“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:3-5 – NASB95
Last month, I told you about our incredible maintenance team and the outstanding job they do taking care of our church property and serving our church family. This month, I want to tell you about two very special people who did an unbelievable job coordinating our efforts last Sunday to serve our community… Tony & Julie Pircey.
For several years, I have desired for our church family to do acts of service in our local community, meeting real needs, demonstrating the love of Christ, and developing redemptive relationships. We have done some things in the past, but that was several years ago. I want our city to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I want them also to see the love of Christ in tangible ways. To that end, I called for our church family to come to a meeting where we could form an Evangelism Team and implement a strategy to reach people for Jesus. I asked Tony & Julie for help, and they gladly said, “Yes.”
That was the beginning of an intense amount of work on their part to help me develop a team. They started asking numerous people to come to our first meeting, where we had over 60 people in attendance. At that meeting, the Pirceys coordinated the lunch for that large group and helped me get materials together to challenge and encourage the group to make evangelism a priority. In that meeting I shared my vision for the future of our church impacting the region for Christ.
After that meeting, the Pirceys went to work reaching out to local community and government leaders to see how we might best serve the city. That led to planning our Community Service Day, which was carried out this past Sunday. To pull it off, we needed more meetings with those interested in evangelism, and the Pirceys came forward to make it happen. More details were established for the service outreach in those meetings, and once again, Tony & Julie put in countless hours making sure everything would get organized and completed. Yes, many, many people helped them, but Tony & Julie were the ones who led the charge. Hours and hours of prayers, phone calls, and purchasing of supplies, coordination with church staff, taking signups, getting fliers made, going out in the neighborhood, making maps, organizing teams, finding pickups to haul the trash and broken-down furniture in the neighborhood, getting people to make the breakfast burritos… I’m tired just typing all of that, and that’s not even everything. Did I mention they also serve in Youth Ministry and lead an adult class on Sunday mornings?
Why do I say all this? Because I believe we MUST be a church where faithful people are recognized and appreciated. I know how encouraging it is for our pastoral staff in October during “Pastor Appreciation Month,” and I want other faithful workers in the church to feel the same kind of love. In years past, we used to have a “Volunteer of the Month” that we recognized every month. I think it is my fault that we stopped doing that when the pandemic hit. Well, I can’t think of a better couple to start that
up again than to honor and appreciate Tony & Julie Pircey.
They will probably be mad at me for writing this newsletter article, and I will gladly bear the brunt of that. They didn’t do any of it to be recognized, but I want them to know that the Lord used them to bless all of us and our neighbors. Please let them know how much you appreciate all that they did. Tell them how you were blessed by participating last Sunday. Share a story or two of what happened as you worked side-by-side with other people in our church family serving our local community.
After you do all that, determine how you might encourage more and more people who serve so faithfully in our church family. Staff, musicians, singers, ushers, greeters, Bridge Café workers, children’s ministry & youth ministry workers, teachers of classes, etc., etc., etc. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:10: “ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor [or, “outdo one another in showing honor”]
