“Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find” (Matthew 22:9 NIV).
We took the church to the streets this past weekend in Wilson! We participated in Wilson’s 4th Annual Whirlygig Festival where more than 22,000 people attended.
We sold baked goods that our ladies made and raffled off a Cracker Barrel rocking chair. We are giving all of the proceeds to the Hope Station, Wilson’s local non profit food pantry. We decided that if we were going to raise money in Wilson that we should give it back to the people in Wilson who really need it most.
The big hit of the weekend was our “free hairpainting.” We had people lined up out into the street for the privilege of sporting red and purple and other colors along with plenty of glitter (Perhaps you can notice that Robin got into the act too in this photo. They tried to get me into it too, but I insisted that the Lord had already begun adding a new silver color to my hair.).
After working the booth from 10 AM until 5 PM on Saturday and again from Noon to 5 PM on Sunday (Along with our usual dual Sunday services) we were all pretty tired. But it was a good kind of tired. You know, the kind of tired you feel when you’ve worked hard serving others.
On Monday and Tuesday we took our unsold baked goods and gave them to the Wesley Shelter for Battered Women and the Hope Station. They were so excited to get these great homemade, gourmet breads from us.
It was a great weekend. Maybe we should take the church to the streets more often.