Not unlike many other places on the east side of the country, Nashville is COLD today. Windchills below zero. The townhome I live in is old and not very well insulated, so on days like this it says right around 62, with all space heaters on high.
As I was getting ready this morning, I started thinking how miserable the cold was. After all, I am a Texas girl: A warm blooded-anything below 90 degrees is freezing cold-kind of lady. While this was happening, I was reminded of the nearly 11,000 homeless that Nashville call home. And that, although I have to spend all of 30 seconds out in the sharply frigid temperature, these people LIVE in it. They SLEEP in it.? They walk around as the arctic wind gusts chap their already weathered skin.
Once at the office, Ryan, our missions pastor, and Pete and I got together and decided we had to do something about it. Walmart has these really inexpensive but ridiculously warm fleece blankets that normally run about $4 (they were on sale for $3 today!) And so Ryan and I went and loaded up fifty-one of these blankets. We sent out an email and at 2 pm today, some of our staff and whoever else shows up (we invited people on Twitter and Facebook) will head out to some of the areas in Nashville where those who are homeless tend to hang out.
It’s just a blanket.? Just a couple of hours of time and $150.? But hopefully these blankets will help keep these people a little more protected during the next week as the temperatures continue to plunge.
Cross Point is an amazing place to serve.? We are busy…things are crazy…but I love how interruptions like this easily take priority over the things that can wait.? It was cheap and fast and easy to do. It just took doing it to get it done.? Does that make sense?
How much margin do you have built into your life — your professional life, your personal life, your family life — where you can stop everything to help people spontaneously?? I highly encourage you to add a little more if you can, because it’s so worth it…not just for us…but for the people who need whatever it is they need in your communities.
If you want to talk about church marketing – THIS IS CHURCH MARKETING. Your mailer may be effective and tell people in words what your church is up to, but this puts action behind it. Would you rather be known as the church with the great mailers or the church who goes out in the community and tangibly loves people when they need it most?? Goes back to Marshall McLuhan’s thought of “The medium is the message.”
What’s your medium? What’s your message? Do they work together or are they opposite forces…which can be confusing?
Comments
29 responses to “Do you have the Margin to be Jesus?”
The number one thing is wind chill… and wind will go through those blankets without some sort of shield. I’ve worked a few homeless ministries… and headed up an outreach a few years back doing what you did. We gave them this:
1) one blanket
2) one contractor bag (buy a box of them at lowes or similar, they are thick plastic garbage bags and they crawl in them and layer a blanket inside and it keeps them warm, dry and the wind OUT)
3) high protein granola bars, and some high sugar foods (packages of oreos, cookies, to raise their body temp at night)
Great idea, and I’m sure it will help, but wind chill is what kills… so if you can prevent that… give them the bag, and tell them use it like a sleeping bag and put the blanket around them then crawl in it… and it will save lives!
Go guys! Awesome!
Well done, Cross Point crew :)
Anne, your McLuhan quote made me think of a book you should check out some time. It’s called “Teaching as a Subversive Activity” by Neil Postman. It’s all about how teaching can be made relevant, and I think your blankets fit quite nicely as an illustration for the Cross Point community!
I take pride that our church is known by many ministries and organizations in Indianapolis as “the church that does stuff”. I love the idea of the blankets…that is beautiful. You were serving Jesus when you served the homeless today. That is awesome!
I love the spontaneity here! Awesome!
This is what it is to be God’s hands and feet. I am impressed by the way the staff at Cross Point allow God to remain in control. Well done. I definitely need to check out Cross Point in person.
in twenty minutes…i think that we are all going to be changed by giving these blankets out. its funny how that works. you go to give and you are always the one effected the most. i can’t wait.
Anne…thanks for leading us!!
I’d want to be known as the church that gave out the blankets, and so many people in the community were inspired by it and talking about it, that the church realized they suddenly didn’t really need to do the mailers.
Thats awesome! I understand the weather, it is -5 here with windchill at -21 in Des Moines. Frigid! It is awesome that you guys as a staff take time to step away from God projects to take care of God’s people. We are undergoing a shift here at Cornerstone Family Church and there is a push to become the message rather than just talk about the message, and the effects are exciting.
God is using you! Thanks for you lead on this. Love MM quote by the way. It’s part of my talk this weekdend.
Peace ~
too bad i am up in KY…and, i was OFF today from work!
I don’t have a margin for Jesus – I guess I see it much differently. We can be Jesus’ hands and feet during work, in mtgs, in tense situations, in multi-million dollar deal negotiations – we must be Jesus all the time – no margin, but 100% of the time. just my take :)
tony you’re absolutely right. but i would be lying if i said i was jesus 100% of the time. most of the time i push him out with my agenda. it sucks but it’s true.
Wow, thank you, Anne, for challenging all of us to be God’s hands and feet. You guys are doing an awesome work in Nashville.
i re-read my post and it seems terribly arrogant at best. that was not my intention and i think your response was a great one, and practical
again – that’s why you are the writer and i am not
stay warm peeps and good job today! as i told kristiapplesauce (gosh, i luv that name!) the other day – Jesus is :) right now!
What a great idea! I was thinking about the homeless in our city and worrying about how cold they must be as I was driving home from work just now, and wishing I knew how to help. I actually drove by a few places where I have seen homeless folks before, but they weren’t there (hopefully they are at shelters somewhere). Then I logged on and saw your post about helping the homeless. That’s awesome. I hope you were able to help lots of people!
SO proud of you all! thank you for going over and above!
Love it, love it, love it. Y’all r da bomb!
Thanks so much for all you do. You guys are definitely showing this community what it means to care about people. Keep doing what you guys do!
Anne,
Sounds like you guys did some pretty amazing stuff. I wish i would have been paying more attention to my twitter feed today, i would have come with you guys!
Side note :: a dude (Shane Hipps) preached a message at Mars Hill Bible Church and talked a ton about Marshall McLuhan?s ideas. Really good stuff.
message title was Spirituality of the cell phone. Maybe you hear or read this guys, Good stuff either way!
Peace
PS :: your a tea snob? ME TO!!! I love tea. What’s your favorite cup in town?
Does your church building have a margin? Because blankets are good, but four walls are much, much better. I don’t think most of our churches make room for the homeless during our worship services, much less on a cold, cold day or night.
I love the impact that an act of kindness has not only on the people that are being ministered to, but also to the people who are doing the ministry. At our church we try to encourage people to do “an act of kindness a day:. To look for at least one opportunity every day to step outside of their routine (margin) and bless someone. I think the blanket idea was great and I thought the comment about the bag to break the wind was a good idea.
Wow. . . That’s so amazing! And it’s not about getting more people to join the church or whatever. It’s simply about sharing God’s love with people. “Whatever you do for the least of these. . .” When Liquid gave out coats in New Brunswick, no one said, “You need to come to church in order to take a coat.” We just handed them out.
I love these kinds of giveaways and outreaches because they showcase God’s unconditional love being poured out through people.
Yeah, that rocks…I thought about the warm you brought…but then I also thought about the encouragement and practical warm you also gave…seriously.
I love that you guys (and especially your Senior Pastor) have the sensitivity to the Spirit and presence of mind to break away from the norm (making Sunday happen, etc.) and stop to think about others – then do something about it.
So many pastors just get in a rut/routine and would never think to tackle something as simple, yet special and beautiful as handing out blankets to homeless. Great example. Thanks for sharing.
My medium is lots of different things depending on the need. Simple acts of kindness are probably untold and unheard most times and yet make the most impact in someone’s life. Love it
One of your best blogs!! Thanks
Thanks for sharing this story! I love how you all stepped away from your day to bless others and without being asked to do it.
Can you give us some advice on how to interact with the homeless, Anne? That might sound silly, but I bet a lot of people have thoughts of doing random acts of kindness like this but are scared off by not knowing what to say, how to act, etc. when they are dealing with people they are so different from.
Anne,
Thanks for sharing this…how did it go???
To Jen: be yourself, look people in the eye and show them you care in some simple way – then pick a simple way to show it. McDonald’s gift cards are good to have handy, or just ask how you can pray for someone and pray right there on the street…everyone needs prayer. If you can give 3 or 4 minutes to someone, it will turn out to be way more valuable than giving them 3 or 4 dollars…that’s my experience. But you’re asking a good question.