My wife and I still treat our daughter, nieces, nephews and the kids of a few friends. I've never been big on Halloween, but since my wife loves kids so much, I've never bucked her on it. The church we used to attend started having Trunk or Treat to give kids a supposedly safe alternative rather than having to go door to door to collect candy. We supported it and actually enjoyed it.

The church we now attend, North Clay Baptist, does not have a Trunk or Treat. Several years back, a friend of our pastor visiting from Tanzania (where he is a pastor), walked through a Trunk or Treat at a church in Birmingham and said he was appalled at such a display. He said these kinds of things are what we fight against in Africa (part of it was the costumes he said the children were wearing). His questioning this practice caused our pastor to really think about Trunk or Treat. Our pastor discussed this with our Children's minister, and the result was not doing Trunk or Treat (however, there is no judgment to churches who choose to do the Trunk or Treat), but to do something that no one else was basically doing for Halloween. The Children's minister worked with other's and I believe they said for 10 years now, they have done a walk through presentation for families called "1517". Of course, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the doors of the church in Wittenburg, Germany, the beginning of the Reformation. The presentation was always done on the weekend of or before Halloween on Saturday and Sunday nights. On Sunday evening, after the families did the walk thru, there would be food, arts and crafts, and a few games in the church gym. This year, for the first time, the presentation was done 5 times (October 22nd, 23rd, 26th, 29th and 30th). The response has been great every year, and especially good (almost a little overwhelming) this year. So many people say they new nothing about this part of the history of the church. And, at the final stopping point of the walk thru, our pastor presents the gospel to each group.

I'm not saying this is for everyone, but I believe it is a good alternative to celebrating Halloween. In light of this, instead of wishing everyone Happy Halloween, I'll just say, Happy Reformation Day. Hope everyone has had a good weekend and for those with children that will be out and about tonight, be safe.