Saturday in the Park (no, not the song)

On Saturday morning we did our usual street outreach, but this time we took it to a couple of trailer parks in North Baton Rouge. After loading up the truck with vegetable soup, baby food, ice tea and blue apple sauce (yep, blue apple sauce ‘cause that’s how we roll baby) we headed out to see who we could talk to about Jesus.

One of our street teams that works with at-risk youth had visited the park before, but this was the first time 40 red Serve shirts swarmed the park at once. The residents were surprised, but very grateful. We had the opportunity to tell people about the programs we run at the Dream Center, but more importantly we got to tell them about Jesus.

As I drove along the narrow street I saw a group of children in their yard playing with a grocery cart. I didn’t see any other toys in the immediate area. It made me think of being in Mexico and watching kids play with a sparkplug. But I wasn’t in Mexico; I was thirty minutes from my house. The moment we gave them the apple sauce they opened it, using the peel-off lids for spoons. It was funny and heart-breaking all at once. They loved the applesauce; not because it was blue but because it was food. God bless the children.

As we were getting ready to leave a man ran up to the truck. He wasn’t interested in the free food; he wanted to know who we were. As it turned out, he was released from prison a short time ago. He had found God while incarcerated and has been looking for a church to attend since he got out. He talked to some of our people and got the information he needed. He attended the 10am service today at Highland campus. How cool is that?

That’s why we do what we do. We do it to feed the hungry, to open the doors of the prisoners and to proclaim the name of Jesus. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Saturday. All glory to God!