2009: Guess Who's Giving Back

This particular bucket has seen a lot of "bread."

PASSING THE “PLATE,” SO TO SPEAK

Back in January, we added a new feature to our Friday outreaches in Tulsa when we share the gospel and serve sack lunches.

We decided to bring a bucket for offerings and see what happened. After all, the Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

The idea was bold enough to take one or two of our volunteers aback. The thought being: “We’re supposed to help people. Why are we taking from them?”

Three months later, the results will tell you everything you need to know about the lives we feed and pray with every week.

Over 15 Fridays, they’ve given $206.39 – proving just how much they welcomed and wanted a formal way to give back.

The bucket has seen twenties, tens, fives, three one-dollar gold coins and two Tulsa Transit bus tokens.

When we saw the tokens, we thought of the story Jesus told about the widow who gave “two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.”

Jesus said she put more into the temple treasury than all the others because “out of her poverty, she put in everything – all she had to live on.”

We’ve told our crowds that what we collect in Tulsa will go toward helping others in our second city, Denver. At this rate, they may fund 20 percent of the 2009 budget there.

God must be smiling mighty big!