Remarkable lay leadership has a symbol at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Carrollton: a pumpkin.
The second Pumpkin Pickin’ Festival on Saturday aims to outdo last year’s event that raised about $25,000 for five church ministries. From 10 am to 6 pm, the parish on the corner of Newnan and North Coleman Streets will serve barbecue, live music, games, pumpkins and more.
St. Margaret’s has glowed for decades as “the pumpkin church,” with sales of these seasonal icons benefiting youth projects. Seeds of transformation were planted during the rector’s four-month sabbatical two years ago, when The Very Rev. Jeff Jackson was gone from the 125-member congregation.
Five groups in the church worked together for the first time: Episcopal Church Women, Brotherhood of St. Margaret, Outreach, Children and Youth, and Music. With encouragement from Jackson and the vestry, but no strict directives, they pulled together to plant a one-day festival into their pumpkin patch. “Pickin’” refers to pig, pumpkin, and music picking.
“Everybody wanted to do a good job for St. Margaret’s,” said church member Diane Nivens, a professional project manager who led the festival planning volunteers. “They wanted to do a good job for themselves, and they got to do it freely. And then they got the reward of seeing how successful that was, how good that made them feel, and it’s the same group this year.
“Here, you know who you need to come to when you need help, or need to sit or brainstorm or vent, but then we also know to go forth and be wonderful.”
Jackson returned from sabbatical in time for the festival. More than 300 people visited the church grounds with crowds peaking during lunch and late afternoon. Community sponsorships came from restaurants, doctors, construction companies, and other nonprofits.
“It was amazing to go away for four months and come back to see what St. Margaret’s is capable when they work together,” he said. “They can claim the rewards of their collaboration, their shared vision, and their excellent use of their gifts to pull it off.”
The results also fulfilled to the diocesan mission to “challenge ourselves and the world to love like Jesus as we worship joyfully, serve compassionately, and grow spiritually.”
Leveling up to licensed lay ministry
After the smashing 2024 pumpkin fest, “we all just walked back in it with a wonderful spiritual confidence,” Nivens said.
She had first visited St. Margaret’s in 2021 after her husband died, drawn by the friendliness and eye contact of its members. After taking Episcopal 101, an introductory class on church history, beliefs, worship practices, and theology, she was ready to join St. Margaret’s.
Earlier in 2024, Nivens began discerning whether to become a licensed lay minister, a designation that permits people who are not clergy to provide pastoral care, sermons, Eucharist and more.
“I always have done what a lay minister does, but as a licensed lay minister, I could do that with a spiritual intention that I never knew I had,” she said.
LLMs are growing in numbers in The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. They expand support to their congregations and ministries, bring new skills to church leadership, deepen their own faith and sub for clergy. For many who are called, the licensing is a significant step of faith.
For Nivens, planning the 2024 Pumpkin Pickin’ Festival aligned with preparing to be a licensed lay minister. As a project manager, and a board member for community organizations, and she was used to leading by direct communications. As a lay minister, she became comfortable with supporting others by observing quietly.
“I love the term that I learned during training: ‘walking alongside,’” she said. “That’s what it feels like to me to be a licensed lay minister, and that’s comforting to me. I can walk alongside and be silent. Connecting with the congregation is what I do. It’s what fuels me, and then I see how it fuels them. I love to be that person.”
Nivens was commissioned on Jan. 25, 2025, and became senior warden at St. Margaret’s a few months later.
“What I feel from planning the pumpkin festival as a collective group of people is energy,” she said. “Each one of us pulling together and doing it. There’s a wonderful energy before and after the Sunday service. And this year people are asking what they can do to help, even if they didn’t sign up. ‘You just let me know where you want me,’ they say.”
The festival proceeds benefit the work of the church’s Outreach, Music Department, and Children and Youth. The Brotherhood of St. Margaret supplies the barbecue and other food offerings, Episcopal Church Women brings the baked goods, and Children and Youth lead games, manage the bounce house, and spin the cotton candy.
On Saturday, the spiritual journey of St. Margaret’s volunteers may grow as they encounter neighbors looking for more than a Halloween staple. After 20 years as “the pumpkin church,” St. Margaret’s is offering more warmth, variety, and seasonal memories to a new generation of families.
“I know from several folks who decided to darken our doors that they knew, sometimes for years, who St. Margaret’s was, but for whatever reason, they never stopped, until the Spirit led them to,” Jackson said. “The pumpkin patch is great because while a white church with a red door may fade into the background, the orange pumpkins shine like a beacon to the community saying, ‘Hey! It’s fall! Pumpkins are here! You’re welcome to be here, come join us!’”
For information on becoming a licensed lay minister, contact Sally Ulrey, Canon for Congregational Vitality & Ministry Development, Sulrey@episcopalatlanta.org