Nick Moss, DCE at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Lakeland, FL shares about his congregation’s experience participating in an intergenerational food packing event as his congregation desired to grow in what it means to live generously:
St. Paul went through the Dave Ramsey series called “Got Freedom” in the fall of 2014. This series was focused on God’s Word and what it has to say about how to use the treasures He has given to us. A big piece to this series was to host a “Live Generously” event. We were challenged to come up with an event that our church and school, young and old, could participate in that would help all our people practice living out their lives for Christ by being generous with their time and finances.
Because I had worked on the convention center planning team for the 2013 LCMS Youth Gathering, I was aware of the organization, Feeding Children Everywhere. I knew from experience that they were well-organized and could help us accomplish a Live Generously event. Our leadership team contacted them and set up an event for the fall of 2014. We set a goal of 36,000 meals.
We held a special chapel offering, asked members to donate, and used some money from an estate that was left to the church to raise over $10,500….enough for 43,500 meals! At our event, we had families from our school working beside our church members. Over 300 people participated; some were as young as 5 years old and others in their eighties! In three hours, we packaged 27,000 meals! That meant that we had to have another packing event in the spring of 2015 to package the rest of the meals.
This was a great event for our church members and school families to be able to work together for a very tangible outcome.
Growing in Generosity
The church at-large has an opportunity to grow in generosity by providing funds for a similar food packing event that will take place at the 2016 LCMS Youth Gathering. Our goal is to pack half a million meals for people in need. Your $1 provides the supplies for 4 meals. Please consider making a generous contribution today at thelc.ms/youthfeedingchildren.
See the Live Generously event in action:
