KEARNEY – On Dec. 3, First Baptist Church, Kearney, held its annual Joyful Giveaway (a community outreach event) served 165 families, met over 780 people, and gave away more than 400 bags – or 3-1/2 tons – of groceries.
The church has presented Joyful Giveaway since 2011. Ken Parker, senior pastor, said the idea came out of his noticing a similar event at First Baptist Church, Branson.
“We want to do something that makes people feel really special,” Parker said, “and demonstrate that Jesus cares for people that have needs and that the church should care for people with needs.
“We want the people to feel like they come in to be loved on and be helped.”
He credits the church’s ministry assistant, Diane McGuire, for pulling together a varied list of activities that draw families to the event between 10am and noon.
“When we pulled in at 7:15(am) to set up,” said McGuire, “we already had 15 cars in the parking lot, and it doesn’t start until 10.” She said some families travelled up to two hours for the event. By the time it opened a line of cars circled the church.
The day began in the worship center where visitors heard an explanation of why the church offered Joyful Giveaway.
“We make it clear,” Parker said, “that we’re here to help, but we want to let you know why we feel compelled to do this. Then we share the gospel story.”
Listeners were then invited to meet with counselors if they had questions about Christ, needed prayer, or wanted to talk with someone.
“We’ve had people who had been helped in the Joyful Giveaway,” Parker said, “that ended up coming to the church and now work in the Joyful Giveaway.”
After the gospel presentation visitors travelled through several stations that provided services, such as haircuts, a framed family photo, healthcare screening and eyeglass repair.
Shops offered children’s and adults’ toys and gifts, as well as clothing items and outdoor winter wear. Visitors were given vouchers to “purchase” the gifts.
The church buys new items for Joyful Giveaway from designated funds.
A café provided hot dogs, snacks and drinks. The last station supplied groceries and personal care items, plus a “goodie bag” that included the Action Bible Christmas story for youth and information about the church.
In previous years, the church has provided resume counseling and laundromat tokens.
“They leave with quite a bit,” McGuire said. “All of it’s free. We don’t charge for anything. There are no strings attached.”
A comment Parker says he often hears is, “I just can’t get over the fact that you guys do that and don’t expect anything in return.”
He says the event is a win for the church and Christ in that it’s become known as “that church with the Christmas event.”
He suggests churches should use whatever resources they have and “start with whatever you can to demonstrate love to your community.”
At the start of Joyful Giveaway the church had no budget. “We didn’t know how big it was going to be,” Parker said. “We didn’t know how many people would show up.”
FBC Kearney runs about 750 in Sunday worship services. It now budgets $15,000 for Joyful Giveaway; another $10,000 comes from a deacons benevolence fund.
This year it used 140 volunteers, all dressed in green shirts with the Joyful Giveaway logo for easy identification.