By Sharon Mager

Huntingtown, MD — Everything was jolly at Emmanuel Church Dec. 5-7, when over 1200 guests attended the church’s first Christmas Wonderland event. “It was incredible,” said Lead Pastor Rick Hancock. Bayside Baptist Church, Chesapeake Beach, and Calvert Grace Community Church, Owings, provided vans to transport volunteers and guests who parked remotely. Local police helped with traffic. But beyond the numbers, the church was thrilled with the opportunities to engage their neighbors and invite them to their Christmas Eve service.

Families had a blast taking free carriage rides pulled by Clydesdale horses. (Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Church)

The entire campus was decorated, and there were activities for the whole family: Clydesdales and Santa and cookies and cocoa, bonfires and stories, fun crafts and some fake snow (you can sing it to “My Favorite Things”). Christmas characters spread cheer throughout the campus and interacted with guests — penguins, Minions, Buddy the Elf, the Gingerbread Man, and Frozen favorites Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven the Reindeer (who was portrayed by a pony named Buttercup wearing antlers). Families took photos with Santa, and Mrs. Clause read books to children. Many took advantage of the free carriage rides with the Clydesdales, who recently delivered the White House Christmas tree. Through it all, carolers sang holiday favorites and volunteers served Christmas cookies and cocoa. Visitors who wanted to relax watched classic movies in the sanctuary. Meanwhile, a snow machine cranked out flakes to enhance the Christmas mood.

As guests boarded the “train” to see Santa, they had an opportunity to complete short forms to win one of three Amazon gift cards. The information voluntarily provided will be used to send invitations for the Christmas Eve service at 3, 5, and 7 p.m. The invitation was also printed on directories guests received as they entered the “Wonderland.”

Over 150 church members volunteered to help in the various areas, including greeting, caroling, manning Santa’s station, baking cookies (over 2,000) and serving cocoa, assisting with crafts, parking duties, and much more. Deacon Steve Shipp was the original organizer for the event and got the ball rolling, but due

The Frozen team and the children who visited them had a great time. (Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Church)

to health issues, he handed off the leadership to Leslie Arigo. Hancock said, “Steve’s leadership was greatly appreciated.” He said all of the volunteers did an excellent job and served well.

The community response was tremendous, and the church was pleased. Arigo said, “I definitely saw some of the same families coming back more than once; that spoke a lot to me, especially at such a busy time of year.”

Hancock shared, “One of my favorite stories is when a woman approached my wife, Lisa, and said, ‘Thank you, especially for doing this on a Thursday night.’ The woman explained that she shares custody with her ex-husband, who has the kids every weekend. She told Lisa, ‘I never get to do these fun events with the children.‘”

Hancock said that was eye-opening for him. “I never thought about families with shared custody.”

Another person said she was so thankful the church had gluten-free cookies — a treat she rarely gets at Christmas events.

Hancock said, “We wanted it to smell, sound and feel like Christmas. We wanted people to be able to come to something free and fun that no one else in the area was doing. Lost people aren’t necessarily interested in carols or cantatas, but they do like Santa. We want to meet people where they are and bring them to where Jesus wants them to be. It was a huge hit, and, Lord-willing, we’ll do it again next year.”

 “We want to meet people where they are

and bring them to where Jesus wants them to be.”

Hancock explained that the Christmas event was a change in the church’s fall/winter outreach strategy. They usually had a fall festival but wanted something different. “We had a good number come each year, and we gave out candy and connected, but we felt something was lacking. We were disconnecting from the purpose of reaching people and sharing the message. We did away with the fall festival and decided to do something with a link to our Christmas Eve service.”

Potomac Baptist Association Director of Missions Fred Caudle and his wife, Kay, visit Santa. (Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Church) visit Santa Clause.

With a Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware Strengthening Churches grant and funds they would have used from the Fall Festival, the church borrowed the Christmas outreach idea from Oak Ridge Church (ORC) in Salisbury. Oak Ridge hosts a similar outreach each year called Santa’s Wonderland (Dec. 12 – 14). Hancock said ORC’s Pastor Brian Moss shared about the church’s annual Christmas event at The Dream Conference (which will be on March 6-7 at Oak Ridge Church) and encouraged other churches to use it and make it their own.

Hancock said God has been blessing Emmanuel in amazing ways. This Sunday, they will baptize four individuals, bringing the total for the year to 45. “We are so excited. It’s the highest number since 2016.”

The church has a baptismal service on the last Sunday of each month. Hancock said, “We do that strategically, even if it’s one person, because we know they (baptismal candidates) invite lost family and friends to watch, and they get a chance to hear the gospel.

Sharon Mager serves as communications specialist/news & stories editor