"It's going to be a light day in terms of attendance."
That was the narrative that played in my head all week as we prepared for Love Shelbyville day. Those kinds of thoughts can change your day - for better or for worse.
I woke up this morning thinking about final preparations for the day and the Lord kept calling to mind Proverbs 3:3:
Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Got it, Lord. Be faithful to what you've called us to as a church - Loving Shelbyville. If for no other reason than to be reminded that Jesus was loyal and faithful to complete his mission - a mission that ultimately saved me and so many others who believed in him.
Of all the details, I was most eager to return to an assisted living residence that we had not been to since the pandemic began. A small crew of us returned not knowing what to expect, but we were there - available, willing, anticipating the unknowns.
We shuffled around as we gathered all who would come to play some bingo. Mike was the big winner of the day - he took home 3 rounds of bingo and enough chips to make his roommates jealous!
As the games ended, I let them know we would be back and made a simple invitation: If you wanted to join us at church next weekend, we'd be glad to get you a ride.
I was almost surprised to have 3 people immediately make their way towards me asking what time, where, and trying to figure out if they needed a ride or if they could make it on their own.
We finished cleaning up and I wanted to let the facility know about the invitation. As I began to share about the invitation, I watched as the face of the lady overseeing things softened. She began to strategize with me how this could happen before stopping to say this:
No one has invited them to church since the pandemic began. Most of them haven't been outside the walls since then.
I wrestled internally; I thought mostly about my own selfish nature that was focused on "the light crowd."
And then I realized - there's probably a lot of people in Shelbyville that that is true for. They haven't been invited to church since the pandemic began.
I'm thankful for a small band of believers that decided this morning, "I'll head to Love Shelbyville and just be available for how God might use me."
There's no better time to LOVE SHELBYVILLE than NOW.
Check out some pictures from today below! If you'd like more info on some of the partners we serve with or you'd like to be in the know when opportunities to serve come up, head over to our Ministry Partners page at loveshelbyville.com/serve.