Walnut Creek Windsor Heights Throws Community Super Bowl Potluck Party

Walnut Creek Windsor Heights hosted a Super Bowl party as a unique opportunity to unite members from across congregations and invite people in to enjoy community and a meal together.

“This party was a great opportunity to fellowship across services and locations, and reach out with your kids,” said Jessica White of Walnut Creek Windsor Heights.

The focus wasn’t only on the game. Instead of watching the Superbowl halftime show, Pastor Terry Amann introduced a video produced by the Seattle Seahawks called, “The Making of a Champion.” In the video, numerous Seahawk players and coaches share their testimonies and the gospel in a clear way.

Jessica said her favorite part of the party was its goal, to reach out to people together: “The party offered a door to meet new people who might not come to church for any other reason,” Jessica said. “You tell people there’s food and football, and they’re interested.”

While most of the kids spent the evening jumping in the castle-themed bounce house, Superbowl fans gathered around the full food tables throughout the game. Guests were asked to bring a side to share, and Jon Touchette of Walnut Creek Windsor Heights was encouraged by everyone’s willingness to contribute. He made his own crowd favorite, fried spinach.

“We were concerned about not having enough food, but as always, we had more than enough,” Jon said. “It was a cool reminder of the generosity of people. People always want to come together to help with events like this.”

To watch the video, visit makingofachampion.org.

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By Jackie Wallentin
Walnut Creek Windsor Heights

Of God and Basketball

Upward Basketball players look for a rebound at Walnut Creek Downtown.

As the first round of the NCAA Tournament kicks off this week, another successful season of Upward basketball through Walnut Creek Church has officially come to an end. A total of 631 basketball players and 83 cheerleaders in grades kindergarten through eighth participated in this year’s program.

“My favorite part was making new friends,” said second grade basketball player Noah Lima. “I worked on my shooting form and cross-over dribble and learned that God is with us through it all.” Kindergarten basketball player Ahman Johnson offered a similar review: “I liked learning how to shoot and learning to be a good teammate and how to play the game and have fun.”

The boys’ dad D’Angelo Johnson coached both teams. “I enjoyed being there and encouraging them from the sidelines and really being involved with their development both on the court and during devotional times,” Johnson said.

Besides being the biggest Upward basketball season yet, it was also the most organized. “We put in a lot of time in the off season that would make it more organized,” said Emily Warford, who volunteers on Walnut Creek’s Upward basketball board. “We also met every week as a board to talk about how things were going.”

The devotional videos shown at half time were a highlight of this year’s season. Every Walnut Creek Church pastor took a week to share something related to the theme, “The person and work of Jesus,” in videos produced by Matt Shattuck and SueAnn Chong. The pastors used the opportunity to share the gospel with the kids and their families and to tell them how much God loves them and what it means to be a follower of Christ.

The nine-week season was also divided into three areas of focus: self-control, responsibility, and hope. Each area of focus featured a bible verse that the players and coaches worked on memorizing over the three-week period.

Other Upward basketball board members include Dave Rude, Chrissy Bloom, Rachel Bohacek, Becca Close, KayDee Cross, Jen Engdahl, Blake Kruger, Kyle Kurtenbach, Ricki Meyer, Leah Wake, and Joel Winters.

“It’s great to see Christ’s body coming together and people dying to themselves and putting in lots of time to make the league as successful as it was,” Kurtenbach said. “The kids gained a good balance of learning how to play the game of basketball and how God fits in—not only into basketball, but also their lives.”