Preparing for the blitz

Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 26, 2004

Times-Journal writer

Church Street Methodist is holding a Mission Blitz on Sunday, Aug. 29, and the whole community is invited.

The Rev. George Sedberry, pastor, said the whole community is invited to the Sunday program which will he held following the 11 a.m. worship service.

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Special guest Tom Corson, executive director of SIFAT (Servants in Faith and Technology), will bring the message during worship, he said.

Activities planned for the day include junior and senior high youth helping shut-ins with yard work and housework and younger children visiting nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Members and others are asked to bring items to the church, including non-perishable food items for the Selma Food Pantry (Christian Outreach Ministries) supported by the downtown churches and others in the community; and snack items for Selma Christian Ministries based in the Craig Field area, including cases of canned drinks (an inexpensive brand) and individually wrapped snacks (such as Little Debbie, etc.). Eighty items of the same kind are needed.

Craft items are also requested to support the public schools: crayons, glue sticks, 4 oz. Elmer’s Glue bottles, acrylic paint, styrofoam plates, construction paper, card stock, Bible coloring books, modeling clay, tin cans, small baby food jars, toilet paper and paper towel cardboard rolls, scissors, pencils, biblical suncatcher craft kits, dry erase markers, coffee filters, sharpie markers in assorted colors, regular markers and ideas for simple Bible crafts.

Also being collected from participants for the church’s CROSS

Ministry are supplies similar to the above and bath towels and wash cloths in new and used (good condition) for SABRA House.

CROSS stands for Christians Reaching Others in School Supplies.

According to Sedberry, the idea for the Church Street United Methodist Mission Blitz came from the June meeting of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church on the Huntingdon College campus in Montgomery. Bishop Larry Goodpaster invited all participants from the conference churches to participate in activities during the meeting of conference led by a variety of leaders of helping agencies.

The theme for the program was “Out of the Pew Into the World.”

“It was the most meaningful meeting of the annual conference that I have ever attended,” said Sedberry. “It was really nice during a business meeting to have the opportunity to go out and to do things for others.”

“We’re hoping to make the Mission Blitz here an annual event, and perhaps do it more than once a year,” he said.

“There is no pre-registration required to attend the Sunday mission event. Since this is the fifth service we will have only one worship service at 11 a.m., following Sunday school for all ages with nursery provided at 9:45. We will then have lunch and the activities of the Mission Blitz will begin. While some activities may go longer we believe most everything should be completed between 3 and 3:30 p.m.,” he said.

Sedberry emphasized that the program was not just for members of the Church Street Methodist congregation but for all interested persons in the community.

Sedberry sees this mission outreach, part of the many activities of the church and its members in the community, as an expression of the character of the congregation.

“When people come to Church Street United Methodist Church we expect them to find hospitality, healing and hope,” he said.