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Rocknoceros

Rocknoceros by stmatthewsva This past Saturday my friends Mason and Miriam arranged for a mission trip fundraiser at our church.  They brought in the kids band Rocknoceros.  These guys were just great.

They write and perform their own songs which range from simply silly to educational. . . and silly.  They had a kazoo and a vibra-bell (I think that's what it was).  Really though the music was just fun.  What really surprised me though was how they really recognized the needs of their audience.

These guys are singing to kids anywhere from under 1 year old to over 7.  You can only imagine how much the younger kids wanted to sit still and listen to music for an hour.

hula hooping by stmatthewsva So, Rocknoceros also brought hula hoops and sidewalk chalk.  Some kids simply ran around and played but lots of people hula hooped, played with the hoops and drew on the sidewalk.  A lot of parents took the hoops and rolled them along, letting their kids run along after it.  They even had enough jokes to keep the adults entertained (and we all loved singing along to Yellow Submarine).

Rachel even convinced me to give it a try, but I have no hips and, in general, just stink at that.  I certainly gave the adults an enjoyable time watching me hoop without much hula.

rocknoceros by stmatthewsvaIt may have helped that the weather was gorgeous.  About 77 degrees and decent sun without baking us. 

Overall though it turned out to be an awesome day with tons and tons of people coming out.  After our parents night out bombed last week, I was nervous about this one (3 out of 17 kids signed up actually showed.  But those 3 had a blast).  I met a ton of people who had never even heard of our church, all of whom had either heard of Rocknoceros or simply come out because they were invited.  Everyone I saw (Except some older kids who dozed) went away having loved the event.

rocknoceros by stmatthewsva There are a couple of pictures up on our flickr site which are definitely worth checking out. 

We did a surprisingly small amount of advertising for this event.  We only showed the event during the announcement slides before church, in the bulletin and as a church-wide e-mail.  We didn't even make a verbal announcement of the event.  And still people were interested enough to bring themselves and lots of friends.

I am often amazed at how people will come out to things if they're invited and they're interested in the activity.  People don't want to come out to bible study to learn more about god, they can get that at their own church if they want.  But when you have a quality show that interests someone, they'll come on out.  This really needs to be the way we focus at reaching people.

Peace
+Tom

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Miriam said…
Hula hoops and sidewalk chalk were provided by the one and only and always prepared, Mrs. Jodie Leach! It was a super fun morning.
April 24, 2008 at 11:34:00 AM EDT
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