Senior Pastor Frankie Clark of Ellisville’s First Baptist Church posed a question to church members one Sunday that caused Youth Pastor Stephen Bryant to do some serious thinking and soul searching.
“He asked: ‘If the doors of the church were closed today, would anybody notice?’” said Bryant. “That question caused me to look for ways to motivate our people and ourselves.
“Too many churches focus on ourselves and the four walls of the church,” he said. “We are not visible in the community, and not really doing anything relevant in the community for people to take notice.”
As a result, Bryant said people wouldn’t even notice or perhaps even care if the church doors closed. It’s not the way he wants people to view First Baptist, so on Saturday he recruited a group of adults and youth to join him in a morning of service to the community.
They gathered at the church at 9 a.m. Saturday, divided into teams and set out on a journey to spruce up the streets and storefronts of buildings in Downtown Ellisville and the Village Shopping Center. They also helped with cleaning at the City of Ellisville Compound and picked up debris from city streets.
“We’re cleaning windows, bathrooms and doing other little things,” said church member David Ruffin. “We wanted to show the love of Christ.
“Sometimes its the little things and the little ways that you show love that are far reaching,” he said. “We want to show people that we, as a church, love and care about this community.”
Bryant said day of service volunteers include members of the church, as well as members of the church’s student ministry. “You don’t have to be a member of the church to be a member of the student ministry,” he explained. “We have both a high school and collegiate student ministry.
“Our main objective is to meet the needs of residents of this community,” Bryant said. “We want them to know we are here in the community and want to serve the residents of this community.”
D. W. Woodard, co-owner of Woodard-Rose Barber Shop in Downtown Ellisville, commended Bryant and the volunteers for their work. He said Bryant and the adults working along with him are teaching the youth work ethics and responsibility.
“A lot of kids don’t know what it means to be responsible and don’t want to listen to and respect adults,” he said. “This is a good group of kids and I think they are doing a great job.”
The group washed the windows of Woodard’s business and several others. They also removed debris from around the sidewalk around the business.
“It’s an amazing thing to help people.” said Roy West, a member of the college ministry. “I don’t mind giving up a Saturday morning to do something like this because we are called to serve.”
Local News
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Photo/Charlotte A. Graham
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