Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Total Impact: Christmas Outreach Event

This past Saturday, we hosted a neighborhood outreach event at our church in which we offered several different services, as well as clothes and other items, for free. The idea was to give of our time and resources freely as a way of demonstrating the gospel, in which God gives forgiveness of sin and eternal life to us through His Son freely.

Things didn't quite go as planned. For example, one of the things we wanted to do was a car wash. We were all set up, with a pressure washer, lots of soap and rags and tire cleaner. God even gave us a beautiful, warm sunny day. However, as is often the case on Saturdays, there was no water. The city can't keep up with the water demands, so frequently on the weekends, they will just shut off the water. But we were able to provide other services, such as ...


Manicures

Pictures taken, edited and printed on the spot, and given in a frame

Haircuts

Blood pressure checks (sorry, I don't have an "action shot" of that)

Lots of free stuff to choose from

One on one gospel presentation for everyone who came.

Our church building is located beside a bar. This is not a problem on church nights since the bar is closed. But on Saturday afternoon, there was a lot of activity over there and a few of the drunks came over to get their blood pressure checked. One joked that when he drinks, his blood pressure drops to a normal level, but the next day, it will sky rocket. So sad to see people enslaved to something that is so damaging to them physically as well as spiritually. One man insisted that God would let him into heaven because God is love and won't turn anyone away. He saw no need to repent of his sins and follow Christ in this life.

I checked one woman's blood pressure who had come along with her friends just to look around. At first, she didn't want to check her blood pressure, but her sister insisted, so she agreed. As a former nurse, I have checked hundreds of people's blood pressure, but I have never personally seen someone's pressure be so high as this woman's. It was 210/100 (normal is 120/80 or lower). I had to take it twice because I couldn't believe how high it was reading. I told her she needed to be seen by a doctor right away.

We were encouraged that all of our church people came out to help at some point during the event. It is so good to see young believers learning to give of themselves. We are praying that God will use this event to touch people in our community and bring some tangible result in the near future. One woman who agreed to have us visit her had just buried her brother that very day. Pray that God will open her eyes to the fact that life on earth is short, but it matters because who or what we believe in for salvation determines our eternal destiny.

6 comments:

Renate said...

Such a great idea and a great way to make contacts. May the Lord bless your efforts.

James and Christen said...

Praise the Lord! Even without water it seems like there were many other things to offer. I am so glad that you were able to pull it off.

I am also thankful because every contact is part of God's plan and we know that nothing is more powerful than His Word to pierce the heart and show a person their need. Great Job!!!

Phil Taylor said...

Mom & I rejoice with you for the opportunities God gave you to share the Gospel...that was a unique idea..
keep on keepin on...I Cor. 15:58

Anonymous said...

Praise the Lord for the outreach opportunity. Praying for those who heard the gospel and so thankful for those who shared.

Anonymous said...

Such cool ideas. Nice post!

Jonna

Rena said...

Such great ideas to make contacts! Sorry the city decided to cut off your water on that very day but maybe that enabled you to have contacts you wouldn't have had otherwise. Oh my, I hope that lady when to the doctor after finding out about her sky-rocketed BP!
Hey, miss you being here with us...