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By Ashley Haygood
FARGO, N.D. (BP) —When Temple Baptist Church in Fargo, N.D.,
heard the International Mission Board was sending boxes of food
to hungry families in Iraq, they wanted to help. The 100-member
congregation decided they could manage to assemble 25 boxes of
food.
They never dreamed what God actually had in mind: Community
members outside the church responded, donating more food than
anyone imagined.
The church's initial goal of 25 boxes multiplied into 181.
“God intervened,” said James Sabot, development director
for
South Valley Baptist Association. “I made a few calls to local
producers and growers, and they responded generously.”
Sabot explained that it’s hard to convince producers to help with
a giving program because they have so many people and
organizations asking for gifts. But when the flour-grinding mill
in Grand Forks immediately donated 2,500 lbs. of flour, “that got
us going,” Sabot said.
Producers and growers donated about 80 percent of the total food
count. Monetary gifts used to purchase additional food brought
the total to 12,000 pounds of product.
“That’s over $10,000 worth of food,” Sabot said.
Thirty people came out Saturday, May 17, to help pack and load
the 181 boxes Temple Baptist and two other Baptist churches in
the area donated.
The Fargo-Moorhead area of North Dakota numbers 200,000 in
population and, while it is a Christian area, it is not heavily
Baptist, Sabot commented. “People just wanted to help,” he
said.
The three local network television stations and the local
newspaper were present Saturday and reported on the churches’
efforts.
Sabot’s request for help went out only about two weeks earlier,
and the amazing results followed quickly. Sabot summed up the
whole event as an “amazing continuation of God at work.”
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