Kiss Dayton Servant Evangelism Fun
January 28, 2009
Kiss Dayton! Servant Evangelism
A couple of years ago I went to the gym on one of my usual gym days. (My wife tells me it’s a good thing.)
When I arrived I asked the receptionist, ‘Have you been kissed today?’ She smiled and said, ‘Nope, not today.’ I then gave her a pack said, ‘Well you’ve just been kissed.’ She laughed and exclaimed, ‘You’re from the Vineyard right?’ I replied, ‘Yep. We are kissing people all over the city this week.’
On Valentines Day we’ll head out to a couple of strip malls near the Vineyard. We take the packs of kisses, and several buckets of carnations. We pop into the businesses and head to the customer service desk and ask, ‘How many ladies are working today?’
We then count out the flowers and Hershey packs…and say, ‘We are from the Vineyard and you’ve just been kissed.’
Usually some of the other assistants are around and join in the exchange. Often, a male worker will ask for a carnation for his girlfriend or wife. Some guys say, ‘Thanks for the reminder.’
Most people are open, curious, laugh and catch the vibe.
One Vineyard group went to a high end Spa/Hair place, all of the working ladies gathered to receive their flower. ‘Who are you guys? Others exclaim, ‘This is so cool.’ Or sigh, ‘This will be my only present today.’
Flowers and kisses were also handed out to the ladies who were becoming beautiful-er.
One of the team noticed one of the ladies getting her hair cut didn’t receive a flower. So being the sensitive, thinking person she is, made an extra special effort to find another team grab a flower and run back to the shop…when she gave the lady the flower, the surprised and delighted lady exclaimed, ‘You’ve just made my day! Thank you.’
Really? Made her day? Makes me wonder what one of her days looks like? Makes me wonder if she was ever loved, or had a caring boy friend, or had husband, or is now connected to an uncaring guy?
What’s in a gift of a small flower and a pack of kisses?
I think serving others in a fun, creative way sends an upbeat message to the people in our stressed out world.
Serving others often is a small action that sends a signal that says, ‘Hey, someone cares for you.’ The action preformed with genuine love somehow touches the heart.
My friend Scott, said, ‘Agape love revealed… my love is demonstrated as I serve others through the choices I make, and by the actions I take.’
Process for Kiss Dayton:
4 weeks out: have connect cards printed (www.marketplaceprinting)
4 weeks out: order Hershey Kisses (snacc foods Cincinnati)
4 weeks out: order 4”X4” zip bags (BGR bags West Chester OH)
4 weeks out: order boxes of Carnations for pick up (Cleveland Plants and Flowers Dayton)
2 weeks out: have kids or teens pack the bags
Week of: have packs placed at all exits
Valentine Day Outreach
3 days out: pick up flowers, cut stems and place in buckets of water so they will be open on the day
3 days out: design maps with instructions and contact phone numbers
3 days out: make name tags
3 days out: gather Kiss packs and place in a larger bag or container
Day of Valentines Day Outreach
Gather at 10am
Give Instructions: go to shops, go to check out or customer service, ask, How many ladies are working today, count out Kisses packs and flowers give to workers, Say, ‘We’re from the Vineyard and you’ve just been kissed.’ Also, be open to need and pray with people if *God space is created.
Divide up into teams Load up and head out.
After project head to Caribou Coffee, or Starbucks for download and great java.
Turkey’s recap…
November 24, 2008
What an amazing time on Saturday. Our ‘receive turkey dinner crew’ were sorting dinners at 8am at 9:30am they received, checked and repacked 150 dinners that were dropped off for the 10am outreach.
At ten am 350ish people showed up… with their dinners. The buzz in the place was off the chart…The first timers were nervous, asking the, ‘What are we going to do? Wow do we do this? Where are we going? Whatz up?’ They were directed to the three tables where they could choose their location, grab a map, a tips sheet and a name tag. We then all gathered in the main room…
We reminded people about the two great commands…Love God with all…and Love your neighbor as self…we connected the thought to Heb 13:15-17 …worship and serving others gladdens the Fathers heart… They go hand in hand, and when they collide …God things can happen.
We worshiped, prayed, picked up our connect cards and ‘we’ve been here’ door stickers and headed out.
Stories are now coming in. People at the right door at the right time. Mom’s weeping. Kids excited and many, many people receiving encouragement through prayer. One guy was so moved that he knelt down beside his boxed dinner to receive prayer.
Here are two stories:
At one house there was a woman, her daughter and sister, both about 8 y.o. They were so incredibly happy that we had food for them. She hugged all 5 of us several times, allowed us to pray for her, hugged us all again. After we left we could hear them all shouting and singing…singing something like “we got turkey dinner” over and over. It was funny.
The third house was where a lady named Earnestine lives. She was pretty shocked when we said why we’d come–as a way of sharing God’s love. She said it made her feel really special and then she just started to cry. She said it was such a wonderful feeling to know that somebody cared.
I told her that God knew that she needed some encouragement today,and that we’d been to a lot of houses where no one answered and that we had ended up waaay in the back of the quads where she lived, We are here because He wanted her to feel His love. We prayed for her too. We hugged her a lot. I told her to call the number on the card if she needed someone to talk to. It was obvious that she was struggling with something. I told her about that church up near the entrance…Destiny.
Anne
At my work, I shared what we were doing this weekend. A co-worker (Jorge) decided to buy a turkey and trimmings for us to give away. When we were near the end, I picked a dinner up and said “OK God, this is Jorge’s dinner”. As I was walking back to the quads, a lady came out of nowhere and asked me if we had food. I said we had a few dinners left and asked if I could I carry a box to her house? She seemed very thankful and told me she had three kids (14, 16 and 18).
It turned out that she was originally from Mexico. What is really cool about that is that I was able to share with her that the guy from my work who paid for a dinner to be delivered was named Jorge and is also from Mexico.
That really touched her and she started crying. I told her out of all the dinners given out today, God had appointed that one to be hers. I was able to pray with her and with one of her daughters. She cried through the whole prayer. I asked her daughter what her favorite Thanksgiving food was. She said it was pumpkin pie. As we looked through the dinner box together, there was not one, but two pumpkin pies. God cares!
Thanks to all for making this opportunity happen again this year. See you tomorrow.
Jeff
As a friend of mine says, Good deeds creates good will that opens hearts to the good news.
steve bowen
turkeys giving away turkeys
November 4, 2008
This year is our 20th year for turkeys giving away turkeys.
Last year we adjusted the outreach in order to involve more people, create a safer environment (morning instead of after dark), create less stress (we were creating exact maps from hours of phone calls usually from the same people who were playing the system) and to create a greater sense of team (over 300 people showed up for instructions and to do the outreach last year).
here’s what we have discovered:
- people want to make a difference….this year over 300 boxes went out the first weekend in November. Yes we are ordering more.
- people like simple…people grab a box as they leave a weekend service. The box has the instructions placed inside the box to help guide people as they purchase the food items.
- people enjoy the sense of togetherness…We encourage participation: families packing the box together, or to join with friends, or joining as a small group to fill the box. This year we will be adding a worship set and breaking up into small groups for prayer…then introducing team leaders, and receiving instructions and maps.
- some people like to participate but don’t want to go on the outreach…that’s ok, participating at any level is appreciated. The ‘no go but want to serve people’ will bring their filled boxes at 9am instead of 10am and placed into trucks.
- people like the fact that we go to the areas we have consistently served in the past…we will be dividing up into three huge teams, caravaning to the location in order to reach out to 3 low income apartments in Huber Heights, Fairborn, and Centerville.
- people like the adventure… we go to homes unannounced, offer a Thanksgiving meal and offer prayer. When we leave the home we place a small sticker on the door notifying the rest of the team that the stickered door is a home we have served.
- people who serve begin to see life through an outward focused lense…One family went to a home and offered the Thanksgiving dinner. The single mom invited the family inside to place the dinner on her table. The family noticed…all she had in her apartment was the table. Their perspective changed. Their hearts were softened through the experience and began to view life through a different lense.
