Challenge the Hood: Share the Gospel, and Collect Food for the Needy!

Click Here for photos from August 22
Click Here for photos from August 29

The Challenge the Hood event is a partnership between Urbancrest Baptist Church and Challenge, the Good News Paper. This event combines collecting food for the Lebanon Food Pantry and sharing the Gospel by handing out Challenge Newspapers in conjunction with the Food Pantry collection bags.

The first Challenge the Hood took place in Garfield Park subdivision on Wednesday, August 22. Dewayne Jeffers was our host and everyone gathered at his place before going out. After prayer and some basic instructions, our team of adults, youth and children were deployed throughout the Garfield Park subdivision. Special thanks to our youth pastor, Aaron Taylor, who recruited almost 40 youth to help out! We had 2 pickup trucks cruising through “the hood” picking up the donated food. Later, teams of youth drove to the food pantry and unloaded the “bounty” of food donations.

Our second Challenge the Hood food drive was held on Wednesday, August 29 in Revere’s Run subdivision. Rhonda Kuntz hosted for her neighborhood. Once again, the youth rallied with 25-30 in attendance. These valiant “foot soldiers” knocked on resident’s doors, handed out Challenge Newspapers, and invited folks to help us by donating food goods to the Lebanon Food Pantry.

This year, Andrew Trezona from Challenge Newspaper and his family joined in this ministry endeavor. He learned first-hand how much fun and work this effort has been for us each year. During the Challenge the Hood at Revere’s Run, Pastor Tom partnered with the Trezona family by knocking on doors and sharing the Challenge Newspaper. Oh yeah, and may we go on record, that Pastor Tom flagged down the ice cream truck…and you guessed it…that team cooled off eating delicious ice cream! Hey, where’s the ice cream for the rest of the folks who served? All the other teams got were Twizzlers and cold bottled water! Guess everyone will want to be on Pastor Tom’s team next year!

A Few Testimonials
Pastor Tom and Andrew called on a family that had recently moved to Lebanon and they invited the family to attend Urbancrest. Also, one family mentioned that they could not contribute food since they were unemployed and in need of food themselves…so we gathered some emergency food the following day and Rhonda Kuntz delivered it. Praise God!

Thanks to everyone who helped us plant Gospel seeds through distributing the Challenge Newspaper that always contains the Plan of Salvation. Thanks for helping needy folks in our own community. May this serve to remind us of Jesus’ teaching: “Then the King [Jesus] will say to those on His right Hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food…” Matthew 25:34-35a, [NKJV]