RALEIGH — When the call came to open a soup kitchen in the fellowship hall, the congregation of Temple Baptist Church in Raleigh embraced the idea. But as church members shifted into high gear, opening the church’s doors to the homeless and hungry, their mission took an unexpected turn. The soup kitchen gave way to a carryout restaurant with delivery service.
The unusual ministry started with a homecoming service, complete with covered-dish lunch, in the fall of 2011.
David Moore, interim pastor at Temple Baptist, recalls the day vividly. The congregation had invited friends and neighbors to the service. That Sunday also happened to be World Hunger Day. Moore preached on the biblical passage from John 6 about Jesus feeding the 5,000. He mentioned the plight of the hungry around the world.
Volunteers at Temple Baptist Church prepare to serve meals at Temple’s Table. (Photo courtesy of Temple Baptist Church) |
After the service, a stranger approached Moore in the fellowship hall, where the congregation was enjoying a lavish spread of food. Bo Bodenstine, who had been invited to the homecoming by a friend, introduced himself and his family.
The next day, Bodenstine called Moore with a proposition. He and his family, he said, had been looking for a place where they could open a restaurant to serve hot meals for the poor a couple of Sundays a month. He was impressed both by Moore’s sermon and by the church’s excellent kitchen and fellowship hall. Maybe they could team up: He and his family would provide the food and cook if Temple Baptist would provide the facilities and volunteers to help.
“This was like a godsend,” Moore said. “From that seed, it started to progress.”
The church, whose congregation numbers about 130 to 140 most Sundays, had been struggling to redefine its ministries. Members wanted to keep the church healthy, and they also wanted to be “relevant to Christ where we are,” Moore said.
The church is inside the Raleigh beltway, on the edge of downtown. It’s not far from the Salvation Army, in a neighborhood that Moore describes as “coming back.” Some new families are moving in, and there are many single-parent families facing a variety of problems.
The missions committee, the deacon board and the congregation embraced the idea of starting a soup kitchen, feeding people who came in off the streets. The ministry would operate on the first and third Sundays of each month. Members of the congregation pitched in, volunteering to help with the food as well as serving.
On the first Sunday of March, they opened for business, with enough baked spaghetti, green beans, mashed potatoes and sweet tea to feed a multitude. But they ended up with more volunteers than diners. Nine people showed up to eat.
“We were not disheartened,” Moore said. But as a few more Sundays went by with only a few people straggling in, people began to wonder about the ministry.
“Then all of a sudden,” Moore said, “we began to get requests to deliver food to a lot of people around town who didn’t get hot meals on weekends.” These were elderly and other homebound people, many of whom were given hot lunches on weekdays by Meals on Wheels.
If the hungry weren’t going to come to Temple Baptist, Temple Baptist would go to the hungry. They stocked up on bags and containers to keep meals hot, and volunteers began driving routes to deliver food to people where they live.
“These people are lonely, too,” Moore said. “When you come to the door, they almost suck you in, they are so glad to see you. Our folks have an opportunity to say a few words to them, and that’s part of the ministry.”
Now, 25 or 30 church members are involved in the ministry, called Temple’s Table. Some work in the kitchen and serve food to anyone who comes to the fellowship hall. Others drive the routes and deliver hot meals wherever they are needed.
“The lay folks have done this,” Moore said. “I’m an interim pastor here.
“There was not even a bump in the road,” he added. “God brought this to our church for us to be a part of, and they embraced it. Everybody seemed to sense that this was a godsend. The way it came about, we couldn’t deny that. We didn’t have any idea that it was coming. One Sunday morning, it just came and was put in our laps. It came, and when it did, everybody was jubilant over it and embraced it. It was a blessing.”
Temple Baptist is learning from the carryout food experience, Moore said. “We are being very intentional and looking out into our neighborhood and seeing what’s there as we think what our ministries should be. “
Linda Brinson (lindacbrinson@gmail.com) is a Religious Herald contributing writer, based in Madison, N.C.