Bulverde UMC plays host to kids
from Children’s Home for Easter

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
The Bulverde UMC grounds were teeming with children from Methodist Children’s Home March 31 as they searched for 1,000 Easter eggs.
The event was the first Easter activity the Bulverde congregation has staged for the San Antonio outreach office of the Waco-based home. But the church has played host to Christmas programs in the past.
“We just have such a blast,” said Associate Pastor Steve Coker. “The Christmas program is such a blessing. We just thought, ‘There’s got to be something else we can do.’ We really just wanted to expand the outreach and have another opportunity to share with (the kids).”
Children from 3 months to 13 years enjoyed such activities as jumping on a castle moon bounce, bobbing for ducks in a pond, designing Easter- themed crafts and taking pictures with the Easter Bunny. Members of the church shared the Resurrection story with the children—an opportunity Coker said they didn’t have during the Christmas event.
“I got to sit in on the Resurrection story, and I learned some, too,” said Rhonda Dyer, director of Methodist Children’s Home’s San Antonio outreach office. “The kids enjoyed it a lot.
“Part of our mission (at the home) is to offer hope, and they learned about why Jesus forgave their sins and their hope for the future. It really was neat. It made a difference.”
Coker said he hopes the Easter event will become an annual celebration—because the church has plenty of people who would offer to help with it.
But mostly because it benefited the children.
“This (gathering) showed them that they’re really loved by all the community,” Coker said. “They’re seeing complete strangers giving them presents and reading them stories and hugging them and giving them a meal. They’re realizing that the faith community is larger than a household. It really is about God loving them through other people.
“And they have a lot of fun. This is an opportunity for them to get out of their environment and just have fun.”