July 2007 Report

There's something pretty special about this particular sack lunch. It was the 10,000th we've served since 2003. Chris (left) was the big winner of the bag and a new Bible.











COUNTDOWN TO CHRIS

July 11 churned out a major milestone for Filling The Void. We entered the day having distributed roughly 9,980 lunch bags, dating back to October 2003 when we first hit the streets.

Preparing for lunch bag No. 10,000 gave us lots of reason to celebrate and reflect. As we set things in order for the special day, three things came to mind.

First, we’ve fallen in love with the people we serve. No matter where they’ve been or what they’re going through, God longs to redeem their lives and their situations. We get to be a part of that.

Second, we’re so grateful for everyone who makes this ministry happen. God has surrounded us with faithful volunteers and generous financial supporters. We’re truly blessed beyond measure.

Finally, we were really excited to see who would be the big winner of lunch bag No. 10,000. Of course, God placed the right person in the right place at the right time -- Chris, age 36.

We spent about 15 minutes with him, posing for pictures, learning about his life, praying over his needs and presenting him with a new Bible signed by our volunteers.

A native of North Dakota, Chris now calls Tulsa’s streets his home. He can’t stay in the local shelters any longer after getting kicked out for drinking and fighting.

Chris’s story is similar to what we see all the time. And that’s exactly why we’re out every week – looking to love, serve and lift up the next Chris whom God leads our way.

THE SUMMER SURGE

The number of people we serve continues to climb higher as the mercury rises. We witnessed our largest crowds ever on June 20 and June 27, serving in excess of 180 lunches each day. So far in 2007, we have served 4,045 lunches over the first 30 Wednesdays.

NO-SHOWS

We’re still not sure where everyone went, but our 4th of July outreach was more fizzle than sizzle. It was our second smallest crowd on record – 12. We actually had twice as many volunteers, thanks to the youth group at Central Church of the Nazarene. Word on the street is that a lot of our clients were at the river staking out a good place to see the fireworks that night.

KEEP ON TRUCKIN'

Our trips to Sam’s Club for lunch-bag staples keeps getting bigger. That's why we really appreciate Patrick Edison and his Chevy Silverado pickup. On July 23, we needed all the payload capacity we could find (in addition to our normal delivery van) to get our supplies for August through October. The fine folks at Sam's needed a forklift to load up three pallettes worth of Pringles, cookies and bottled water for us. Patrick's truck didn't wince once despite all the weight.

MORE ROCKIES RELATIONSHIPS

We had another divine appointment in Denver. On July 25, Kelly Swan spoke to the local chapter of the Oilfield Christian Fellowship about getting involved with Filling The Void. Several people at the presentation have already expressed a desire to serve on the streets with us when the time comes to start a Rocky Mountain outreach.