i’ve long lamented the ideas for and the ways in which churches around the US use and own buildings that don’t really seem to do an awful lot but sit around and look pretty. however, this may be the first time that i can actually say that i am proud that we have a building (or three).Â
this has been a fairly disastrous week in the city of decatur as tens of thousands have been found themselves without any sort of electricity in the wake of the ice storms and wind storms of last thursday. it was particularly devastating because the temperatures haven’t let up any, but continue to drop lower and lower–we were in the single digits last night. people have barely been sleeping as they huddle for warmth and strive for some semblance of normalcy in their cold and dark homes. so, what did we decide to do as a church?Â
open the doors.
last night, we opened the doors and became a safe place for people to come and sleep in warmth. we offered a warm meal and a warm place to sleep. we cleared out the chairs from the auditorium and turned it into a gigantic bedroom for families to come and sleep, out away from the cold. i went in to check on everyone early in the evening to make sure that they had whatever they needed and saw little kids making their forts out of chairs and blankets, running around with smiles on their faces and bellies full from a well prepared meal by a couple of volunteers. i saw people playing video games and board games, sitting around chatting it up as they sat in warmth. (this may be one of the best “lock-ins” i’ve ever seen, and it certainly had some of the oldest people at a lock-in ever!)
our doors will be open tomorrow night as well and the next night and the next until all the power in decatur is completely restored–which could be as long as 10 days by some estimates. but we’re in it for the long haul, and as a church we’ll come together to help anyone and everyone that needs a warm place to stay until theirs is ready once again–and in the process we’ll have a few great meals and a few more great stories to tell.
it’s been an exciting thing to watch people step up within the church and make this happen–it’s been very encouraging…and i must say, i don’t think i’ve ever been more proud of the people of heartland than i am right now.
in a spectacular twist of irony, the power in our building went out sometime early this morning and the people that were staying in the building woke up to 50 degree temperatures… so much for staying warm! (the power has since returned–about 30 minutes ago [10:00 am] and everyone is warming back up from another chilly night.)
Related posts:
- a youth ministry first as i near the last.
- another one of those weeks…
- ashlee’s debacle
- *sigh*
- reason 578 to tip your waiter/waitress well…
good work man. way to leverage your resources.
very cool story Aaron….I wonder what it would look like if the church did this all year round?
that’s a question for the salvation army to answer, since that’s what they do all year round… and unbeknownst to many is actually a world-wide church denomination.
good move, aaron, but it could be trouble in the future! what if people started to think of the church as helpful, practical, and caring (in other words, good news)?
Marvelous! Thanks for being open to helping your community. We need to hear more of this happening across the land!
now here’s the best part of the story… this was the idea of one of our elders!
that’s what was most exciting for me. i’ve talked about doing this at other churches in the past and never got anywhere–i never even mentioned it here, and one of the elders came up with the idea! that was so exciting and nearly brought me to tears as i saw one of the men i serve with think of something this wonderful!