I am SOOO excited about tonight!
My church, 12Stone, is doing something really amazing and revolutionary (as far as churches are concerned) - they gave each person/couple in the church $100 to go out and "pay it forward" into the community... ie: to find someone who has been "beaten up on the road of life" and help them.
Now, $100 might not seem like a lot, but keep in mind 12Stone has about 3,000 - 4,000 people who attend every Sunday.
(Yes, I see you all doing quick match... And YES, this means that my church handed out $375,000.) Cash. In church. (And yes, I could write another blog post about the logistics of THAT, but suffice it to say it proceeded so smoothly..... as my pastor said "Let's do this in the spirit of Worship, and not the spirit of Wal-Mart." :-)
And, what's even more amazing? The congregation - those of us who decided we wanted "in" on this little social experiment? We decided to collectively pony up an additional $400,00.
SO (more math, sorry), we have $750,000 going back out into our local community (the 'burbs of Northeast Atlanta) this holiday season.
And let me tell you, guys, there are some MAJOR needs out there.
If you ever start feeling sorry for yourself? All you gotta do is open your eyes and look around... there are some people who are REALLY struggling, for life's Basics.
So, anyway, my small group (there are 12 of us... all women, but all very different) have pooled together our money. Some of us only could afford to put in the $100 that the church gave us, and some of us have been financially blessed and could contribute a whole lot more, and we have found a woman who REALLY needs help. Tonight we're going to have dinner with her, surround her with love, and then shower her with cash, which will make her road in life a bit less stressful.
And I can't wait!
It TRULY is better to give than to receive.
3 weeks ago
7 comments:
What an amazing idea. During this time of year it's so hard not to get sucked into all the buying of useless stuff that people don't really NEED. I look forward to hearing how your dinner went and how surprised she will be with your gift.
OMIGOSH. What an awesome, awesome thing!! I love it. I'm so impressed. Wow. I really love this idea, this post. Thank you for sharing!!
And God will bless your efforts in one way or another. You can't outgive God.
This is so awesome. What a fabulous idea...what an amazing church. Can't wait to hear the results.
Last night was amazing! She was really taken aback... her voice started trembling and there were tears of course.... from all of us. I tell you what - it felt SO GOOD. Giving is just WAY better than receiving, especially when it's someone like this who, through absolutely no fault of her own, was in a bad financial situation, and we were able to help her "lighten her load". There have been some cool stories shared at church of how people have been helping. One group actually bought a used car for a single mom whose car died, and she had no way to get around (!!) - isn't that awesome? I'm sure as the weeks go by, the church will post up stories and you'll be able to see how we've been able to help people in the community. (And if we have videos in church - which we frequently do - I'll put them up here to share.)
wow, wow, wow! what an amazing project, and opportunity! wow, wow, wow!
That's so awesome, it is good to hear about a large church with the right heart and attitude. A church that want to take the gospel outside the four walls of the church and where it belong! But then, I am already sold on this church just from hearing you talk about it.Well done, God bless.
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