On Halloween night, the people of BridgePointe hosted twelve Bright Lights parties in their neighborhoods. With refreshments, glow-in-the-dark games, goodie bags, and plenty of candy, thousands of trick-or-treaters encountered a church in their community that loves them and cares about them.

This is BridgePointe’s 4th time hosting Bright Lights. Each year the event is an opportunity for people to meet the church as a neighbor or friend instead of a building or location. Guests to the parties, especially children, responded positively to the uniqueness of the stops with comments such as,

“This is so cool and thoughtful that you guys would do this, ”

“Do you do this every year? Can we come back next year?” and

“This is the best house in the neighborhood!”

Sometimes a deeper level of engagement and interaction took place. One guest remarked, "My family goes to BridgePointe and have been trying to get me to go, I feel like this is a sign from God. I am going to go.”

Just as Jesus often met people right where they were- in fishing boats, at tax collector tables, even in the midst of their mess (see John 8), BrightLights let us connect with those that are right where we are, in our neighborhoods.

This recap slideshow captures some of the fun of the night and shares some of the experiences of the hosts who threw the parties in their yards. Whether you gave candy, helped, hosted or just prayed for the event — thank you. Thank you for helping us continue to find one more person to share God’s love with.

What a great way to see love in action. A majority of the people who came up to the driveway were floored that we had more than just candy to offer. - Chris

It was really fun hosting a Bright Lights party with my mom and Branden because we got to bump into some people that also came to our church so we were pretty excited. A lot of people thought it was pretty neat that our church gave us all the equipment and candy to host the party to make it fun for everyone. - Cristina

For me personally it was a great way to meet neighbors that are new to my neighborhood. We had a greater turnout than expected, largely through word of mouth, with kids coming over from other streets. People did not want to leave!! - Amanda

I grew up not celebrating Halloween because I was taught the day was evil. To say I was apprehensive about participating in Bright Lights is an understatement.

Once I saw the smiles on children's faces, heard the many thanks from parents, and experienced the joy of fellowship with other church members I knew I made the right choice. There's no doubt in my mind; we were a blessing to many. Can't wait to volunteer next year." - Kitashia

I was really excited to host a Bright Lights party because we got to show people that we care for them, that we love them, and that we are taking our time to do something different for them and their families. I loved the fact that people were open to listening to us when it came to us talking about Jesus and BridgePointe. - Orlando

I love this event. This opportunity to connect with those closest to us, gives us a chance to share about a church that loves our community and enjoys having fun together. Sometimes the conversation happens right then and there, but usually this event builds a bridge for us to connect in the future. - Josh

It was a great way to get to know people from the church a lot better, OUTSIDE of the church. Too often we go, enjoy the service, and then move on with our day and miss the opportunity to connect with others. Hosting this party was a great way to meet new people and just enjoy serving others together. - Chris

The church made it so easy for us to be the example of love with such simple items. On a chilly night, the fact that we had hot chocolate floored people and gave us the opportunity to answer a simple question of, “why are you doing this?” with an even simpler response of, “why not?"

We had a lot of fun seeing the different costumes and smiles (even on the scarier costumes) when we could play games or give out prizes.