The following will appear in the September-October issue of Homecoming Magazine. Thank you, Barbara, for your generosity and for choosing our downtown outreach as your "pay it forward" investment.
Bill and Gloria Gaither have been compelled to motivate and excite people to live a lifestyle of giving, so they decided to give legs to their song "Give It Away" by building their current tour around that theme. Since February, five people have been randomly chosen at each Gaither Homecoming concert to receive $200 each of "seed" money to plant in their communities. Here is just some of what's happening...
"I am a member of the Woodward Park Church of Christ in Fresno, California. A group of young people at our church have recently begun a new ministry. We have a very large population of homeless people in Fresno.A few weeks ago they went downtown (to a poor area by the Rescue Mission) and prepared lunch for approximately 300 homeless people. They plan to continue doing this, at least one time each month. As you can imagine, it is rather costly to prepare a meal for this many people.
I prayed about what to do with this money and feel that this is a wonderful way to 'Give it Away' to someone who needs it more than I. I gave the money to our minister to see that it was given to the ones purchasing the food for the next time they will be serving the homeless. All of this is being done for God's glory! There are so many people in our community who need this physical nourishment but more importantly, they need to see and know the love of God. We pray that our love for God and them will be seen through each of us as we serve them in this way."
Barbara McCreary
Fresno,Calif.
