Yesterday I spent my lunch hour at the Son's Light Church on Rt. 301. It's an old roadside motel, left over from the time when 301 was the snowbirds' main pathway between the frozen north and Florida. But it's no longer a motel; it's a place where so much is happening that it's hard to keep track of the action.
I began my interview by sitting down with a group of volunteers who were there to carry out the normal Monday routine: Open the Thrift Store from noon to 5, Operate the Food Pantry from 1-5, and do whatever else needs to be done to keep Christian Social Ministries active and thriving.
Christian Social Ministries (CSM) is a benevolence program of the Ogeechee River Baptist Association (ORBA). Its programs are located at Son's Light Church in spaces that were once motel rooms, and it is, by all evidence, a thriving program. Volunteers collect, sort, and sell donated clothes and household goods, and the money made in the Thrift Store purchases food for the Food Pantry. The Food Pantry is now involved in the State Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)and now meets the computer requirements to purchase USDA food.
I spoke with Pastor John Long, who oversees this ministry. He knows that the success of CSM is the work of God in the lives of everyone involved. The program is there not only to provide food, but to provide prayer for those experiencing need. Most of the families who come to the food bank are jobless, homeless, or medically challenged, so when they are interviewed at each visit and offered an opportunity to join a volunteer in prayer, they are grateful. Pastor Long says that since the CSM Food Bank opened, no one has refused this prayer opportunity.
The CSM Thrift Shop and Food Pantry opened last summer. In the first week the Food Pantry served 17 families; at this point the number of families served varies from 58 to 70 weekly. The volunteers, who come from a variety of denominations and churches throughout Bulloch County, are looking for a larger building that they can move to the Son's Light property for an enlarged Thrift Store.
Another ministry, this one specific to the Son's Light Church, began when public health students at Georgia Southern University looked for a way to serve those with health needs in the area. The Hearts and Hands Clinic, located in the rooms adjacent to the Thrift Store, is a combined effort to provide vision, dental, and medical services to those in need.
When Dennis Nelson heard that the rooms needed to be renovated for the Hearts and Hands Clinic, he took on the job; with his crew, he created rooms that look exactly like any downtown doctor's office.
Son's Light has one more ministry: the Benevolence Apartment. When a family has an emergency and needs housing for a short time, the apartment is available for use.
It was a little overwhelming, watching these men and women with willing hands and hearts, voices filled with welcome and laughter. God is hard at work in Bulloch County, and I stand in awe.
Mrs. B
I began my interview by sitting down with a group of volunteers who were there to carry out the normal Monday routine: Open the Thrift Store from noon to 5, Operate the Food Pantry from 1-5, and do whatever else needs to be done to keep Christian Social Ministries active and thriving.
Christian Social Ministries (CSM) is a benevolence program of the Ogeechee River Baptist Association (ORBA). Its programs are located at Son's Light Church in spaces that were once motel rooms, and it is, by all evidence, a thriving program. Volunteers collect, sort, and sell donated clothes and household goods, and the money made in the Thrift Store purchases food for the Food Pantry. The Food Pantry is now involved in the State Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)and now meets the computer requirements to purchase USDA food.
I spoke with Pastor John Long, who oversees this ministry. He knows that the success of CSM is the work of God in the lives of everyone involved. The program is there not only to provide food, but to provide prayer for those experiencing need. Most of the families who come to the food bank are jobless, homeless, or medically challenged, so when they are interviewed at each visit and offered an opportunity to join a volunteer in prayer, they are grateful. Pastor Long says that since the CSM Food Bank opened, no one has refused this prayer opportunity.
The CSM Thrift Shop and Food Pantry opened last summer. In the first week the Food Pantry served 17 families; at this point the number of families served varies from 58 to 70 weekly. The volunteers, who come from a variety of denominations and churches throughout Bulloch County, are looking for a larger building that they can move to the Son's Light property for an enlarged Thrift Store.
Another ministry, this one specific to the Son's Light Church, began when public health students at Georgia Southern University looked for a way to serve those with health needs in the area. The Hearts and Hands Clinic, located in the rooms adjacent to the Thrift Store, is a combined effort to provide vision, dental, and medical services to those in need.
When Dennis Nelson heard that the rooms needed to be renovated for the Hearts and Hands Clinic, he took on the job; with his crew, he created rooms that look exactly like any downtown doctor's office.
Son's Light has one more ministry: the Benevolence Apartment. When a family has an emergency and needs housing for a short time, the apartment is available for use.
It was a little overwhelming, watching these men and women with willing hands and hearts, voices filled with welcome and laughter. God is hard at work in Bulloch County, and I stand in awe.
Mrs. B
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