It happened one Wednesday night during the teen lesson. Some of the teens were slouching in the old hand-me-down couches that smelled to the point no adult would come within five feet of them. Other teens were sitting in the cold metal folding chairs, all supposedly listening to the lesson that night.  It seemed as if there was a quiet hush moving around the room.  Something was going on but we as adults couldn't figure out what the issue was. 

Finally Pastor Aimee Mulder asked, "Guys, what is going on?  What is it that you are talking about?"  The response caught us off guard because it wasn't what we expected.  Their self-appointed leader responded, "What are you going to do with all those things in the cabinet over there?" 

He was referring to the Nazarene Mission International (NMI) Crisis Care Kits that our church had been putting together to send to those in need around the world.  Pastor Aimee and I explained that we were going to be sending them to people who needed an emergency care packet in disaster areas.  The teens' response shocked us even more than the original question: They wanted to know if they could have some of the supplies that we had packed.

As new pastors just out of seminary, Aimee and I desired to offer ministries to our community that would meet a need.  We were looking so hard for other needs that we almost missed the most glaring one in front of our eyes: These students were in desperate want of school supplies at a low cost or even free.

As a church we decided that we would put together backpacks full of school supplies and hand them out the Sunday before school started. 

That first year we were so proud of ourselves. We had 20 backpacks set out along the edge of the platform that Sunday morning.  We invited the children and teens to come and receive their backpack.  In all we handed out 15 backpacks that year.

This year we gave out 100 backpacks and five more sets of school supplies without backpacks. Our service was noisier, there were more distractions and giving the backpacks to the kids was more chaotic than our typically organized selves would have liked.  It would be easy to think that the distractions drowned out anything good because, "Of course people will come to church for free stuff!"  But we give glory to God for the chaos!  Our church could have been more orderly without all the people there that Sunday.  Instead it was noisy, chaotic and a little unorganized--all in the name of being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to those in our community who had a need that wasn't being met.

Listen to the comments from some of these families we were able to help this year:
  • One mother we've never met purchased her first Bible before she came to church because she wanted to be prepared.  She told us that she wants to start reading her Bible more regularly.
  • One mom just had a life threatening illness which caused her to have surgery and be off work for three weeks.  She works two jobs, has three children and was able to breathe a little easier because of our help.  She has since participated in worship four times.
  • Three families who have children going to public preschool were able to give them school supplies.
  • One teenager who buys his own uniforms and school supplies with his earnings from a local establishment was able to invest a little more in his college fund.

We give praise to God for blessing us with the glorious opportunity to be His hands and feet to our local community through the handing out of simple backpacks full of school supplies.

-- Devin and Aimee Mulder co-pastor the Port Arthur First Church of the Nazarene in Port Arthur, Texas