Back in the day – before Hulu and Netflix……back before there were Red Boxes at every convenience store……waaaaay back before DVD players – there was a phenomenon called BLOCKBUSTER. You could walk into a store with aisles and aisles of rectangular black boxes – about 7” X 4” X 1” – with colorful pictures and descriptions on the front. When you opened the box there was another black rectangle inside with two round circles and a crinkled up wad of movie reel.
Somewhere in a time capsule there is a VHS tape with a little label that says “Please be kind. Rewind.”
I like to look at the history of actionchurch in rewind. It’s an AMAZING story and I hope Don shares more of it in the weeks to come.
Back in the day – before volunteers spent countless hours to refurbish and repurpose a building in North York……back before the cushy (rocking) red seats at Frank Theater…….waaaaaay back before Club 19 and – get this! – even BEFORE Fat Daddy’s – there was actionchurch.
There was a black (of course) EZ-up and there was a (very) small group of like-minded people. Actively meeting together. Actively praising God. Actively serving others. They set the tent up at the York Fair and served coffee to carnival vendors from the back of a kid’s wagon (in the rain). They installed the EZ-up at Relay for Life and served cancer survivors year in and year out (in the rain, blazing heat and tornados).
And, just like we have morphed and grown and changed as a church over the years – our participation in Relay has changed and grown each year as well. From the days of one black EZ-up we actively strove to serve others better each year. I remember the year we added a teeny tiny bounce house to our site – and we thought that was great. As the number of believers grew we began serving dinner. Then as a group we collected $5.00 at a time and ended up contributing the entire cost of the dinner. That was an amazing feat. Then we brought an even bigger bounce house. After that we added a hot breakfast to the menu.
Our goal as a church has always been to do better, stretch farther, give more……..and actively give the praise to God.
Fast forward to 2015 and envision – about 100 volunteers with two bounce houses, multiple tarps and canopies and tents, a shaved ice stand, a full course sit down dinner for almost 500 cancer survivors, complimentary coffee bar AND a hot breakfast for 400 or so more people………all because – as a group of like-minded people – we continued to actively meet together – and eat together – and actively praise God together.
PRAISE GOD
46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47