People in the neighborhood kept telling him about Baptist Temple. They talked about the Tuesday evening meal and encouraged him to come. These were not church members. They were people who knew where to find a hot meal and a friendly face. They all told him the same thing: "Go to Baptist Temple."
One evening, after returning from donating plasma, Laredo had enough of the isolation. He looked at the clock. It was after 5:30. Instead of spending another evening alone, he walked into the cafeteria looking for company.
He found more than a meal. Someone told him there was a Bible study immediately afterward. That was exactly what he had been missing. Laredo knew from experience that it is difficult to walk away from an old life by yourself. He had spent years pursuing alcohol, drugs, and other destructive habits with everything he had. As he put it, he was "full steam ahead." He realized that if he was going to follow Christ, he needed to be just as intentional about surrounding himself with people who shared his faith.
Laredo's journey has not been an easy one. He began drinking at thirteen and describes his life as a roller coaster. He was introduced to Christ as a teenager through the mother of his high school sweetheart, but his spiritual journey has included many starts and stops along the way. Today, however, he celebrates six years of sobriety. He speaks openly about his gratitude to God for bringing him this far.
What stands out most is not what Laredo has left behind but what he has found. He serves at the HP CAN food pantry on the BT Campus, helps with food distribution, and attends Bible studies. He works alongside people he once would not have imagined himself serving beside. Looking at his current life, he shakes his head and says, "This is not me, Pastor." Friends who knew him years ago would be shocked to see him serving others and investing his time in ministry. Yet that is often how God works. The people most surprised by a transformed life are the people who knew us before Christ began changing us.
Laredo says serving gives him purpose. It helps him stay focused and grounded. More importantly, he sees it as service to God's Kingdom rather than simply volunteering. He talks about an urgency in his heart, a desire to stop "flip-flopping" and fully commit himself to following Christ. His heart is in it. He wants to be there.
He said, "This church reaches out to the actual community," observing that churches can become so busy serving themselves that they forget the people living just beyond their walls. Laredo first encountered Baptist Temple because the community knew the church was there. Long before he joined a Bible study or helped distribute food, people in the neighborhood were already pointing him toward a place where he could find help, friendship, and hope.
The Tuesday meal brought him through the door. Fellowship kept him coming back. Service gave him purpose. You never know what God will do with an invitation to dinner. Sometimes it becomes a place at the table. Sometimes it becomes a ministry. Sometimes it changes a life.
His mother and father had been members of Baptist Temple during their empty nest years and into their senior adulthood. When his father died, his mom joined a Sunday School class of older widows, who looked after one another.
After a few years, her son moved Mom to an assisted living facility in Dallas, near where he now lived. For over ten years, her Sunday school class sent greeting cards on her birthday and other holidays. He was blessed that Baptist Temple had not forgotten his mother.
She was to be buried next to her husband in San Antonio. Her funeral had been in Dallas, but her family deemed it appropriate that her church, who had not forgotten her, say a few words at her graveside.
It is easy to forget our elderly church members who can no longer attend worship services. Maintaining contact requires conscious effort. Many churches appoint a team to minister to home-bound members and those in assisted living. In smaller churches one or more deacons take on that ministry. Phone calls, greeting cards and the church newsletter maintain the lines of communication.
Not all absentees are elderly. “I used to be very active in my church,” a sharply dressed businesswoman once told me.
She and husband were part of a very active church social group but, when her husband became ill, they were unable to participate in the group’s social activities. As his condition worsened, she stayed at home to care for him. Following his death, her focus became running the family business and church became part of the past.
I am certain that many churches have similar stories. We must do better. Deacons, Bible study teachers, and small group leaders are on the front lines on ministry and, therefore, best positioned to keep watch over the sheep. Moses divided people into groups of ten, giving each group a capable spiritual leader, ensuring the highest quality care. Each person under a church’s ministry ought to have someone who will miss them when they are absent, who will notice when they have a problem, who will walk alongside them when they are hurting and be able to help.
Not all absentees are hurting. One couple, who had stopped attending church and Bible study, weren’t facing troubled times. They had lost interest and found it easier to stay home. Their Bible study class stayed in touch, however, sending them monthly invitations to social events (people are usually not offended by party invitations). After almost a year, the couple showed up at an ice cream social and subsequently returned to church.
Jesus taught us, in the parable of the lost sheep, the importance of even one person. Let no one be forgotten. Phone calls, texts, and emails are free. Not everyone appreciates contact but erring on the side of being annoying to a prickly person, is better than letting a lonely person be forgotten.
