How Piedmont Church Fed All 6,071 Hungry Children In Their Community For A Single Day

On Sunday, June 28th Piedmont Church located in Marietta, GA prepared and collected enough sandwiches, chips, snacks and drinks by themselves to feed all 6,071 children suffering from hunger in their county for a single day.

A conversation later the same day with Community Pastor Marlon Longacre provided some insight into how this came to pass.

1. To Feed 6,071 Children You Need Strategic Partnerships – Partnerships help you do exponentially more than you can do alone.  Piedmont partnered with M.U.S.T. Ministries and their Summer Lunch Program.  After collection the food, M.U.S.T. would then deliver it to distribution centers throughout the area like Roswell United Methodist Church and NorthStar Church.  The centers then ensure the food reaches those in need.
2. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Really Want To Feed 6,071 Children – Good intentions are not enough.  Projects like this happen by design, not default.  Marlon was looking for a summer project to strategically impact the under-resourced in his community.
3. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Have The Support And Involvement Of The Senior Pastor – When Marlon approached Senior Pastor and CEO of M.U.S.T. Ministries Ike Reighard about his idea, Ike replied, “Go for it.”
4. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Recognize Timing – The students on free or reduced lunches in the Cobb County school system are increasing each year.  With the July 4th holiday approaching, the need for food increases because more students will be at home this weekend with nothing to eat.
5. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Think BIG And Ask The Right Questions – Marlon began to ask himself, “What if our church could feed every hungry child in our county for a single day?”
6. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Have Great Faith – During our conversation, Marlon quoted Hebrews 11:6 multiple times, “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”  Marlon felt his church could easily feed 3,000 children but he wanted to please God.  He knew it would take great faith to feed all 6,071.
7. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Have A Proper Culture – Each month Piedmont Church does a Big Give through their corporate worship services.  The upcoming July Big Give will be backpacks for students entering the new school year.  Another successful Big Give was Undie Sunday which provided underwear, t-shirts and socks for the poor and under-resourced.  Also, all small groups and Sunday classes conduct monthly community projects.  Serving the community defines the Piedmont Church culture.
8. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Properly Leverage Spiritual Gifts – Only 20% of those in our churches have spiritual gifts in administration and evangelism.  But 80% have gifts of service, helps and mercy.  Marlon notes churches have mistakingly tried to force 80% of Christians into 20% of ministry which is not their gift.  Piedmont focuses on unleashing 80% of their church to do what God has called them to do.
9. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Have A Great Plan – A failure to plan is a plan to fail.  Piedmont had an incredible plan in place to feed the children.
10. To Feed 6,071 Children You Need To Make It Easy For Everyone To Be Involved – Leading up to June 28th, people were given the opportunity to sign-up online for what food they would prepare and bring.  A packing party then took place after church while people were already there.  I loved what Piedmont member Barb Hicks wrote on Facebook the day before, “We were able to make 153 (sandwiches).”  
    

    Volunteers Packing Lunches After Sunday’s Service

11. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Have Trust And Credibility – The people who attend Piedmont gladly support the church’s community efforts because they know their efforts and resources will go to directly to those serving on the front lines of ministry.
12. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Work With “365 People” – Marlon introduced a new term during our conversation.  He only works with what he refers to as “365 People”.  “365 People” are those in the community who serve the poor and under-resourced 365 days per year.  I was blown away when Marlon said, “Nothing is greater in ministry than getting supplies to those on the front lines of ministry.”
13. To Feed 6,071 Children You Must Listen To The “365 People” – Marlon plans what activities the church will do by listening to the community as they tell him what their needs are.  As he said, “The community tells the community pastor what to do.”
14. Churches Who Feed 6,071 Children Will Always Be Relevant – Marlon summed up our conversation with this incredible insight, “Don’t worry about Andy Stanley or some church from Oklahoma.  If you meet the needs of the 365 People you will always be the ‘in church.'”

After listening to Marlon, I had to wonder if my church is the “in church” in our area.  Do we listen to what our community and 365 People are saying?  Does yours?

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