Volunteers in Mission - Using Our Gifts from God

Many years ago, a small church in North Carolina received a part-time-student pastor. The church was small and struggling and the members were concerned that they would not be able to continue in the years to come as they just weren’t able to do what they used to be able to do. Early in the new pastor’s ministry, the membership met to discuss their concerns. The pastor asked them one simple question: “What is one thing you do well?” The answer was “we are good cooks.” So, the pastor helped them develop a new ministry around their gift for cooking. Each week a few members would scour the obituary column. If there had been a death in their community, they would cook and deliver a meal to the family. It wasn’t long before the church began to grow. By the time the pastor was ready to graduate from seminary three years later, the church was ready to become full-time simply because the members used the gift that God had given them to bring comfort and love in a time of distress to their community.

We have a similar story in the Susquehanna conference but instead of cooking they cut wood. At Greater Buffalo Run Valley UMC Pastor James Jacobs held an “Out of the Box Outreach” brainstorming session. An idea was born to provide firewood to folks in the area who need it to heat their home but are unable to cut and split it anymore.

Three months later with an implementation plan, a safety plan, a federal grant, and a grant from the Susquehanna Conference the church was ready to start work. The first year over 25 families were provided wood so that they could heat their homes.

The ministry continues to grow with multiple dump trailers, splitters, and wood cutting equipment. Also, the community has gotten involved with local township and tree trimming companies providing a steady stream of wood and also even helping to process some of the wood.

The outreach currently has over 30 cords of wood cut and split ready to deliver to homes for the 2025/2026 heating season as well as providing some for customers at the local food bank to pick up.

Greater Buffalo Run Valley UMC thought outside the box, using the gifts God had given them – skills to cut and split wood. So, the question for all of us is “What gifts has God given me?” Someone in your “neighborhood” has a need, a need that you can use your gift to alleviate. It is said that “God works in mysterious ways” but sometimes, even most times, God works through the simple acts of love, comfort, and mercy that each one of us can provide in our own ways. 

Try it. It will change lives – including yours.

Rev. Sara Shaver

VIM Coordinator
vim@susumc.org
Web: www.susumc.org/vim
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Wood for Good

By Rev. James Jacobs

As Pastor of Greater Buffalo Run Valley United Methodist Church in the State College District, I asked the parishioners to start thinking about out-of-the-box outreach opportunities considering the traditional methods of outreach didn’t seem to be working. 

The congregation wholeheartedly agreed and formulated an outreach team to come up with new, innovative, and different ways to reach out to our community. Two pages of ideas later several of those out of the box projects have been implemented, some worked and some didn’t.

An outreach program idea one of the parishioners came up with is called “Wood for Good”. 

This parishioner approached me with concern for the many people that heat their homes with firewood who either can’t go out in the woods to cut anymore, don’t have the availability of open forest lands to go cut in, or can’t afford to buy firewood. 

The parishioner (Craig) asked, “Do you think this is something we might explore?” Considering I believe that “empowered people do great things” I told the parishioner, “It’s your idea, you run with it and we will support you.”

Within 3 months we now have an established “Wood for Good” program. Craig tirelessly worked to formulate a detailed implementation plan, a safety plan, and wrote a grant to the Department of Agricultural which has a green heating imitative. The project received a $10,000 grant to purchase the equipment needed to implement the initiative.

Craig then formed a team of parishioners that have built firewood storage racks and contacted local landscapers and tree trimming companies that have agreed to deliver trees that have been cut down for use in the initiative.

A group of men and women from the church cut and split the donated wood each month.

We started collecting names of folks that would like to receive wood from the people that come to our church food bank. The need was clearly there and our list of folks that have requested support with free firewood is growing, not only from our food bank visitors but others in the community.

This initiative is a classic case of a parishioner coming up with an out-of-the-box-idea, the pastor empowering the parishioner to take charge, and we now have an initiative that is fulfilling a community need. The hands and feet of Jesus Christ...using a chain saw and wood splitter!

https://greaterbuffalorunvalleyumc.com/