THE HARBOR CLOTHING DRIVE
On the last Sunday of every January, The Harbor Church has its annual clothing drive for Metropolitan Ministries. Metro helps provide food, shelter, education, and clothing for those less fortunate.
We found that January is the perfect month for a clothing drive. You may wonder why? Think about it, many families clean out their closets after receiving clothes for Christmas. It’s a win-win situation.
Here is the great part, this year was the largest clothing drive ever! Hectic and fun at the same time.
Manpower
Approximately thirty minutes before the Sunday service many families were showing up with their cars filled with white 13-gallon garbage bags of clothes. We were specific about the size of the bags because we learned from past clothing drives that 50-gallon bags filled with clothes were too heavy. Talk about back-breakers!
Here is the cool part! The Harbor men picked up and carried bags of clothes from the cars of members and attenders to the front of the church. By the time the church service began, clothes were piled up high on both sides of the entrance of the church. It was a sight to behold. Manpower!
After the service, the Harbor men brought all the clothes into the church lobby for the next team that would come on Tuesday. The lobby was nearly filled with clothes.
Truck Service
On Tuesday, at 9:00 a.m., the next step of the clothing drive took place. David and Christoph brought their large pickup trucks, filled them, and drove downtown to the Metropolitan Ministries drop off center. Then the two men filled ten of Metro’s large containers with the clothes. But that wasn’t enough to get all the clothes from The Harbor to Metro. So, David came back to the church, filled his truck again, and drove back to Metro. Now that’s truck service!
It’s Biblical
In Matthew 25, Jesus teaches a parable regarding the end times with goats and sheep. The goats were unwilling to help with the basic needs of the poor and downtrodden during their lifetimes. In contrast, the sheep helped those less fortunate by giving them water, food, shelter, and clothing. Jesus said the goats were destined to eternal punishment while the sheep eternal life in heaven. It’s clear, helping others is a heart issue. It’s Biblical.
Raise My Capacity
It is true we are saved by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) and not through our works. But our works do show where our heart is when it comes to loving God and others (Matthew 22:37-40). Serving and helping others is an indication of where our heart is with Jesus. Simply, we raise our capacity to love like Jesus as we help and serve others less fortunate. May we all raise our capacity to love this way.
David Towner is the author of Today Is My Favorite Day and has been the senior pastor of The Harbor Church in Odessa, Fl, for twenty-six years. He is married to his wife, Tonya. They have three beautiful girls and four awesome grandsons.
