Granbury churches show love for their community

GRANBURY—A woman approached a minister at Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury to tell him how glad she was to be at church. She had wanted to attend for a long time, she explained, but hadn’t owned anything she felt appropriate to wear.

She was wearing a dress she had received the day before at the church’s free garage sale—an event scheduled as part of an 18-church blitz in Granbury called Love Granbury.

“We just asked all our members to bring items they would normally consider putting in a garage sale,” Student Minister Shelley Weaver explained. Lakeside Baptist members then made targeted invitations to the homes surrounding the church.

“We had some pretty good stuff at the garage sale,” Weaver said. “I was surprised at the quality of the items.”

The multidenominational Love Granbury outreach effort to the community has been held four years, each growing larger in scale and in the number of participating churches.

A driving rainstorm pounded Granbury on the day the event was scheduled this year, but coordinator Micky Shearon said that made it even more successful.

Volunteers from Granbury churches help shield shoppers from the pouring rain during a downpour as part of the Love Granbury emphasis. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Love Granbury)

“The rain helped make the outdoor projects that much more powerful,” he said. “We heard a hundred times, ‘Why are you people out in a driving rainstorm carrying my groceries to the car?’”

More than 600 volunteers from churches representing seven denominations showed up to love Granbury.

“Our emphasis it to get all the churches outside their four walls to be the hands and feet of Christ,” said Shearon, a member of Lakeside Baptist Church.

When the event started four years ago, it grew out of the youth ministry at Lakeside. “If you give teenagers a T-shirt and buy them pizza, they’ll jump off a building for you,” Shearon said with a laugh.

Eight other churches participated that first year, primarily with youth volunteers.

This year, volunteers ranged in age from 4 to 94. Projects ranged from handing out water bottles, flowers or brownies to pumping gas, carrying out groceries, visiting shut-ins and singing in nursing homes.

The rain emptied the city’s parks. So, three free cookouts that were planned had to be postponed one week, but all other events proceeded as scheduled.

“We were all soaked to the bone, but it was great,” Shearon said.

A volunteer crew from Fairview Baptist Church pumped gas for people on a rainy day as part of the Love Granbury emphasis. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Love Granbury)

While the ministry started among the youth, now many adults participate, Weaver said. “We’ve had a trickle-up effect with the students modeling missions for our adults.”

In fact, Lakeside now devotes the last Saturday of every month to community missions.

“It may be small, or it may be large, but we’re out in the community every month,” Shearon said.

Youth Minister Jason Turbeville and a volunteer crew from Acton Baptist Church bagged peoples’ purchases at a local discount store and took them to their cars—in the rain.

“The rain actually made it better,” he said. “It gave us a better opportunity to serve. A couple of people went back into the store and bought thank-you cards to give our volunteers.”

Love Granbury has been a good experience for his church, Turbeville said.

“It allows us to work with other churches and across denominational lines, and that’s always good for us to see the breadth of the church,” he said.

“It also is an opportunity to show that we don’t have to go across the world to serve but that we can be servants where we are. Also, it doesn’t have to be a grand act, but simply loving on people is all it takes.”

Janie Walker and the adult group from Mambrino Baptist Church baked cookies and took them to Trinity Mission, a rehabilitation facility. They visited, played games and prayed with the residents, and they helped the staff serve lunch.

Pastor Joe Phillips and his crew from Fairview Baptist Church pumped gas for people on the rainy day.

“It being such a nasty day made people appreciate it even more,” he said.

One of the things he liked most about the day is that the gas station was miles from his church.

“There will be no growth potential for our church from pumping gas there. We didn’t even tell people where we were from unless they asked. The chance of someone we pumped gas for showing up at our church is almost none,” Phillips said.

“But it is my experience that when I focus on kingdom growth, church growth comes.”