Grateful House

If you were at PR this past Sunday, you heard about the Grateful House that Jeff challenged us to build. We had a great morning thanking the people that serve our community and often go unrecognized!

Now if I was really good at this blogging thing (how long have I been doing this? Never you mind about that!), I would have a plethora of pictures from Sunday. But alas, that is the one detail that fell through the cracks on a very busy Sunday morning.

One of our Thanksgiving projects this year has been collecting classroom supplies for the teachers at Lansdowne. On Monday night (11/21), Kati Berlin, Charlotte Gross, and Andy Rodriguez with his friend, Jessica, came to the lobby and helped put those supplies together in tote bags for each teacher. The Monday night women's Bible study group came around to help as well but the group had worked so efficiently that we were already finished. We did appreciate Valerie Nash, Helen Gaither, Cynthia Monk and Kathy Bannister for stopping by anyway!

There would have been pictures from the putting together...but alas, refer to the second paragraph above...

Second fail...

Never fear though, I was able to get some good pics of the classroom supply delivery crew. Finally a win!

At 8:00 on Tuesday morning, Brian Suber, Charlotte Gross joined me at Lansdowne to make the deliveries. We were met by Debbie Rice, PTO president who helped us corral some carts and unload the van.

We took a little photo op...thanks again to Ms. Rice!

We loaded up the carts and made several circuits around the school trying to get to all the teachers...

We appreciate the Lansdowne teachers and staff, and all that they do for the students of this community! We had a great time with all of you and appreciate the opportunity to serve you. It was a great way to spend an hour on a Tuesday morning!

I'll try to do better with the pictures next time, y'all...really.

Matthews/Charlotte LifeGroup Serves with Love INC

The Matthews/Charlotte LifeGroup led by Ryan and Renee Preston have been volunteering with Love INC for the last year or so. Here is a note from Kathy Santa Ana and some pictures of a recent celebration:

Our LifeGroup recently attended the 19th Anniversary Celebration Dinner for Love, INC, which stands for Love in the Name of Christ.  Betty Wray Hurst was a special guest that night.  Our home church has adopted her through the Adopt an Elder ministry of Love, INC.  Betty Wray was given the opportunity to say a few words and basically said that she doesn't know where she would be and couldn't get along without our help.  She considers the members of her home church to be her family...we were thrilled to share the special night with her and touched by her sweet words. 

That is awesome, Kathy! Thanks so much for sharing your group's story and pictures with us. 

If your group has a story to share, please email hbarrett@prcoc.org.

Lansdowne School Beautification Day

Twenty-six volunteers from PR joined parents, students, and teachers at Lansdowne Elementary School on Saturday, November 5, 2011 to help with the PTO Beautification Day. They raked and weeded and trimmed and mulched like nobody's business! Thanks to everyone who came out and helped...enjoy the pictures!

Paul Ray and John Welfare

Jeff Bumpus

 Jim Berlin

 Kervin & Ethan Nowlin, Wendy Hines

 Jennifer, Brandon & Haley Johnson, Shelby Helms

 John Welfare, Paul Ray, Tom Latimer

 Jeff Bumpus

 Brett and Lawson Loftis

 Val Nash and Lauri Hoover with guidance counselor, Libby Guice

Bright Blessings Delivery Team

Bright Blessings is an organization that seeks to bring joy, recognition, and support to children and families during difficult and sad times during their lives. They provide gifts and party supplies for birthdays and baby supplies for mothers with young babies.

One of our own members, Terri Springer, is employed by Bright Blessings and as Terri and I have talked over the last few months, we have looked for ways for our Be The Gift ministry to be of service to Bright Blessings. A few weeks ago, Terri invited us to form delivery teams who would come to Bright Blessings on Wednesday mornings, pick up the packages to be delivered that week and then drive a pre-determined route to deliver the packages to the schools where parties were to be held. And so a call for volunteers went out!

Each delivery team consists of two to four people who are willing to dedicate three to four hours on Wednesday morning. Our first team was formed by Beth Edging, Robert Edging, Brian Suber, and Elizabeth Stewart, and the first deliveries were made on Wednesday, October 5, 2011. Beth and Robert had never met Brian or Elizabeth, so the four had great fun getting to know one another as they worked together. 

Hmmm…fellowship and service combined. What a concept!

Here are some pictures from the start of their day as the packages were picked up at Bright Blessings and loaded on the church van for delivery. 

We would love to form a second team so that the teams could alternate weeks. If you are interested in helping out with this project and are available on Wednesday mornings beginning at 8:45, please contact me at hbarrett@prcoc.org.

Hope Gifts for the New Year

Every year on New Year's Day, Providence Road members gather very early in the morning to visit three shelters in Charlotte. We offer a friendly face, a handshake, a New Year's greeting and a small gift. Here's some pictures from one of today's visits...

- Holly Barrett

It's Only The End of the Beginning

Today's post bring us to the end of our Be the Gift reading and blog for December. There will be one more post on Saturday, 1/1/11 which will include pictures from the last "official" Be The Gift activity: delivering Hope Gifts on New Year's Day. Check back tomorrow for the pics!

The reading for today is from Matthew 7:24-25: "When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying--quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard."

No doubt it was the best teaching they ever heard! But what a great observation that Jesus "was living everything he was saying." As we seek to become more like Christ, the challenge for us is to make sure that we are living what we are saying as well. We can't talk about being the gift without actually doing it. We can't talk about Jesus without actually looking for those who don't know Him and making an introduction!

So as we draw this blog to a close, I guess you could really call this the end of the beginning. All the buzz and activity during December was wonderful. But it can't stop there. We have all been encouraged to continue being the gift throughout 2011 by looking for ways that we can enter relationships with those who don't know Christ, help those around us find community within our church family, and continue to serve those that need us to introduce them to Jesus. December has been an exciting start and we hope you will all keep up the good work!

- Holly Barrett

Two Stories

Under our Christmas tree say a very large package wrapped in red candycane paper. Festive and inviting are two words that come to mind. This package sent one young man's mind in many directions...wondering what it could be and was it for him?

So he finally could not stand it any more and asked, "Who is that present for?"

"No one," I replied.

"Well, what's in it?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Really?! Nothing!"

"Actually...nothing."

"Who's it for?"

"For the tree...for the tree to sit on."

"Really? An empty box that looks like a present?"

"Yes."

It looked good enough to be a great gift. Looked as though it held a large treasure...but it is really a box covered with pretty wrapping. A present that wasn't a present.

Pretty wrapping with nothing inside.

As I stood in the return line, I had the opportunity to see the staff of this store in action. One employee was helping someone on the phone, answered another phone, helped two customers and explained to one customer that she had sadly read the sign wrong and the price really was the higher price, and she asked another employee to check it twice! She did all this with a smile, and without making anyone feel that they were not getting her full attention!

Amazing!

And so when it was my turn, I said, "Has it been like this all day? You do such a great job!"

She looked me in the eyes and said, "Thank you! I have only been here today since four and it really has been non-stop!"

"Well, you really are good at your job!"

I thank God for forgiving me when I resemble the first story and not the second.

Which will you be - an empty box or an ambassador?

- Jane Hixson