Richard, a gentleman from our church, shared the following story with me about a mission trip the church took to Vermont.
One of the ministers on the trip gave Richard and each person on the church’s construction team $50 to extend kindness to others.
Here’s Richard’s story:
The construction team on a mission trip to Vermont finished one day early and each member was given a fifty dollar bill and told to go and do “random acts of kindness in the adjacent communities.” Most members of our group gave various amounts of money to different people/places, but I thought, “How boring. There must be a more creative way of doing this.”
I gave my $50 bill to the bank in downtown St. Johnsberry, VT, and they, in turn, gave me fifty one-dollar bills. I then gave one dollar to the next fifty people that I met at random on the streets of St. Johnsberry. The reaction I got was all the way from “I don’t want it. What’s the catch? You keep it.” to “ Thank you. What’s going on here?”
I was able to tell a whole lot of people why the First Baptist Church of Temple, Texas was in Vermont/New Hampshire every July. And that was what it was all about!
One lady said for me to give it to some who needed it because she didn’t need it. I told her to give it away; it was her dollar now. One drunk lady with a dog wanted another one for the dog, so I gave her two. Many people were surprised, encouraging and appreciative of our gospel message in the area. It was a most rewarding experience.
Can you brainstorm creative ways to minister to people for $50?
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