These next two are short announcements, but they have great stories behind them —
Relief Team Coming Through: A team on their way to work in Mississippi will spend the night in our building this Saturday. If you will assist with a meal for them, please contact Sandy Campbell at …
Ever since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Churches of Christ from across the country have been traveling to the Gulf Coast to help clean up and rebuild. We happen to be on Interstate 59, which is the road to New Orleans and the Mississippi coast. And on a regular basis, churches come through town to do relief work. When they do, many spend the night in our building, which is not really set up as a hotel. But it does have showers and a kitchen.
One of our members, Sandy Campbell, coordinated our relief efforts while so many refugees were in Tuscaloosa in the aftermath of the hurricane, and ever since, she’s made sure we’ve supported these relief teams. Several of our members provide them with food and make certain they are well cared for as they come through.
To give you a sense of this servant of Jesus, during the midst of the Katrina work, I spoke to her and thanked her for her efforts. She’d been tireless in taking on a massive task that we were entirely unprepared for. Her response was to thank me, an elder, for letting her do this. She was thrilled at the opportunity to serve.
Sandy has a gift for getting things done. She was so effective during the Katrina devastation that she has been asked to sit on a board that coordinates the relief efforts of most of the churches in town. Sandy’s gifts are too valuable not to share.
Anyway, as impressed as I am with the support our members offer to these teams, I’m more impressed with these teams that come through town. They want every dollar possible to go to those in need on the coast, and so they sleep in our church rather than a hotel. (Of course, eating the cooking of our women is no sacrifice!)
And it’s all very low key. There’s an announcement by email, maybe a brief mention from the pulpit, and the membership makes it happen. There’s no “program,” no ministry on the organizational chart, no deacon appointment, no begging or cajoling … just Sandy serving, recruiting, and getting it done.
And isn't that the way it's supposed to be!!