SATURDAY AFTERNOONS
Heading out soon to go on our regular Grace Care outreach, taking hot meals and pantry bags to guys living in rooming houses around Patchogue. These badly maintained, overcrowded, overpriced homes for those who have nowhere else to go are a sad comment on a society that falls way short in caring for its weakest members.
The slumlord owners make a fortune out of renting rooms to be shared by two or three men at a cost that takes almost every dime of their limited monthly incomes. So we take them a good meal (and I mean good), plus some other things to help them through the week. We hope they see we're caring people and while we don't push our faith down their throats, quite a number of guys we meet on Saturdays have started coming to church on Sundays and developed a relationship with Jesus.
A couple of years ago a pastor suggested I shouldn't be doing this any more as I'm the pastor of a good size church and should leave this kind of thing to others.
Well, let me make it clear, we have a great team of people who do this outreach every week whether it's 100 degrees or 10 degrees and they are supplemented each week by other volunteers.
Our mobile soup kitchen doesn't need me - I need it!
I need to be out among people that are hurting. I need to stay connected to the real world. I need to be able to chat with and pray for those that few others care about. I need the fulfilment of seeing the smile that comes to the face of a broken man when we plough through snow to make sure he eats well, reminding him that he is special to God.
I'll never be a leader who pontificates but doesn't do it himself. I want to be a good general and lead from the front. "Do as I say" will not cut it in our church. "Do as I do" has a far better ring to it.
So I'm off to have fun! Bet your afternoon won't be half as good as mine!!!
The slumlord owners make a fortune out of renting rooms to be shared by two or three men at a cost that takes almost every dime of their limited monthly incomes. So we take them a good meal (and I mean good), plus some other things to help them through the week. We hope they see we're caring people and while we don't push our faith down their throats, quite a number of guys we meet on Saturdays have started coming to church on Sundays and developed a relationship with Jesus.
A couple of years ago a pastor suggested I shouldn't be doing this any more as I'm the pastor of a good size church and should leave this kind of thing to others.
Well, let me make it clear, we have a great team of people who do this outreach every week whether it's 100 degrees or 10 degrees and they are supplemented each week by other volunteers.
Our mobile soup kitchen doesn't need me - I need it!
I need to be out among people that are hurting. I need to stay connected to the real world. I need to be able to chat with and pray for those that few others care about. I need the fulfilment of seeing the smile that comes to the face of a broken man when we plough through snow to make sure he eats well, reminding him that he is special to God.
I'll never be a leader who pontificates but doesn't do it himself. I want to be a good general and lead from the front. "Do as I say" will not cut it in our church. "Do as I do" has a far better ring to it.
So I'm off to have fun! Bet your afternoon won't be half as good as mine!!!
posted by Roger Blackmore | 1:29 PM
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