First Baptist Church, Eatonton
FBC Eatonton’s spring food drive resulted in the donation of over $6000 worth of items to Putnam Christian Outreach.
In March of 2017, the chair of First Baptist Eatonton’s Missions Committee asked if the church could do something different that spring that could become the church’s “Signature Mission Project.” Our church is already involved in mission endeavors, so the pastor’s question was, “What do you have in mind?”
Each year during Thanksgiving, the congregation had been putting decorated peach baskets, twenty-five to be exact, in the pulpit area and encouraging folks to bring nonperishable goods to fill the baskets. This has always been very successful and gives everyone the opportunity to participate.
So last year, beginning in April, we publicized and promoted with intensity the importance of everyone being involved in a spring food drive for Putnam Christian Outreach. Each Sunday leading up to our start date, the Missions Committee promoted this effort in Sunday School, through the church newsletter, on the internet and from the pulpit, encouraging everyone to make the sacrifice and spend at least $100 per family and fill the altar and pulpit area with as many nonperishable items as possible. If people wished to simply make a donation, the church offered to buy the needed items for them.
The church collected over $3500 the first Sunday, and later that figure rose to almost $5000. When the drive was over, the pulpit and altar area were completely filled. Pastor Keithen Tucker estimates that the church collected over $6000 worth of items to be donated to Putnam Christian Outreach. It is now the intent of the Mission Committee to make this their “Signature Mission Project” and challenge other churches in the area to do the same.