Clintwood church reaches out through ‘appreciation banquets’

CLINTWOOD, Va. – Let’s say you’re a high-school football player. If a church sent you an invitation for a free dinner and the chance to meet a former Pittsburgh Steelers player, would you go?

Clintwood UMC in the Big Stone Gap District hopes so. In fact, when the congregation invited athletes, cheerleaders and coaches from three Dickenson County high schools to dine with defensive tackle Tom Beasley and hear his testimony, 95 showed up for the event. Since then, several other community groups have accepted invitations for Clintwood banquets, including health-care workers, government officials, the rescue squad and fire department.

It’s all part of the congregation’s plan to – not just give lip service to – but really open up to the community. According to Clintwood Pastor Rev. Ken Pierce, the idea for the banquets came to him after he prayed for a way to put Igniting Ministry into action. Igniting Ministry is the denomination’s four-year evangelism campaign that got a boost in September 2001 with Open House Month.

“My prayer was, ‘What can we do to show our community that we’re an open church?’” said Pierce. He presented the concept for “appreciation banquets” to the church evangelism committee, and the congregation went to work.

Clintwood started by delivering fruit and vegetable trays to teachers in each of the nine Dickenson County schools during pre-school workdays, with notes thanking the teachers for their service. Then, the congregation began providing dinners for other groups in its fellowship hall. Speakers were selected according to the group. For example, Kingsport orthopedic surgeon Dr. Patrick Riggins gave his testimony to health-care workers from area nursing homes and hospitals.

The banquets are a lot of work for a church with 110 in average worship attendance, but members line up to volunteer for food preparation, Pierce said. They also come up with fun ideas for decorating, like grapevine wreaths with stethoscopes and bandages for the rescue squad banquet, and toy fire trucks on the tables for the fire department.

Thank-you notes and photos from the events cover the church’s bulletin boards.

While worship attendance has recently increased to about 130 per Sunday, the primary goal is not to promote membership, Pierce said. “I’m not sure where this will end. We just want to be a servant to the people.”

“I just commend Clintwood for seeing an opportunity to share the good news and for carrying it out,” said the Rev. Dennie Humphreys, Big Stone Gap District superintendent. “It’s been an exciting time for the congregation. I’m excited for them.”

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