Lunch and Leadership

By Community Church of God staff

The Community Church of God in Charlevoix, Michigan, has served its community a hot lunch (three-course meal) for three years as of Memorial Day 2012. The Lighthouse Lunch, as they call it, is composed of a team of eight to ten volunteers who serve the lunch restaurant style. The meals are served on Monday and Thursday each week from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The patrons include the retired, single parents with small children, area Native Americans, the underemployed, and the unemployed. Over the first year, seventeen to twenty-five meals were served each day. Currently, the average output of meals is more than sixty, with a record seventy-two meals served on April 23. We have experienced a significant increase due to a variety of factors—the word is out in the community that this is a good meal, the economy is affecting families’ food budgets, and a free meal in a friendly environment is certainly inviting.

The funding for the Lighthouse Lunch began with a $400 contribution from the Church of God in Michigan, in addition to investment from the Community Church of God. We are now blessed to receive donations from the Charlevoix Area Hospital, local grocery stores, the Rainbow Shoppe (a local, nonprofit thrift store), other churches in Charlevoix, and grants from Great Lakes Energy.

God is also working at the Charlevoix Community Church of God in other ways. The church was recently presented with a $2,000 grant for leadership development. This grant has contributed to our leadership team being trained though the ISL (Institute for Servant Leadership) and in the recent 360 Conference in Lansing, Michigan. The difficult part of getting our people to training opportunities had been the expense of travel. We just could not afford the gas, meals, and lodging for five to six of us to attend various events. We deeply appreciate this initial investment in our church’s leadership development need.

We praise the Lord for his provision for the Lighthouse Lunch and our new opportunities to develop leaders! We’re experiencing the truth of Philippians 4:19, that our God will supply every need!