw visitors. Church kids and visitor’s kids played lawn games, chased each other, and had a good time, while church members had friendly conversations with the visitors, handing out refrigerator magnets with the church card on them.

The purpose wasn’t to attract new members, though that would be a desired side effect, but to give back to the community and to help visitors discover that Flo Valley is a warm, friendly, and hospitable church. The other purpose was just to make people happy and to create smiles—mission accomplished!

Story and photos courtesy of Interim Pastor Rev. Mike Dixon.