Shayne Mason Vincent – Casper, Wyoming … Every year, when autumn brings us its changing leaves and crisp morning air, the Casper church social committee, in coordination with Mills Spring Ranch (MSR), puts together a community hayride in the mountains at MSR.

Through advertising on social media and the budding reputation of MSR in the Casper area this year, the September 24 event brought in more than 600 community visitors. MSR provided burgers and hotdogs and church members provided side dishes, as well as trucks, and volunteers.

It was a huge blessing for both the church members and the community. The event was well coordinated with a sign-up, tickets, and bullhorn announcements for the dozens of hayride trips needed to accommodate such large groups of visitors.

The local Casper church and MSR were blessed in that several of those community members signed up for the annual Winter Retreat that Casper church holds every February. The rustic retreat requires snowmobiles and side-by sides forging their way into camp through 20’ deep snowdrifts. They are greeted with good fellowship, food, hot cocoa, and roaring fires in the auditorium.

Brent Learned, MSR camp director, was also encouraged by the large number of parents who signed up their kids for summer camp. Many stated that they remembered coming to MSR at some point in their own childhood, or for the annual free horseback riding event.

Tom McDonald who heads up coordination for the event said, “I talked with lots of kids and shared about summer camp and they were asking their parents if they could go. Several people also told me how much they’d enjoyed the horseback rides back in July and when they saw this event on Facebook, they decided right away to bring their kids back up.”

Many families stayed after the rides to play volleyball Ga-ga ball and to enjoy the playground. One woman asked if she could “bring her kids back to go hiking out to the point to view the whole valley”. Another family shared the makings for s’mores they’d brought up with others around the campfire.

Liz Cornett, a Casper church member, commented that, “There was a couple with an active little 2-year-old girl who was running around and playing in the dirt, super excited to go on the hayride. The mother sat and talked to me for a while, telling me how wonderful it was that we were providing this for the community and how beautiful it was.”

It was also a bittersweet day for the Casper church as it was the last Sabbath for Pastor Shayne and his wife Gabriela’s before they relocate to the Daytona, Florida church since he is still on oxygen 13 months after his bout with Covid. They were grateful for such a blessed send off, seeing the Casper church and MSR thriving in love for one another and for their community.

Casper and MSR plan to continue these events in coming years as a way of both serving the community and doing evangelism during local ministry events. They would like to remind everyone that Winter Retreat, Camp meeting, and Youth Camp are open to all in Rocky Mountain Conference.

–Shayne Mason Vincent who served as pastor of the Casper, Wyoming, district pastor is now pastor of Daytona Adventist Church, Florida. Photos supplied.