FINAL WEEKS: SERVING THE HOMELESS & MORE!

"...Jesus said to his host, 'When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back so that you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.'" Luke 14:12-14

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

They will also answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

He will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Matthew 25: 31-46

Who are you inviting to your banquet? Are you expecting to be repaid? Are you a sheep or a goat? What are you doing for the least of these brothers and sisters of Christ? Do you realize that the way you serve and treat others is the way you are effectively serving and treating Jesus Christ himself?

These are all questions that our life group has asked ourselves and instead of sitting around having a philosophy session, we put it into action. Special thanks to Julie and her family for setting the example and giving us this great idea for our final ministry project of this semester...feeding hot dog supper to close to 200 homeless people in and around downtown Birmingham!!

Julie's family had done this in the past just as a family outing type adventure, so we decided to copy them :)  Here's what we did:

1. Belinda went to Costco and bought the goods (with funds from the church...shout out to our pastor and church for giving us the resources to make this happen!)

2. She and her family cooked a box of 200 hot dogs, put them in buns, wrapped them up in individual sheets of foil and packed them up in coolers

3. Her family also prepared 200 brown bags filled with a pack of chips, pack of cookies, and a gospel tract

4. We gathered at the church and filled up two large coolers with ice and 200 bottled waters. We also loaded up two tables, and of course, prayed together.

5. Met Julie's family downtown, unloaded our cars, set up, and started our assembly line where we would hand each person in line a bag, grab a hot dog, add toppings (ketchup, mustard, relish) however they wanted it fixed, handed them a napkin, a bottled water, and a smile!!!

This was such a blessing and I feel so very thankful to serve alongside this wonderful group of ladies and their families. We met so many people and got to hear their stories, love on them, and tell them about what Jesus has done for us in our lives. There were so many interesting people that I will forever keep in my heart and prayers. Here are some pictures from the day:

Packing the coolers at the church before we left

Most of the crew after loading up and praying at the church...about to head out!

We met Tim & Julie downtown and are getting the tables and assembly line set up

Finishing set-up and getting a game plan together

Starting to serve!

A few of us deciding how to split up and find more people

Brandi making friends with everyone coming through the line :)

Long line! Love it!

Holly and the Mears crew went down to a bridge where there were lots of homeless people and spread the word about the hotdog supper.

Shout out to Alex, Tyler, Sadie, and Rileigh for being such AWESOME helpers!!

We also moved over to 5 points (Southside) and ministered to some folks over there.

The whole crew! Thank you to all of you for your servants' hearts. You all are such a blessing!

So, that was our final ministry project for the semester. After that, there was one "official" Sunday left for this life group semester, so we decided to go out to eat at Full Moon BBQ. We had a couple of new faces that I hope come and join us for the next upcoming semester, which will begin Sunday, September 7th!!

Left side (back to front): Julie, Lauren, Sara

Right side (back to front): Brandi, Michelle, Belinda, Alison, Laura

L to R: Julie, Silly Brandi :), and Michelle

L to R: Belinda, Alison, and Laura

Lauren and me [Insert Sara here]...she left before we took these shots :(

I can honestly say that this has been the best life group semester yet and I am very much looking forward to many more to come. I have enjoyed getting to know these ladies better and my home just feels empty on Sunday nights without all of their laughter and love! Speaking from experience, it is so easy to be a member of a church body, but just feel completely and utterly alone...so get plugged in! Life groups are the best way to connect and I promise that you will come away feeling encouraged and uplifted, you will definitely be prayed for, you will develop long-lasting friendships and accountability partners, and you will have the chance to serve Jesus Christ with fellow believers!! If you're interested, please visit www.flinthill.net/lifegroups and sign up for the next semester!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tonight, I leave you with two things:

1. A picture of my sweet sweet nephew, Trey:

2. The Word of God.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24

Thank you Lord for this sweet group of ladies and their families. Thank you for the blessing of time that we have had to spend together. Our ultimate goal was to glorify you, and to show your love and spirit of grace to those around us through our communion and fellowship together. Lord, I pray that our time together has been pleasing to you. God, I pray that you have and will continue to be glorified for who you are and the grace and mercy you have undeservedly shown us through the death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus. Be with us as we continue to strive to be a light in a dark world for you. We love you. In your name, Amen.

WEEK SEVEN: PASTOR AND STAFF APPRECIATION

We love our church pastors and staff, and all of their families. Thanks to Brandi for this wonderful idea of showing our appreciation to them as one of our ministry projects. And also, special thanks to Pinterest for helping us come up with cute tags and ideas to show our appreciation.

We decided to brainstorm and determine everyone's "favorite things" and go from there. Here is what we came up with:

Brother Bruce love Coke Zero's so we got him a 12 pack and added this cute tag that reads:

"Brother Bruce, There are zero other like you. Thanks for being you!"

Our Pastor of Worship, Gavin, had recently started drinking these soft drinks that don't have sugar or artificial sweeteners. They are made with Stevia instead of sugar or artificial sweetener. This one was a little more difficult to come up with since nothing rhymes with Zevia... so we copied the format of the label and added a matching tag that says:

"Gavin, Thanks for being such an awesome pastor of muzic!"

You can't really read this one very well, so I will type it out below. Our children's minister, Meghan (who also happens to be my best friend), is a candy fanatic. So we decided to make her a card and add some yummy candy in there. It reads:
"Meghan, We wanted to show our appreciation by giving you 100 Grand, but the money slipped through our Butterfingers, and it was not PayDay yet. We thought about an Orbit around the Milky Way but that would cost Extra. We hope you Rolover and Snicker as you enjoy this card! Love the Tis So Sweet Life Group"

Chris has an obsession with Mountain Dew Baja Blast so that one was obvious. The tag reads: "Chris, Thank you for everything you DEW!"

We heard through the grapevine that Brother Bob likes Dunkin Donuts coffee, so we got him a gift card and attached it to this card that reads: "Brother Bob, Thanks a latte for all that you do!"

Janet and Melissa serve as our wonderful administrative personnel in the church office and we thought they might enjoy some yummy mints so we made these cute goody bags that read "Thanks for your commitMINT to our church family!"

Brandi delivered everything for us and it was a success!

L to R: Meghan, Bruce, and Gavin showing off their goodies!

But first...lemme take a selfie! 

L to R: Meghan, Brandi, Gavin & Bruce

Pic was a little blurry, but here is Janet (blue shirt) with Brandi and her tribe!

While I had all these lovely ladies and their extra hands here Sunday night, I also had them help me get the door prizes ready for the 5th annual Move Your Feet Move the World 5k. Let me tell you, usually this is a task that takes me at least an hour by myself, but these ladies knocked it out in about 5 minutes, so I am forever grateful for their help.

L to R: Lindsey, Belinda, Brandi, Laura, and Julie with their assembly line wrapping and labeling door prizes.

The finished products!!

Absolutely love this group and am blessed to serve alongside each of them!

L to R: Julie, Lindsey, Laura, Belinda, Me and Buddy :)

Making plates in the semi-dark dining room (see last post for explanation...)

Now here are the recipes of the week!

CROCKPOT CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

Contributed by: Belinda

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tbsp butter

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 - 14.5 oz can chicken broth

1/2 onion, diced OR 2 tbsp dried, diced onion

1 tbsp dried parsley

4 Grands flaky refrigerator biscuits

Place chicken in crockpot and top chicken with butter. Scoop the cream of chicken soup on top of that, then pour chicken broth over all. Add the onion and parsley. Cover and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or low for 8 to 9 hours. After chicken is cooked, shred and put back into soup. Cut each biscuit into 9 pieces like this:

Stir biscuit pieces gently into soup. Cover and turn crockpot to high, then cook for another hour. After hour is up, stir and enjoy!

MINI NUTELLA CUPCAKES

Contributed by: Mallory

For 10-12 mini cupcakes (or approx. 5 regular size):

1 cup Nutella

1 egg

5 tbsp flour

Desired toppings (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line or spray muffin pan. Mix together 1/2 cup Nutella and egg. Whisk until smooth. Add flour and whisk until well blended. Spoon batter into muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake on 350F until toothpick comes out pretty clean (approx. 11-12 mins). Warm remaining Nutella in the microwave approx. 15-20 seconds until warm and soft. After cupcakes cool, dip the tops in the microwaved Nutella. Add desired toppings as necessary (ex: sea salt, coconut, chopped nuts, etc.).

BOWTIE ITALIAN PASTA

Contributed by: Julie

1 box bowtie pasta

2 cucumbers, diced

3 tomatoes, diced

1 jar olives

1 cup Italian dressing

1 cup feta cheese

Cook pasta according to package. Mix all ingredients well and serve chilled or room temperature.

TWICE BAKED POTATOES

Contributed by: Laura

5 large potatoes

3/4 cup sour cream

1 heaping spoon of butter

3/4 cup cheddar cheese

1/4 cup milk

5 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

Peel and dice potatoes. Boil until tender. Drain and add sour cream, butter, milk, and bacon. If potatoes are too thick, you can add more milk. Mix by hand or using a mixer. Pour mixture into a casserole dish. Top with cheese and bake on 350F until cheese is melted and potatoes are hot.

PORCUPINE MEATBALLS

Contributed by: Laura

1 lb. ground beef

3/4 cup Minute rice, uncooked

1 can diced tomatoes

Onion and salt & pepper to taste 

Preheat oven to 375F. Mix beef, onion, rice and salt & pepper and shape into golf-size balls. Place in a casserole dish. Mix together tomatoes and 1 cup of water and pour over meatballs. Bake 1 hour covered on 375F.

FAJITA CHICKEN DIP

Contributed by: Lindsey

2 cans Rotel

1 block Velveeta

1 rotisserie chicken

1 packet of fajita seasoning

1/2 cup sour cream (or cream cheese)

Break down chicken into pieces, mix and melt all ingredients together and enjoy!

CROCKPOT MEATBALLS

Contributed by: Brandi

2 - 1 lb bags frozen meatballs (keep frozen - do not need to thaw)

1 - 18 oz bottle Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce

1 - 32 oz jar grape jelly (not jam)

Combine all ingredients in crockpot and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-8 hours. Serve warm and enjoy!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tonight, I leave you with 2 things:

1. A "throwback" picture of my sweet little Buddy the first day we got him:

2. The Word of God.

"Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13: 7-8

Thank you Lord for the pastors, staff, deacons, and other ministry leaders of our church. Thank you for leading my husband and me to this particular church. I pray that this small token of appreciation will brighten each of their days. Thank you for this wonderful group of ladies who lift up my spirits each time I am with them or think of them. I'm so grateful that you allowed me to experience this Christian fellowship. More importantly, I'm humbled by what Jesus did for me on the cross and thankful for the promise in your word that says he is the same yesterday and today and forever. Thank you for your unconditional love and mercy. In your name, Amen.