75 Servants, 75 Guests, 75 Years: A Recap

This past weekend at the Farmington Church of Christ, in honor of our 75th anniversary, we had a special event called 75 Servants, 75 Guests, 75 Years.

Basically, the first part of the plan was to meet together as a church family on Saturday and serve our community through a variety of projects:

• Mowing lawns
• Free Car Wash
• Bagging and carrying groceries at IGA
• Washing windshields at gas stations
• Providing clothing and food free of charge
• Making lap quilts to take to widows
• Hauling brush
• Picking up trash from the side of the road
• Helping move furniture

Our goal was to have a minimum of 75 people from our church show up to work (hence, the “75 Servants”), and that goal was met—I counted almost 90 names on the sign-in sheet, and I know some people who were there neglected to sign in. The things we did weren’t exactly earth-shattering, but we hoped to have a positive impact on our community through service, and to show God’s love to those we came in contact with.

I know that our lawn-mowing crews made a particular impact. One lady who had been unable to take care of her lawn due to health issues was so appreciative that she described the men who came to cut her grass as “angels.” Another woman and her husband who had just had a new baby and gotten behind on yard work were so thankful to have that taken off their to-do list.

I had the privilege of working at our car wash (with a bunch of middle schoolers…let me tell you about that someday!), and enjoyed the puzzled looks on people’s faces as I tried to explain that we weren’t accepting donations—we just wanted to serve them. One man had come to get his car washed after running into some of our folks at a gas station. He asked what other kinds of projects we were doing and when I told him, he said, “That’s really cool.”

After we finished our service projects, we headed back to the church building to get everything cleaned and set up for our Friends & Family Day on Sunday, which was the second part of our big weekend. Keeping with the same theme, our goal was to have 75 Guests for worship Sunday morning, and toward that end, our members had been inviting friends, family members, and neighbors for weeks (and also some people that we met on Saturday).

I was overwhelmed by the response on Sunday. We ended up with 85 guests, and a total of over 300 in attendance (which is a big number for a church of 170-180!). We then had the privilege of witnessing one of our guests give his life to Christ in baptism, and afterwards we invited all of our guests to share a meal with us. I don’t know how many stayed for the meal, but I know our fellowship hall was packed.

It was a great weekend. I was humbled by the work done by our church family at work on Saturday, and to see the results of their willingness to invite others on Sunday. And perhaps I was most pleased that a bunch of people who are trying to follow Jesus were able to spend a weekend “going about and doing good” like He did. 

What an encouragement!