The $75K church outreach you might not know about

This area is blessed with many churches and faith-based ministries. They do important work feeding the hungry (with both food and the Gospel), providing clothes, shelter and other needed items and services. They stand in the gap, showing God's love.

Many good deeds are shared by the Southeast Missourian, and readers are encouraged to share their stories and photos via the Your Stories page on www.semissourian.com.

On Saturday, hundreds of members from Lynwood Baptist Church, wearing T-shirts that said City2City, were sent out to love on the communities of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City. Along with the T-shirts, yard signs with "City2City" were placed at various locations.

Lynwood youth work on a landscaping project at The Church of the Rescued and Redeemed on Saturday, July 13 for the Lynwood Baptist Church City2City outreach. Submitted photo

The church bought groceries and gas for people as random acts of kindness; backpacks were purchased for local schools that will be filled with food for students and their families; there were painting and landscaping projects; the church made a donation of items for the Central Academy professional clothing closet (plus racks, hangers and a steamer to go with it). The Cape Girardeau Police Department received a $7,100 donation to purchase protective gear for their Special Response Team along with tripods for evidence cameras. (Plus cookies, brownies and Chick-fil-A gift cards for employees.) The list goes on.

The Rev. Mark Anderson, senior pastor at Lynwood Baptist Church, spoke with me Thursday afternoon about the ministry outreach saying it's been on the church's heart for some time now to engage the community in a big way. This, he said, was the church's opportunity to "love on our community."

Lynwood used $75,000 of its reserves to make this outreach possible. Church leadership already has marked their calendars for August 1, 2020 to engage the community again.

Lynwood Baptist donated $7,100 to the Cape Girardeau Police Department on Saturday July 13 as part of their City2City ministry. The money will assist in the purchase of protective gear for the police department’s Special Response Team, and tripods for evidence cameras. Pictured left to right: Cpl. Scheper, Chief Blair and Lynwood senior pastor Mark Anderson.Submitted photo

Part of the strategy around the event was to get the church's Life Groups to take on specific projects.

"Most of them did something beyond what we asked," Anderson said. "It was amazing."

Anderson said the stories of the community response have been incredible, noting there were many who were facing a crisis that day, and the church's generosity went a long way in helping them.

The people involved were primarily Lynwood members, though another church worked with a Lynwood Life Group on roof project.

Sunday morning's service included several new attendees who were on the receiving end of the ministry. Some committed their lives to Christ, Anderson said, and others joined the church.

"We didn't just want to do the social side of the Gospel but create an environment where they would feel welcomed and loved at Lynwood," Anderson said. "So if they meet some of our people outside the church, then they would feel safe in coming. And that's exactly what happened. They had an encounter with Christ. That's what the bottom line is."

Another important aspect of the outreach was the range of people involved. Anderson said they had children through senior adults participate in City2City.

Anderson said he encourages Lynwood members and their respective Life Groups to carry the ministry on throughout the year. Picking a day (or more) to go out and bless others. Buy someone's lunch, groceries, gas, etc.

"It's about the Kingdom. It's not about Lynwood," Anderson said. "It's about the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said (in Mathew chapter 5), 'Let your light shine before men, see your good works, and they will glorify your Father in Heaven."'

It's always encouraging to see local churches step up in big ways. Hats off to Lynwood Baptist. God certainly was glorified.

Lucas Presson is assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian.