Barbecue for 300 called 'miracle'
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___CORPUS CHRISTI--A "miracle of God" provided a barbecue dinner Oct. 28 and helped a southside Corpus Christi church reach out to about 300 neighborhood residents.
___Travis Baptist Church held a "Y'all Come Block Party" with a country and western theme. It featured a band of fiddle, guitar and banjo; pony rides; horseshoe pitching; a roping exhibition; and other attractions such as balloon art, a moonwalk and face painting. But the barbecue meal was the centerpiece.

A BLOCK PARTY at Travis Baptist Church in Corpus Christi drew 300 neighbors.

___Pastor Michael Hale called the meal a miracle. "I wanted to have a free barbecue dinner as part of our event. Some of our members thought it would be too expensive. So we prayed about it, and a few days later, we got a call from a person who offered to provide all of the expenses for the dinner.
___"I would guess that it probably cost $1,500 to provide the meal for 300 or more people," he added.
___But the miracle was that a catered dinner, complete with brisket, sausage, beans, potato salad, iced tea and all of the fixings became a true centerpiece of the event.
___Hale, who has been pastor of the church in a changing community for seven years, said he was very grateful about 60 church members showed up to help with all of the arrangements.
___"The people really want to see things happen at our church," he said.
___While the church primarily was Anglo as it began, the community has changed to predominantly Hispanic, "as has much of Corpus Christi," Hale said.
___"But that doesn't make any difference. We want to reach everybody we can--Anglo, Hispanic, black. We just want to tell whoever we can about Jesus."
___The event was part of "Celebrate Corpus Christi."


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