Hey Brodie,
I’ve been thinking about all the things I’ve learned at Church on the Street and something finally tumbled out!
From the perspective of one who used to arrange for a large group to serve meals at the Pine Street lot, here’s some of what I’ve learned. (I really want to try to say this without bashing drive-by ministries!)
Planning, preparing meals, sorting donations and getting volunteers to serve in the parking lot is a crazy amount of work. Once in the parking lot, I was so busy serving, setting up and running other volunteers, that I had absolutely no time to interact with the people we were going to serve. Making folks line up and behave for food and clothes felt really awful — not like I was loving them at all. Going to Church on the Street with a heart open to give only yourself in order to see how God will work leaves a whole lot more room for God to work. It’s a step towards living like I really believe in the power of the Holy Spirit rather than in the power of my own works.
I hope to see y’all on Wednesday!
(I received this email from one of our staff members)
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