“In South Georgia people act like the First Commandment is, “Thou shalt go to church,” and the Second Commandment is, “Thou shalt get others to go to church.” Millard Fuller, founder and former president of Habitat for Humanity International.
When I was growing up in the town that the Baptists ate, every few Sundays the deacons of First Baptist would visit newcomers to our town and invite them to our church.
I am not sure how many new members we attracted by these visits, but it was their duty as deacons of sorts to do this.
They gave them a pamphlet and a card from the church, and then later someone from the church office would give them a ring on the phone, just to follow up on the visit.
After a couple of decades or so, these visits became a bit more progressive and more to the point.
Instead of simply welcoming someone to the community and giving them a card from the church, the deacon or member of the “Reach Out Committee” would ring the doorbell and blurt out “Hi! I’m Marvin and I would like to talk to you about your relationship with God, and if you are saved or not.”
This was the beginning of people not answering their doors or phones on Sunday afternoons, especially if you saw the guys in black suits riding their bikes on your street.
Curtains drawn and shades down! Everybody hide!
Unless you happened to visit my mother. I am certain those guys wished they had never knocked on our door.
She would invite them in and before they knew it, she had them so turned around that they were promising her to be at Sunday School the following Sunday.
I must admit when I was out West, the guys on bikes were the only humans that came to visit me in the neighborhood, so I was glad to rap with them for awhile.
Recently, my tiny church decided to do a little “neighborhood canvassing.”
I don’t know why, maybe just to see who was out there.
Actually our Reverend made us do it, but she is young, quite hip, she can text with her thumbs, has two tiny children and somehow relates extremely well to a generation of parishioners that are 30-or-40-plus years beyond her, and also to those who are 15 years younger than she is.
She is on top of things. She is the bomb, so we were happy to oblige.
And you know what? It was fun! I partnered with a local-yocal, who knew who lived in each house, who occupied the home before them, and so on and so on, and we met some spectacular people! We never asked them if they were saved, or went to church; we just introduced ourselves and chatted it up with whomever answered the door.
White people, people who were not white, families working in their yards, and some who just yelled “come on in.”
We talked about their children, their yards, the people who had gone before them, and how our tiny church was right down the street from their home, and we would love for them to visit us any time.
In the old days we brought brownies or bread for a visit, but these days a good handshake and a reflection of God’s love can mean just as much.
“My hand’s on the wheel of something that’s real, and I feel like I’m going home.” I always loved this line from a Willie Nelson song, you can make what you want out of it, but I love knowing my church is something that I have my hands on. And it is real.
Smith Brownies
1 stick butter
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9 X 13 pan with vegetable oil.
In a saucepan, melt the butter with the cocoa, water, and oil. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla. Pour the cocoa mixture over the flour mixture and mix well. Add the eggs and mix well. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 20 minutes.
For the Frosting:
1 stick butter
1/3 cup cocoa
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 box confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Melt butter, cocoa, buttermilk, confectioners sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix together until smooth. Remove from heat. Pour over the pan of brownies while still warm. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.
