KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)–Students and faculty of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary braved the last snowstorm of the winter to gather firewood to share with neighbors in the community.
Armed with chainsaws, axes and hedge clippers, members of the newly formed Midwestern Gospel Woodcutting and Chowder Society met in mid-March to cut, hack and snip pieces of wood into fireplace-sized chunks. The wood was arranged into bundles of kindling and firewood to distribute to residents of the north Kansas City area along with a friendly greeting from their seminary neighbor.
With a hundred-acre woods on half the seminary campus, the society clears fallen trees and shares the wood with anyone in the neighborhood with a fireplace who would like to have it. After several hours of this labor of love, the group is treated to a hearty lunch of chowder provided by Sharon Coppenger, wife of seminary President Mark Coppenger.
“God has blessed us with health and strength to wield saw and axe, and with hearts to share this wood and the gospel,” explains the note attached to the wood. The label gives the good news that Jesus died on the cross for sinners, was buried and rose again from the dead, and that anyone can have salvation and an abundant life simply by turning to him, repenting and having faith in Christ. An invitation is given to respond in writing or by phone.
“Sometimes people share prayer concerns with us,” Mark Coppenger said, “and then we have an opportunity to pray with them. It is amazing how praying with people touches them. It lets them know that we care.”
