Volunteers offered their services to the community last week as part of Olive Grove Church’s ServeDay 2017.
According to the church pastor, the Rev. Russ Emmanuel, ServeDay is when local churches around the world partner with hundreds of other churches to make a worldwide statement that God loves people, and as a church, Emmanuel and the volunteers showed God’s love through serving.
“Serving is giving unto others without expecting to receive any recognition,” Emmanuel said. “But we are blessing others so they can share this humbling experience.”
The volunteers first visited the Clinton Police Department and provided officers with dinner. The church also painted the walls in Sampson Middle School.
According to Emmanuel, the purpose of this event is to establish serving as a culture in the church by compelling people to become what Jesus was to us, a servant and to impact those served by fueling their joy, and hope that this is what faith in God looks like and can lead to.
“ServeDay helps others by giving people the opportunity to experience fulfillment in life by making a difference,” Emmanuel said. “People will show up when they feel their life matters by helping others and this what we call living life on purpose.”
Emmanuel said the reception from the community was very grateful and appreciative of the services being done.
“People were humbled and extremely grateful,” Emmanuel said. “In some cases, feeling like they needed to give back and that is the response we were hoping to spark. By our church utilizing serve day as a catalyst it would impact the lives of others and connect them to Christ. Our mission at Olive Grove Church is to reach people far from God, leading them to experience a God first life. We believe this is done beyond the walls of a building and that life change happens in the context of relationships.”
Last year, the church provided police officers with blessing bags filled with personal items the officers could carry around when they are on duty. Non-perishable food items were also collected and given to the Sampson County Veterans Council to assist veterans in need.
Volunteers also stood at the intersection of U.S. 701 and N.C. 24 and handed out over 200 bottles of water to drivers and passengers as they made their way into town. The volunteers also paid for laundry to be washed at a local laundromat and provided all the items necessary to wash clothes.