A Lubbock church kicked off Holy Week with a celebration of Palm Sunday, attracting more than 2,000 people with hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and Easter egg hunts
Barry Moore, executive pastor at Trinity Church, said his church's annual Family Fun Day event aimed to celebrate Palm Sunday — the day Christians believe Jesus returned to Jerusalem while riding a donkey and one week before Easter Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified on Good Friday.
"I think it's actually a time of celebration," he said. "Through the cross, Jesus gave us the opportunity to have life."
Moore briefly recalled the story of Palm Sunday, when crowds were said to place palm leaves in front of Jesus as a sign of his victorious ride into an Eastern capital of the Roman Empire.
"He came in riding a donkey where most kings might come into to the city as victorious leaders," he said.
To celebrate, Trinity offered an afternoon of live Christian rock music, grilled food as well as games and activities for children and families, Moore said.
David Neufeld said he and a crew of Trinity Church volunteers were tasked with the challenge of feeding the mass of people on the Trinity Church grounds and a lot west of the church.
He estimated the church's grill were cooking 400 burgers and hotdogs every hour since 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
"And we can't even keep up," he said with a laugh.
The event featured more than one dozen inflatable bounce houses and slides, which rarely took a break from jumping feet during the nearly three-hour event.
Lubbock police officers, SWAT team members and firefighters also were on hand showing off their patrol vehicles, a latter truck and police horses.
Moore said he was hopeful the law enforcement presence would bring more than safety.
"One of the things we're trying to promote is young people meeting police officers in a pleasant environment," he said. "They can realize officers are just like the rest of us."
As the older children crawled around in patrol vehicles and a SWAT truck, a line of hundreds of toddlers geared up to clear the litter of colorful, candy-filled Easter eggs from a nearby field.
Among the most successful egg sweepers was Kenzie Caudillo, a toddler just shy of 2-years-old who had her wicker Easter basket filled to the top with dozens of plastic eggs in less than five minutes of hunting.
"She knew what she was doing," her mother, Heather Howell said. "She grabbed up everything she saw."
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