Servant evangelism can be a real treat and there will be surprises. One lady of our church who prefers to remain anonymous relates the following story.

It seems she was shopping at a local grocery store. Feeling the spirit to serve, she decided to allow a lady behind her to go ahead of her in the line. She felt that the lady was under stress and was at the very least impatient. So our dear saint allowed her to go first.

After switching places, the lady in the rush called to her husband who then showed up with two more baskets of stuff!!

No body ever promised that we would always be met with the expected results and that someones life would be a little better. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men. So what lessons might we learn?

1. We never know. Maybe the family was needing to get home before they went to visit a sick relative in the hospital. We don’t know what is going on in the lives of those we will serve.

2. The lessons and the needs we met may be out own. Our heroine had a great laugh and enjoyed telling me the story. In fact, several of us have laughed about it. So see, good has still come from it all.

3. Before you give up your place in line, look for lurking husbands near by.

Still, all in all, we will make a difference and change lives. Just keep it up. You never know the good you are doing..or the laughs you are creating.

 Peace and grace. Reed.

As we are trying to become a church that practices radical hospitality, we are taking several steps. We now have bags to hand out with some materials about the church. We will have those in the foyers starting this Sunday. However we need your help.

What we are going to do is greet each other each week. If you meet someone who is visiting, ask them if they have received the bag. If not, simply go and get one for them. Then inform them there is a registration card inside. Ask them to fill it out and put the card in the plate during the offering time.

How simple is that? However, this is something that we all must do. It can’t be left up to the greeters, ushers or someone else. We all have to do it together. So this Sunday be sure to greet someone and ask them if they are new to us. If so, you can bag a visitor.

We have less than 100 bags for sale. The bags can be used to shop with, carry books to the library or put flowers in and decorate a table.  There are no end to the uses. Plus they’re good on the environment. In our case they will fund out evangelism program SERVANT WITNESS. We will be handing out to people who might visit the church 150 of them.

If you want to help with evangelism, help with the environment, have a really useful bag or LOOK REALLY STYLISH contact the church office and get one.

Up to now we have called our new emphasis Servant Evangelism but that name is owned by the church that started it. So we are going to call our effort Servants Witness which has the same goal and identification.  Here are our first events. We will write more about them and how you can help as we proceed.

 Remember, our goal is to serve and provide a witness from the church to our community.  We feel that as we do so, some may come to the church who need a church home.  We hope that as we have fun, you may join us.

June 21st. Father’s Day. 2:00p.m. We will be handing out glass cleaning packets with the church’s message to father’s at Walmart.  Cathy Justus will spearhead the project.

July 4th. Parade. We will have a trailer/float and get members to ride and throw candy but we are also going to have tote bags to hand out to people along the route. The bags will have the Growing In Grace logo as well as the web site. These bags can be used instead of plastic bags when you go shopping. Warren will be in charge of the float and Nora Jean is seeing to the bags.

August 22nd. Free Child Care for Tax Free Weekend form 10 - 2. Free care in a safe environment for kids while mom stimulates the economy.  We hope to work with the mall and maybe get on the big billboard. Eleanor Elam is taking charge and will get others to help.  We will be advertising outside the church but we will need reservations as well.

Go Texans B :B Q and Antique auto show in September. Cathy Williams is going to get bottles of water and we will hand them out (FOR FREE!!)

 As you can see, we are off to a great start. We want you to participate. If you can help with even something as simple as putting labels and note cards on the items, give us a call.

Oh and by the way, we will have a supper meeting some time in late June to schedule our next events and assess how the first event went.

Sunday night, Pastor Reed Justus introduced the concept of Servant Evangelism to a baker’s dozen of lay members of our church.  Servant Evangelism is a means of bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to a large number of people in our community.  It is a practical way for the church (and its members) to be that “beacon on the hill” by serving others in some simple, but meaningful ways.

This meeting (a follow-up to this morning’s sermon entitled,”It’s Your Turn”), identified some ways that we can effectively ‘take our turn’.  Projects were identified for Father’s Day, July 4, sales tax holiday weekend in August, Hill College students’ move-in days, and Classic Car/Cotton Pickin’ Fair weekend, and more. The meeting was enthusiastic and included delicious sandwiches and all the fixings.  More details will follow.

Everyone attending the Sunday worship services was treated to performances by the youth of Brandon United Methodist Church of Brandon, Mississippi.  Special music from the choir and the bell choir was performed during the morning services including a medley of songs: Made for Worship, Because We Believe, and God Bless America. Thirty-six youth and six adult sponsors are on a tour that also includes other churches in the area, Six Flags, and a Rangers baseball game. This was actually a return visit to our church since the youth group performed here several years ago.

Rev. Justus’ message entitled “It’s Your Turn” emphasized the responsibility we all have to welcome visitors to our church as well as to actively invite people to our church.  Every generation is responsible for spreading the Good News of God’s love and now it is our turn, no excuses.  Sunday evening at 6:00 pm we will learn more about just how we might do that.

Scenes from today’s 9:00 am worship service follow: