What a blessing we have in Jesus. I see God’s hand in our neighborhood engagement efforts. GC Pasadena doesn’t have a big budget, so we must look for other means to engage the community and share the love of Jesus with our neighbors. We began distributing donated food from the grocery store, Vons. But when that ended, we prayed for God to open another door.
Now, we’re grateful to be giving away produce from Trader Joe’s every Saturday morning. The manager of our church building even allowed us to use the hall without charging additional rent. It’s a chance to meet our neighbors, ask their names, and pray with them if they desire. Often, they ask, why are you doing this? It’s an opportunity to talk about our church. Most express surprise and gratitude.
We want to be a consistent presence. We want our neighbors to realize that we are truly intentional about loving and helping them. For this reason, it’s important that this is an ongoing event.
We’re beginning to see how the food donation is a connecting point to the larger community. My husband, Saddie, is friends with the tennis players in Eagle Rock, where Trader Joe’s is located. Two of those friends volunteered to bring the produce from the store to our church in Pasadena. On top of that, they are now attending our church service. Then they invited all the other players to the 9th anniversary celebration of our church — half of those in attendance were tennis players! Additionally, one tennis player, Ben, who is a retired nurse, volunteered to check blood pressure and blood sugar on Sundays for our members.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. God is really the one opening the door. We just follow Jesus, and bear witness in what he is doing in the lives of our neighbors.
By Angie Tabin, Pastor
Hi Angie,
Being “intentional” pointing people to Jesus as to the reason why we utimately are prodded by the Spirit to help others is so important. That is an often neglected aspect. Thanks so much for your service honoring our heavenly Father.
In Jesus,
Santiago