Recipe For Surprising A Friend

•E-mail and call friends of said friends and plan a party

•Make sure said friends aren't accidentally on the bulk e-mail list

•Limit whispers of party to 5 decibels, in case one of the two said friends has super-human ears (this one does)

•Decorate for party while honorees are at choir practice, make sure they don't see you hauling in supplies

•Bring in plenty of food, carry-in style. Hope that nothing is carried-in in plain view of said friends.

•Whatever you do, do NOT mention any congratulations to these friends about their one year anniversary as church staff (and their Sunday School leaders). Act like you forgot all about it.

•Make sure they don't go home after church by assigning someone to shadow their steps.

•When everyone is in place, shut the door, assign a couple to go get the Sunday School teachers to be honored, and explain that you really need to talk to them about something important up in the classroom, acting like you need counseling, and hang heads just a bit to show just how serious it is.

•Open the door to the classroom and allow all well-wishers to yell "Surprise!"

And...it really was!

We have pastored churches where the congregation didn't honor our anniversary of how many years we had been at the church, but here is our Sunday School class making sure the day didn't go by without them honoring our day.

How sweet to see the smiling faces, hear the kind words, taste the special recipes, see the festive decor and even a money tree (which we joked that we wanted to plant and see if it would grow MORE money).

Cost for total recipe? Priceless. (Sorry-I couldn't resist.)