I re-blogged yesterday.
I hardly ever do that, but I spent all day Saturday working on the sermon and when I got up on Sunday morning it still wasn’t finished. So, a little after 6:00 a.m. I pushed the re-blog button on Meredith Holladay’s excellent summary of the workshop I led at the CBF General Assembly and went back to the sermon.
But I’m feeling a little guilty.
I’m supposed to be blogging about First Baptist Church’s year-long, every-member mission trip to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Richmond, Virginia, not some workshop I led in Greensboro, North Carolina. So, it was a relief to get to worship yesterday and find that the faithful members of FBC were still on mission.
In fact, it’s kind of a funny story.
I was talking with FBC member Rob Courain last week about a brilliant fund-raising idea he’d had, and suggested that maybe he could raise funds for backpacks—stuffed with back-to-school supplies—for the students at Glen Lea Elementary school. I don’t know where that idea came from; it just seemed like a simple, do-able, hands-on project.
So, imagine my surprise and delight when I looked at yesterday’s worship bulletin and discovered, among the announcements on the back page, this one from the First Baptist Women on Mission:
Backpack Project for the Oregon Hill Baptist Center (collecting today through August 11). Our goal: 100 filled backpacks (sturdy, large enough for notebooks and textbooks). Supplies to be included in each backpack:
• 1 three-ring binder and divider tabs
• 1 or 2 packs loose-leaf paper (wide or standard rule – 200 sheets total)
• 4 black-and-white marbled composition books
• 2 one-subject notebooks
• 1 three or five subject spiral notebook
• 5 to 8 No. 2 pencils (no mechanical pencils)
• 5 to 8 black or blue ink pens (erasable/no gel)
See a list of additional items needed on the kiosks in the hallways. Collection bins will be located at the Mulberry Street Receptionist Desk.
I don’t know what you know about the Oregon Hill Baptist Center, but those kids need back-to-school backpacks every bit as much as the ones at Glen Lea Elementary, and it’s a wonderful way for our church to partner with the Richmond Baptist Association and one of its existing missions.
So, if stuffing a backpack full of back-to-school goodies sounds like fun and you’d like to participate, just follow the instructions above and drop it off at church when you’re done. And if you don’t live in the area, but still want to help, you can send a donation of $25 per backpack to the attention of Mary Palmer, Women on Mission, First Baptist Church, 2709 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA, 23220.
Who knows? We may end up with enough backpacks for both places!
JimsBlog 