People of Faith Baptist Church in Trinity took seriously Jesus’ challenge to Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep.”
Based on that premise members of the small Randolph County Baptist church organized an event to “feed the flock” in their community near High Point.
Prompted during a summer camp at Fort Caswell Baptist Assembly last summer, Faith Baptist Church member Jeff Foster organized Faith and nine other churches for a community event March 28 to raise awareness, donations and funds for local helping organizations. He also wanted to present the gospel to those who would attend.
“The genesis of it was to get the people of the Archdale-Trinity area to hear the gospel; and for us to witness to others and meet their needs, whatever that might be — whether it was physical, material, or spiritual,” Foster said. Hence, the title “Feed the Need” was born for this event Foster called a “practical application of the gospel.”
The day-long event held under cloudy skies and in frequent drizzle began with a blood drive at 10 a.m. Shirley Davis, team supervisor for the American Red Cross, stated volunteers surpassed her goal to collect 30 pints of blood by giving 48.
The MOFIA (Men of Faith in Action) kept the grill hot and prepared countless hot dogs and bratwursts, as the M & M Sisters (Ministry and Missions) collected clothing donations. The church youth group, led by Paul Welborn, attached a label detailing the plan of salvation to every non-perishable food item that was donated.
“With the economy the way it is right now, there are people that need help; that perhaps a year ago would not have needed to ask for help. These people need to know that the community cares,” said church member Kitty Ivey.
Other churches that partnered with Faith Baptist included Archdale Friends Meeting, Archdale United Methodist, Dry Ponds Baptist, Hopewell United Methodist, Memorial United Methodist, New Covenant Church of God, Poplar Ridge Friends Meeting, Southgate Baptist and Trindale Community Church.
“We are a Baptist church, but we wanted to extend our hand across the street to other fellow Christians. We wanted to break down the barriers between different churches and band together to fulfill our main objective, which is the Great Commission,” explained Foster. “My hope is that this isn’t just a one time thing. We hope we can come together throughout the year and win souls for Christ.”
Throughout the month of March, the 10 churches collected clothing and nonperishable food items to donate to Community Outreach of Archdale-Trinity (COAT), a nonprofit organization that assists families in need.
Faith Baptist has also partnered with an International Missions Project called One Million Can. Much like the goal of Feed the Need, their web site states, “Collectively we are a force for good . . . moving together we can make a huge difference in the lives of people around the globe.”
The weather may have been wet and dreary, that didn’t dampen the spirits of those in attendance at Feed the Need. Even though the car wash was put on hold, the evening culminated with a concert by Christian singer Ashley Seagle. Other groups were The Morning and the FBC (Faith Baptist Church) Band. Welborn concluded the day with a message of hope.
“Feed the Need was not a Christian pep-rally,” Welborn said. “But today was about fulfilling people’s needs. We started with the physical and ended with the spiritual.”