On August 9–10, Send Relief’s Serve Tour overwhelmed Flint, Michigan. In partnership with the Baptist State Convention of Michigan, Genesee Baptist Association, and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, 606 volunteers from 49 churches representing ten states served 4,480 people from the community over two days. The gospel was shared 700 times resulting in 41 salvations. The 33 projects took place in seven schools, eight community centers, and fifteen church communities, including helping three bivocational pastors and their families with transportation or home improvement solutions.
Here are just a few stories of impact.
Block Party
A church of 40 worshipers welcomed 300 guests at their block party. The recently installed pastor and wife said, “We told our congregation that we have to get outside the walls if we are going to make a difference in the community. That is why we handed out hundreds of invitations door to door weeks prior to this day.” Attendees played games, received school backpacks for the children, and engaged in long gospel conversations.
Woman in Addiction
A squad of volunteers walked alongside a slowly moving van with a mobile grill cooking hotdogs and hamburgers while offering prayer, conversations about Christ, games and toys for the children, and food for hungry family members. One woman answered the door in tears, distraught that she was losing her children due to addiction. As the Lord would have it, one of the volunteers on the doorstep explained that she lived locally and served as a counselor for people with addictions. The volunteer explained that she knew how to enroll the woman in a program to help her fight her addiction. Within two hours, the tearful woman was filled with renewed hope and heading toward a solution for her daughter because people walking her street were there to serve her needs out of their love for Jesus Christ.
Chicagoland Pastor, Wife, and Daughters
Pastor Nathan and his wife, Andrea, from Chicagoland brought their five daughters in an RV. They camped in Frankenmuth during the evenings but worked hard for two days, refreshing a homeless shelter for women and children and another shelter for men with fresh coats of paint. Pastor Nathan explained that his Chicagoland church benefited from volunteers coming to his community, so he and his family wanted to “pay the kindness forward in Flint.” Their generosity was noticed.
A staff member at the shelter said, “Though the paintwork everyone did at the Carriage House Ministries made the building look and feel much better, the real impact was how lovingly the volunteers filled up the ‘cups’ of the staff members at the shelter.” She went on to explain, “At a shelter that runs 24/7, we are always emptying our cups of encouragement and love into others with empty cups who need those expressions of support from us. But during the Serve Tour, we feel as if the volunteers continually filled our cups with kindness, service, and love. We needed that more than we knew!”
A Jehovah’s Witness
One block away from Greater Mount Zion Church in Flint, Sasha stepped outside the two-story, mid-century house after hearing the volunteers knock on her front door. She apologized for her mismatched clothes and asked what was going on. One volunteer explained that volunteers with the nearby church were sharing grilled food for everyone, toys for the children, and an invitation to hear more about the church and Jesus Christ.
Sasha rapidly stepped back and responded, “I am with the nearby Kingdom Hall.” The volunteer smiled and replied, “Well, is there anything at the Kingdom Hall that would keep you from receiving food from new friends and toys for the children?” Sasha moved forward again and, with a warm smile, unlatched the gate that had seconds ago served as a protective barrier. One volunteer after another offered hot food, toys for the children, and hugs around Sasha’s shoulders.
One of the female volunteers connected with Sasha by calling her by name, looking lovingly at Sasha with respect for being a mother and wife in a hard place, and then offered to pray for Sasha. Sasha replied, “I would love that. I need prayers.” The volunteer was unaware of Sasha’s connection to the Kingdom Hall because she was gathering food when Sasha nearly withdrew from everyone. But the volunteer’s intercessory prayer spoke volumes, “Lord, help Sasha to know the truth of who you are in Jesus Christ. Give her the courage to lead her family to you. Assure her that she is welcome at Greater Mount Zion Church.”
As the volunteers walked away from Sasha’s home, they offered words of encouragement to Sasha, “The pastor is Joseph Brown. He is the third generation in his family to lead the church just down the street. He and his wife, Marilyn, are raising a family like you and your husband. He is a songwriter and musician; you will love them.”
Sasha replied, “I just might come to the church with the family. I have never seen my Kingdom Hall do anything like this for anyone. I may just be there.”
Serve Tours
One of the most valuable takeaways from this experience was seeing the local church duplicate the projects in their community. Volunteers from a church in Oklahoma expressed it well on the back of their t-shirts: “The church has left the building!”
Send Relief Serve Tours strengthen vulnerable communities around the world by meeting physical and spiritual needs in Jesus’ name.
If you are interested in volunteering with a Send Relief Serve Tour, visit our Serve Tour page. You and your church can participate in this worldwide service event. Just complete your team’s registration form and watch how God works through you to be a light in the darkness.
Published August 21, 2024