Feeding the Hungry Through Ministry

Over the next several blog posts, I will share information - and the process - as our church reestablishes its food ministry. This is physically one of the greatest ministries the church can actively show the world that we are a shining little light in a dark place because 1)we are putting the rubber to the road, and 2)we are addressing a serious need in our community. Thanks to FoodPantries for the step-by-step guide and all of you for your assistance in serving Saline County and beyond.

A food bank can be an incredible way to contribute to the community and help those in the area who have fallen on hard times. While setting up a new food pantry can be overwhelming, with some organization and hard work, you can make your new food bank a success.

Prior to actually requesting food, figure out what kind of food banks are in the area and what kind of gap your food pantry can fill. Do other food banks only serve in the early mornings, or do the only serve very small portions? By establishing what other services lack, you can better serve the community.

With some community backing, you can then look for a building or hosting structure to base your food pantry. Make sure the building has appropriate temperature control, storage, and refrigeration for the food, and that the building is easily accessible for the people you will serve.

Once you establish what niche your food pantry will fill, send a sponsorship request letter to potential corporate and private donors and follow up the letter with a polished presentation. These organizations can help you by providing essential equipment or funds and local schools and churches can organize drives to stock your food pantry’s shelves.

Search for volunteers at community centers like churches or township clubs. You’ll need about ten volunteers a month in shifts to cover accepting donations, cooking food, distributing food, and basic record keeping.

Once you have a base of volunteers, decide on what your operational hours will be. Regular and routine hours will make your food pantry successful as families will be able to depend upon it. Also decide on what demographics you will serve. Choose if you will only help those who live within your community, what income bracket they must be in, and what family size.

With your demographic identified, organize packs of food for each family. Most packets should include enough food stuffs to feed the family for three days. Families would also find it helpful if you separately packaged and included essentials like toiletries, diapers, and detergent.

While setting up a new food pantry can be a daunting task, with a little forethought and effort, you can help the local community and establish your food pantry.


IMPORTANT: If this message is about a particular food pantry, please specify more than just the name. Add city and phone number. Many pantries contact us and only provide their name. We have many pantries with the same name.

Other helpful resources are available as well, but not limited to rent assistance, transitional housing, free medical/dental clinics, and public assistance. Contact your local DHS office - as each branch has a list of services that can readily help your ministry.

 John 15:12 Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you.

Sky-High Metabolism

Another short post - and one that could potentially help improve your health. Everyone wishes to have sky-high metabolism just like we did in high school and college, but life overtakes that desire - trust me, I know. Below are some tips toward returning to the best shape in life:

1. Turn in earlier. Try to go to bed at the same time, and early enough for you to get eight hours' rest. Sleeping patterns require approximately six weeks of a consistent change before they take hold.

2. Eat better. Start your meals with a fruit or a vegetable and a tall glass of water. Load up on vitamins and antioxidants in fruits and vegetables to feel refreshed. Yes, this means you should drink a V8 and even if you don't like tomato juice, there are other flavors. 

3. Pump iron.

4. Be vain. Take care of your skin, hair, and those other body parts. Remember, salons make serious bank helping people look and feel better!

5. Mix it up. Change your daily routine to escape predictability. If your morning starts with a three mile jog and a cup of joe from Starbucks as a reward, switch it up by lifting weights first, running second, and orange juice from Dunkin Donuts. However...don't mix it up too much at work; your vibe may get thrown off. 

6. Step back in time. Load up the Spotify files with Bone Thugs 'N Harmony and Bush if that's what puts you in your happy place. Nostalgia takes us back to an era where our rose-colored glasses are best worn - remember that six-pack and that small town of beautiful women at your disposal? You can temporarily relive that. If you're still trying to live as a BMOC and graduated fifteen years ago, let it go after the short-term memories fade.

7. Be positive. People with perpetual sky-high metabolism tend to be upbeat folks. Smile, dance, praise God, and enjoy life - YOLO! 

Racism Is Not Over

To some, Ferguson was just a phase to distract the rest of us from our mundane lives. For the rest of us, this is real life. This video points out some things we (black America) abhor and are pointing out in an attempt to eradicate racism. Check out the adorable children and capture their message.

God bless, I'm out.

Hey White People: A Kinda Awkward Note to America by Ferguson Kids and #FCKH8:
http://youtu.be/KQfg52m0-4o

A Space To Repent

Taken from Revelation 2:18-23

This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: I am the Son of God! My eyes are like flames of fire, and my feet are like bronze. Listen to what I say.  I know everything about you, including your love, your faith, your service, and how you have endured. I know you are doing more now than you have ever done before.  But I still have something against you because of that woman Jezebel. She calls herself a prophet, and you let her teach and mislead my servants to do immoral things and to eat food offered to idols. I gave her a chance to turn from her sins, but she did not want to stop doing these immoral things.  I am going to strike down Jezebel. Everyone who does these immoral things with her will also be punished, if they don't stop.  I will even kill her followers. Then all the churches will see that I know everyone's thoughts and feelings. I will treat each of you as you deserve.

It's our nature to possess a contrarian view. Whatever we are told, we tend to do whatever we want as a short sighted spirit. Having a Jezebel spirit means being a master (or mistress) of having their way. Being spoiled is NOT a great thing because in Christianity, it can destroy a unit. We all have time to repent from our sins. 

Verse 18: Pastors need to get right from the head to the foot and show concern of soul > friendship. Don't fall for sweet words others say, rather be enchanted by the Word of God. It is there to make you better!

Verse 19: Jesus is at the church knocking and no one is answering.  What's really going on? He's looking @the church in order to be purified. He knows the church ought to be doing things to make the world a better place; if your gift is being utilized,  keep it up. Otherwise, use it or lose it!

Verse 20: There are a few things Jesus has issue with. Instead of listening to the angels and pastors of his heart, people got up and followed the Jezebel spirit. Ex. Beanie Weenies were being collected at the Salt Bowl Friday afternoon. God has blessed us to eat more than beans and hot dogs with the ability to cook for ourselves. Same example within the ministry.  Some things we don't like may be good for us, like portion control. Just because it's good to us doesn't mean gorge on it.

Verse 21: God gives us the chance to turn from wrong. Truth is, some things we say and do aren't good for you. The Jezebel lifestyle of YOLO (sinning against God) is not the way to go; see both blog posts from AD&AD These Hoes Ain't Loyal.

Verse 22: Persistent bad behavior will cause a loss of life.

Verse 23: When the staff dies from their unrepentant ways, the followers also perish. This will prove that God knows all of our thoughts and actions and he will reveal that to everyone else. Jezebel will give you heartache and unnecessary anguish.

Conway's Changes, Pt. II

More changes in the City of Conway ordinances
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-MYmN1nygCaemlzR1VYRy1obk92YTlsZ2NUWGpLUWkzMVdv/edit?usp=docslist_api

Conway's Changes, Pt. I

Amended changes to the City of Conway
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-MYmN1nygCaSG1na2JjMDk4dUhpTlg5bVBqWW83RS1xZDlN/edit?usp=docslist_api

Shoot A Negro, You're A Hero: My Issue With Crowdfunding

Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero. -2Pac Shout out to crowdfunders who made this a reality. #FYou
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) August 27, 2014

Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Oscar Grant. Renisha McBride. Jonathan Ferrell. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Medgar Evers. The brother in New York shot an astounding 41 times as he was reaching for his wallet. All of these brothers and sisters were gunned down by law enforcement, self-appointed neighborhood “watchmen”, Klansmen, and otherwise bigots with or without a badge. These days (as were back then), expect the racists to open their wallets when a black person’s life is cut short to protect their narrow-minded ilk.

If you’re reading this and thinking “what about black-on-black crime?” this is neither the time nor the venue. We’ve beaten that dead horse in and out of gravesites over the past thirty or so years. No sane person is applauding the demise of another soul although Osama bin Laden was close.

Growing up the way I did, crowd funding is an old concept with a new name. Kid wants to go to camp? Raise money among family and church members to send him to Kannakuk. June Bug can’t keep himself out of jail? Hustle up the boys and put up some change so he can make bail and come home. In truth, numerous college scholarships were created and later endowed in this manner. So – what is my opinion pertaining Darren Wilson and previously George Zimmerman? We have a class of despicable people attempting to buy justice to perpetuate privilege by any means necessary; in their cases, the assailant was ferried to undisclosed locations. I doubt this would happen if the killer cop were black and the victim white. Would he be classified a hero or by another title symbolizing his otherness? Note: A few weeks ago, this did happen in Utah where an unarmed white teen was killed by a black police officer. I do not know all of the specifics with that case, so I’ll keep my mouth shut until more information is released.

Oops, I regressed.

Why did I use the title line? Look at Wilson’s GoFundMe and the explicit racism in the comments section; I’m pretty sure the $135K + that went to the Zimmerman PayPal account was not solely for a fair trial. In addition, I read many Facebook associates’ postings slandering both Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin as thugs, gangsters, and lawbreakers deserving of their fates and I thought:  Are you kidding me? I remember what most of you high-and-mighty were doing at seventeen and eighteen years old, and having milk and cookies just wasn’t exactly it. Stop the hypocrisy.

Darren fucking Wilson is crying about how he is now unemployable. Motherfucker, you are a murderer. You belong under the jail. #Ferguson

— Colonel Angus Ball$z (@angrynbitter77) August 4, 2015

 In light of the events in Ferguson people simply aren’t hiding underneath a physical white sheet anymore. While it is true some white people will always position themselves as victims despite the rest of the world possessing knowledge that they are truthfully defending an immoral standard. What they hear is a black man (allegedly) stealing a cigarillo, and that instantly translates to his robbing a convenience store. Is a 75 cent blunt worth a life? Rather, what would you do if YOUR child had to live with the stigma of being less a person and potentially losing his life over a blunt? That is what is being implied, but quoting Kermit the Frog, “that’s none of my business.”

I should be able to blow off ignorant folks, but it’s hard living with the idea that my next trip away from home may be my last one. I could easily make my turn into my subdivision and not reach my driveway because of a Terminator-style officer who thinks kill first, then ask questions later and see him (or her) celebrated a hero. It’s genocide. It’s beyond ridiculous.

The Best Day Off Ever

By the seventh day, God had finished his work, and so he rested. God blessed the seventh day and made it special, because on that day he rested from his work. Genesis 2:2-3

As many of you know, God created the heavens and the earth and everything else within it in six days. I say many because perhaps someone subscribes to the Big Bang Theory, or someone has never heard that. In our day, Labor Day is that holiday observed on the first Monday of every September in honor of all the working men and women deserving of a day to rest. To most of us, Labor Day symbolizes the end of summer in its traditional iteration and lazy days - even if the heat just won't quit. Fashionistas may get that final wearing of their all-white linen attire, and my white loafers are destined for the back of the closet until next spring. God illustrates to us through the six days of creation and resting on the seventh day that we all need a day off. If he took a day off to reflect on his work, why won't we rest? Are we better than our perfect God? No, but the way we work lends us to hypocrisy.

You may sit back and wonder "how am I a hypocrite to God's will and ethic concerning work?" Here's how: Besides the obvious punching the clock seven days of the week, you (and I) sin by not allowing ourselves time to recharge our batteries. As strong as our bodies and minds are, we need the time off to recuperate;  otherwise, you run the risk of burnout.  Once you're burned out, your talents become a shell of themselves. This is one reason why working a second job can become dangerous beyond a temporary need to make money for debt repayment, vacation, or simply to get by. Eventually, living on a four-hour nap catches up whether you like it or not - and it won't be pretty.

In a world which our occupation determines our worth to society, we have to remember that what we do isn't who we are despite the benefits of a title. The pimply-faced cashier at McDonald's is on the same plane as the President of the United States in one key regard: Both need time to step away and smell the roses every once in a while. Teachers look forward to summer break because (in theory) in represents seven weeks of rest and life away from the alarm clock; in reality, many educators are taking continuing education courses, completing an advanced degree, thoughtfully planning next year's curriculum, or maintaining credentials. While that is fine, trouble arises when they try to take on too much. Guess who suffers first? Family. Instead of lasting memories of that trip to the mountains, all kids tend to recall is dad being too busy for them as mom shuttles them from school to daycare to after-school activities in her own frazzled state. No Android phone, nor Yukon Denali, nor McMansion on the lake is worth the loss of joy.

I can imagine God overlooking the earth and all of the meticulous attention he paid in making the world. After six days' labor, I'm certain he patted himself on the back, sayin well done.

He created the following:
Day 1:  Day and night
Day 2:  The sky
Day 3:  Land and seas, vegetation: plants bearing seeds and fruit trees
Day 4:  The sun, moon and stars, set in the sky to separate light from darkness
Day 5:  Birds and fish
Day 6:  Animals and mankind
Day 7:  Rest

Day 7 was the best day off EVER.