IRVING, Texas – It may not be the most populous at 255,000 people, but Irving, Texas, just may be the most diverse city in the nation. A 2012 study by a real estate website named 75038, the zip code in North Irving, the most diverse zip code in the United States.
Local churches and ministry leaders recognize the mission field that is before them daily, and Thanksgiving provides an important opportunity for outreach. For the past 32 years, Oak View Baptist Church in South Irving has hosted “Serving Irving” each November.
In preparation for this Thanksgiving Day outreach, teams of volunteers gathered to assemble and distribute 400 gift baskets to apartment complexes and mobile home parks throughout the city. The gift baskets consist of various food items designed to bless a family of four.
Oak View Pastor Jim Gerlach recognizes the tremendous opportunity this outreach provides to connect the community with the Gospel.
“Just as Jesus facilitated feeding the masses, we will once again provide Thanksgiving baskets to those in our community who are in need with the purpose of feeding them but also connecting them to the life-changing love of Christ,” Gerlach said.
All ages volunteer to help with Serving Irving, and many make it a holiday tradition. Other churches in the area have joined the effort too. Hope Fellowship, Calvary Baptist Church, Camino al Cielo, Briery Fellowship and Irving Baptist Fellowship have partnered through the years to help distribute the Thanksgiving baskets.
“I think it shows care and love from believers to share their blessings with others and makes Thanksgiving special for them,” Gerlach said. “A lot of times, kids will come out to receive the items because their parents are working. It’s a very simple act of kindness that hopefully the Lord gets credit for. It helps to encourage our church because it reminds people that this is a giving day as well and brings a lot of joy.
“We want to extend the love of Christ in a very practical way and just let people know that God loves and cares about them,” Gerlach said. “Serving Irving is a great way to give back to the community and give thanks to God in appreciation for what he has done.”
The other side of Irving
Separated by approximately 13 miles, but sharing the same desire to meet physical and spiritual needs in a very tangible way, five churches in North Irving – Irving Bible Church, Refuge Church, Hackberry Creek Presbyterian Church, Embassy City Church and MacArthur Blvd. Baptist Church – joined together for a similar outreach to provide Thanksgiving bags to 1,000 people.
“My hope for the people coming is that they would see that Jesus cares about their hunger as well as their hearts and souls,” said Shannon Pugh, who serves as the care and mobilization director at Irving Bible Church and coordinated the Thanksgiving outreach in North Irving.
“For the volunteers serving with this outreach, that they would see we’re better together – that they would see the different churches coming together and see that together, we can make a bigger impact for the kingdom. I don’t understand it, but I think it’s true that sometimes there can be almost a competitive culture among churches, and I don’t get it because it’s not competition. Jesus cares about body and soul.”
Pugh said Irving Bible Church has seen an increased number of people in recent months requesting assistance from their ministries due to the impact of the government shutdown and uncertainty surrounding SNAP benefits. As families arrived for the food distribution, they were met by volunteers from the various churches who stopped to talk with them and pray with them.
Keira Bruner, a volunteer from MacArthur Blvd. Baptist Church, said she was excited when she heard about this opportunity to serve the community and share the Gospel.
“At our church, we do Beautiful Feet, and it’s where we go out and share the Gospel on Saturdays,” Bruner said. “When the church decided to help out with this event, I decided to come here today. Some people were passing out food, and I was helping with prayer. I got to talk to some people and ask them if they wanted prayer. Not everyone did, but for the ones that did, we got to pray with them and let them know that Jesus cares about them and loves them.”
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