Coming Full Circle
I received this e-mail earlier this week and share it here with the sender’s permission…
Dear Pastor Danny,
I am fairly new to the Summit coming regularly for the past few months. One of the ways I’ve been most impressed with Summit is not the great messages by J.D., the excellent traffic detail, or the worship. No, it has been that every Sunday morning there is someone who hands me a delicious, warm, freshly brewed cup of coffee that not only warms my body, but warms my soul. Sometimes when someone hands me that cup of coffee to me I think to myself – this is love. I wish I could quote you a Bible verse about serving coffee, but I don’t think Jesus had coffee and I imagine if the disciples had it then they would have been able to pray at least an hour.
I do not consider myself a connoisseur of the beverage however I was co-founder of the popular Coffee Doughnut Wednesday at UNC. This was an event in which myself and friends enjoyed coffee and doughnuts every Wednesday. I feel that with my experience and a desire to serve people in the same way I have been served I would like to work a shift of coffee serving. I understand the economy is slow and there may not be any spots available, but if you could keep me in mind if anything opened up I would be much obliged.
Sincerely,
Stephen Rodgers
I’ve not yet met Stephen face to face, but I like him already, and you can be sure that you will see him on the First Impressions Team very, very soon. Here’s the takeaway: Stephen was the recipient of someone’s hospitality gift, and now he’s giving back that which he’s received.
That’s one of the goals of our team each Sunday: we deliver “Wow!” experiences to our guests. Because of the “Wow!”, many of those guests stick around, respond to the gospel, and get involved in order to serve others. Stephen is one success story out of hundreds I could point you to. I’m grateful he was wowed. I’m thankful he gets it. I’m excited he’ll be serving within the next couple of Sundays.
How about you? Are you giving back, or are you holding on to that which you’ve received? Jump in on one of our volunteer teams today!
