A Moment @ The Food Bank

Well, that's my confession for this past Monday. I was only at the Attica Food Bank this past Monday... for a moment. I had another meeting to be at, and yes, I scheduled it for right then.

The following day I came into my office and the paperwork evidence was clear: God's people at Attica United Methodist had once again served more than 100 people in a month.

We began this little venture last spring, when hosting a Food Truck helped to reveal the need. May I say this was probably the very first and to date the ONLY traffic back up in Attica. From there we sought to do more and frankly, as the pastor, I have never seen something come together quite so wonderfully. Although, I should have known better, I've seen our congregation serve more than 600 Thanksgiving dinners so the potential is indeed there. We can indeed run like a well-oiled machine.

Add to that the fact that our Lay Leader, Frits Bax, had food bank experience in Toronto and the pastor served at Flint Eastside Mission for two years doing marketing and public relations and all the willing hands and hearts at Attica United Methodist... and the Spirit's nudge was clear. And the evidence that we responded appropriately to the Spirit's urging was also clear: a room filled with pantry items, a donated refrigerator, donated freezer, curtain on the window, sturdy steel shelves donated by Flagstar Bank. Wow. Was this pastor's heart full or what???

But there was even more evidence, evidence through people. Not only had people put together a wonderful storage room, but people continued to donate non-edible items. People donated money. People showed up in droves to help get the food and stock our pantry. Some people in the community even came and worked. And people did those lovely behind the scenes things like ordering online and turning in our reports to the Eastern Michigan Food Bank (such fun!)

And then, people came to receive and to be served. In August we served 68, September 80, October 84; and November, December and January pushed us closer to 120 each month.

So, you may ask yourself: why, were you only at the Food Bank for a moment this past Monday? If it's such a cool place to be, why did you schedule a meeting THEN? My answer is this: over a long and rather humbling journey I have learned that God's work doesn't rise and fall on my presence, but rather, it rises and falls on the Spirit's presence and leading. Who was "in charge" on Monday? God, working through God's people at Attica United Methodist!