The Matthew Initiative

We decided that we would do things a bit different in November and invited some of the Cedartown public officials to come and talk to the Kresge Kids.   Children who live on the fringes of a community often do not regard public officials as their friends.   It is my understanding that this comes from both the environment and personal experience, in too many instances in these young lives.    So, we are introducing the community to the great work of Kresge UMC and the kids to their community officials.   

This past week was an interesting one, as things seem to go.   The van continues to run three loads of children who want to come to the program.   In addition we had ” guests” from another church in a nearby community who came to observe the program. We always tell them to expect the unexpected.   They are hoping to also re-build their children’s ministries program, and coming to Kresge is not a bad place to start.   

This week the new city manager of Cedartown was our first guest and public official to meet the Kresge Kids.   He has been on the job for about a month now, and we are grateful he took the time to come and get to know the kids and what this amazing church is doing to reach them.   Of course, just as he arrived the second load had also arrived and he was greeted by thundering kids “moving quickly” down the hall and competing for who was going to be first in the check in line.   We did not realize he was at the church until we looked up and saw him trying to get the kids in a straight line and in some kind of order.   He was not doing so bad, actually.   

We learned at supper that the Kresge Kids had received a gift of a cow , or 1/2 of a cow.   The poor cow had a hurt leg and had to be put down, so the owner had the cow professionally butchered for the Wednesday night meals at Kresge.   He is now in several freezers around Cedartown.   The city manager arrived to Sloppy Joe night, the first of many ground beef themes to come at Kresge Kids.   Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  

I heard several of the kids ask if the City Manager was the new Governor of Georgia.  They don’t see a city official often in a suit and tie who tells them his job was to be a servant to them and keep them safe.   He encouraged them to do well in school and listen to their teachers.   Maybe someday, one of the kids on the van will be the city manager of Cedartown.   Kresge UMC is making a real difference in these children’s lives like that.   We still need a van, but somehow I think the more people there are out there aware of the need, the more likely it is that one will show up.   

So, overall it was another exciting night at Kresge: our guests from another church, the Governor and the Cow.   Feels like stone soup.