Turned on by missions

The Food Pantry ministry has been a great blessing, not only for the needy who benefit from it, but for the volunteers.  I have heard many of the volunteers say that they can't wait for Wednesday.  They love making a difference in people's lives and you can't be in a mission like this and not make friends with a lot of the people who come.  The friendship is a part of the mission.  The Wednesday morning worship service was begun when we saw the large numbers coming to the pantry (our food pantry hours are 9:30 to 12 noon every Wednesday).  Wednesday worship is at 9:00 AM just before the pantry hours, and it is voluntary - one does not have to come to worship to get food, and in fact, only about half of the people receiving food each Wednesday choose to come early for worship.  Yet some of the participants wanted to form a choir - they have - and the music is great!!!    We volunteers get just as much spiritual boost from the worship services as anyone else who comes.  The worship services is two years old this year.  On the last Wednesday in June we did not give out any food because the Atlanta Food Bank was closed due to end of fiscal year.  But we held the Wednesday worship service anyway.  All this was advertised several weeks in advance so that everyone would know about it.  And yet, without the promise of food, we had 102 to come to worship.   Many of these Weds worship regulars have a Sunday church they go to, but there are a significant number who do not.  And we have gotten a few of them to begin coming Sunday morning.  If you wish to respond to this or have questions:  collinsumc@hotmail.com or my email:  randy.walworth@ngumc.net