How Can We Serve You?

BATON ROUGE – On the flier appeared the question: How can we serve you? The choices are Prayer, Counseling, Clothing and Church Fellowship. This recently appeared on a Youth and Young Adult Ministry outreach flier announcing a drive-thru prayer station along with chili and red beans with rice bowls, a dessert and a beverage.

The drive-thru prayer station resulted in requests for prayer with Ron Weegar, pastor of Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the youth gathered to pray with occupants and invite them to fill out contact cards. Even though 60 bowls of chili, red beans/rice and their fixings were distributed, “Several simply drove on to the church’s parking lot for prayer and refused the hot lunch.”

The ministry’s next outreach was a community shower for infants to eight-year-olds. On the designated Sabbath, following an abbreviated indoor worship service and directions, the youth and adults headed onto a vehicle-free church parking lot, where tables of clothing, footwear, hygiene products, infant wear, hair products and infant furniture were neatly displayed. The team then dispersed themselves to strategic points while holding up signs announcing the event. There were those just interested in prayer, which they received from Weegar and other team members. As the ending time approached, shoppers had claimed 85 to 95 percent of the available items with the items in boys’ sizes 6 to 8 leading the way. At the end of the event, ministry leader Roquel McCarter stated that, “Even though we had pretty much achieved our objective, we’re praying that we created more than just an event, but rather a sustaining relationship with the church community.”