A COOL DAY....

Over the past three weeks , we challenged our church to bring food to stock our Community Care Food Pantry. We have been giving out alot of food over the past 12 months. There is a big need for people who are finding themselves squeezed by economic realities. So today was the day, and the front of the stage was just FULL. I loved seeing people bring their food sacks in. From Senior Adults, to very young kids, they brought the food in and put it on the stage.

Why was this important?

1. It is the responsibility of the church to reach out and feed those who need food. The church can do a great job with this, if we take it seriously. There are lots of other things that our small groups and classes do for people. But this is something everyone can get involved in.

2. I love the idea of getting the church involved in this. We could go buy food, but that does not give us "buy in" with the congregation. We could go door to door in the neighborhoods and collect food. That's not a bad idea, but why not just ask the church to bring it? We did and they did.

3. We need to give people of all ages opportunities to GIVE. It's not just about money in the offering plate. We want to expand this aspect of stewardship to show people there are lots of ways to give. Food, time, encouragement, prayers, love, and so much more!

4. We needed a "tangible" way to show people that we have resources that we want to share. God has blessed us, and in turn, we believe that we are to be a blessing. We want to bless our church family and our community. This was just one way we could do this...

I thought our church family responded in a fantastic way. And I know that we will continue to do so.

One other side note... today at the end of services, we prayed for 7 people that will be part of our FCC "GO" Teams for this summer. We will have people in China, Thailand, Honduras, and Cambodia this summer ( there may be more!). Again, this is a way to give to the work of the Kingdom of God. Some great stories there.... stay tuned.