Harvest of Talents Saturday a day to show love for others through giving

 

[October 27, 2024] 

Saturday, October 26 was a beautiful sunny day for the 41st Harvest of Talents at Lincoln Christian Church.

The church foyer was set up with numerous indoor booths that included handcrafted jewelry, wreaths, quilts, Christmas décor and ornaments, baby gifts, fashion accessories, “man cave” items, baked goods, breads, jams, honey, home canned goods, homemade candies, and handmade items from various mission fields.

While people were shopping, they could park their car at the curb by the church’s Pekin Street entrance. For a donation, Aaron Roemer and his father Art checked the vehicle’s tire pressure and oil, topped off windshield washer fluid, washed the windshields and dusted and vacuumed the vehicles’ interior.

At the H.O.T. spa, people could get their hair braided or nails painted for a small donation.

For the second year in a row, people could participate in a passport experience by purchasing a “passport” for a $10 donation. This passport allowed them to visit different areas to learn more about some countries the International Disaster Emergency Service has helped over the years. These countries include Guatemala, Haiti, India, Kenya, Kosovo, Myanmar, Tajikistan and Tanzania.

At these areas, people could have their face painted. The Burmese people in Myanmar often have gold painted cheeks for decoration. The high SPF in the thanaka paste made from the ground bark of sandalwood trees also helps protect them from the hot sun.

In the sanctuary was tour guide Angela Rogers, who for many years served with her family as a missionary in Africa. Rogers represented ministries that included COPE ministries, the East African Christian mission and CMF Kenya and Tanzania. She shared a Swahili language lesson to teach everyone some basic terms, then showed everybody items from Africa.

Activities at other stations included getting Henna body art, making colorful handmade kites and creating flowers from tissue paper.

Downstairs in the children’s ministry area, a Lego station was set up and several children and their families enjoyed building with Legos.

God Always Provides (G.A.P) represented the mission International Disaster Emergency service. In this area, people of all ages had an opportunity to serve together by packing nutritious meals for those suffering from hunger around the world. Each sealed packets contained rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables, and vitamins and minerals. In just a few hours, over 2000 packets were boxed up.

In the morning, hungry shoppers enjoyed cinnamon and caramel pecan rolls, homemade breakfast burritos, and fried potatoes.

At lunchtime, volunteers served delicious homemade vegetable soup, pulled pork, sloppy joes, and a variety of desserts. Linda Seggelke coordinated the volunteers who used the original homemade stock recipe [from the early years of Harvest of Talents] to make the soup.

International Disaster Emergency Services Executive Director David Stine said that what started here at Lincoln Christian Church [in 1984] is now being done at seven churches. This year, two churches started their own Harvest of Talents, and other churches are talking about doing it too.

As Stine said, it leads to so many more people fed in hard places around the world and leads to more people hearing about God. What Stine sees happening at Harvest of Talents is a “crazy amount of generosity” with people not only giving something they created, but also their time, talents and financial gifts.

Planning the Harvest of Talents takes quite a bit of time and energy. H.O.T. Co-Chairs Bethany Henry and Natalie Morris helped ensure everything was getting done on this day and throughout the weeks and months leading up to the event. It takes months of work and planning and many volunteers to prepare for this event that raises over $100,000 to feed the hungry each year. In 41 years, the Harvest of Talents has raised over 2.8 million dollars.

At one o’clock, volunteers were busy taking down unsold items from the booths in the foyer and setting up chairs for the H.O.T. auction.

Before the auction began, Natalie Morris welcomed everyone to the auction. She told people to grab a snack and drink and get ready to shop.

Jon Gillespie, who was a preaching intern at Lincoln Christian Church when H.O.T. began opened the auction with a prayer saying our purpose is to love everyone. He thanked God for the many talents and time people shared plus the tireless work of IDES sharing and showing God’s love to those around the world. Gillespie closed the prayer by saying it is about providing food to starving souls.

Auctioneer Mike Maske donated his time as he has for many years and encouraged people to keep raising their bids. Several people were bidding against one another on popular items like handmade quilts and handcrafted charcuterie boards and tables.

One of the most unique and popular items was a computer gaming system built from scratch with all new parts by Cody and Elijah Blaum of Alaska. The Blaum boys are great great nephews of H.O.T founder Pat Snyder and in her honor, the cover is etched with the words Harvest of Talents Founders Edition. Several people bid on the gaming system, which ended up going for $2500.

Another special group of items were donated by the Harvest team in honor of the late Joe Schaler and his work with veterans. “Joe’s Legacy” items included a handcrafted rolling pin made by Ed Logan with its holder made by Barry King and a package of twelve cinnamon rolls. For many years, Schaler helped prepare hundreds of homemade cinnamon and pecan rolls for the Harvest of Talents.

The first fruit offerings were done by two youngsters. One was two-year-old Esther Carter, whose picture was done with paint markers. The other first fruit offering was a 3D printed backlit Nativity made by fourteen-year-old William H. Smith.

Besides the numerous handmade items, many donated gift certificates for services like a hot air balloon ride, bread baking lessons, baseball instruction, a line dance tutorial, tattoo time, lawncare, landscaping, hair care, massages, chiropractic care and health coaching sessions. There were also certificates for made-to-order cake, cheesecake and sugar cookies.

Whether you use your talents to make something to sell at Harvest of Talents or buy the handcrafted items, you contribute to the important work IDES does. The money raised will help feed some of the many hungry people in the world. The far-reaching support for this work shows people the love of Christ and will hopefully continue for generations to come.

[Angela Reiners]