Hot Dogs & Fruit Salad
Children’s Ministry is all about hot dogs and fruit salad. That’s because Children’s Ministry is all about “Extending the hands and heart of Christ.” I believe Jesus is talking to all of us when He says, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). And hot dogs and fruit salad are a great way to help your kids love a neighbor. I love how one of our families, Jim and Ericka Meyer love on their neighbors with their two boys, Hunter and Tharin.
This is Ericka’s story: We moved into our neighborhood in November 2006 and right away had numerous children at our house to play every day. At times our front yard would have 8-10 kids running around during the warm winter and spring days. As summer approached, my husband and I wondered what we should do with so many kids once school let out. Since many of the children are under the care of their grandmothers, our actual neighbors, I felt strongly that I should feed them once a week during the summer. So we decided we would do front yard picnics on Fridays for July, but we ended up starting in June.
For six weeks, we fed our neighbors hot dogs, chips, and fruit salad, except one week when a neighbor bought pizza for everyone. Every Friday my son, Hunter, would start knocking on doors to invite neighbors over. It was very exciting for him to meet new people, and we had an average of twelve new friends each week running in our grass and splashing in our kiddie pool until two in the afternoon.
From the very beginning, I prayed to God for money for the food I was providing. One Thursday, after praying for help with the next day’s picnic, I called my sister to go shopping with me. When she came to pick me up she told me our dad was giving us money to buy whatever we needed, up to $50. Neither one of them had any idea I needed money. God is extremely faithful.
Our family has really created strong relationships with our neighbors since this past summer. Three of the neighbor grandkids come to AWANA with us at PRC. Our neighbors trust us and rely on us to help them when they need it. We have heard and seen a lot of brokenness in their life stories and are able to pray for their needs. We are looking forward to having picnics again this summer.