I've often thought of "real ministry" as being made up of things like Bible studies, evangelism meetings, street witnessing and soup kitchens. Certainly, all of those things are ministry, but I have also seen that when God's people pray and God's Spirit works, opportunities for ministry can take some very unlikely forms.

This past Sunday Bethany Baptist Church had an event called Puppets in the Park which is held near a housing project, Kenneth Gardens. The event is simple with just some songs performed by the puppet team, a few games and a snack for the kids. The goal is to connect with families in the community and invite children to Holiday Bible Club (a.k.a. Vacation Bible School). For this particular event I was given the last minute responsibility as the MC, and I also got to help out with the games. It was a fun afternoon and it accomplished two things, neither of which seemed very significant at the time: 1) it introduced me to a lot of kids from Kenneth Gardens and associated my face with something that they are familiar with, and 2) it allowed me to have some fun, relaxed interaction with the kids. I left that event feeling thankful for the opportunity but not giving much weight to it's importance. Today, however, I came to appreciate it.

I have been praying about how to best use my time, and wanting to be a good steward of every minute, I have been praying that God would show me not just the opportunities, but the RIGHT opportunities. As I've prayed and talked to people my mind and my heart just kept being directed back to Kenneth Gardens. However, I really wasn't sure what to do or where to start. Yesterday I went and sat in the open field in Kenneth Gardens that is surrounded by a few hundred apartments, and I just prayed for wisdom to know what to do. For some strange reason I started thinking that I should pick up trash... "What?! No, God, I want to really minister to these people... there are bigger needs than litter on the ground." But picking up trash seemed to be the one idea that stayed in my head.

So, today I bought a roll of trash bags and some gloves, grabbed a rake and went to Kenneth Gardens. Honestly, I felt pretty uncomfortable about the idea. I mean, people would probably look at this as pretty strange and maybe even as an invasion of their community. I just felt really ackward about it, so when I arrived I left my supplies in the truck and went to find Auntie Joyce- she would be able to give me some direction. Auntie Joyce is one of those senior saints who just never ceases to amaze you- she is a long time member of the church who teaches a good news club in her home every Friday afternoon, and she has probably led more kids to the Lord than we will ever know this side of heaven. She is kind of the matriarch of Kenneth Gardens and very connected to the community. Well, when I got to her apartment she wasn't there, but then, just a few minutes later she arrived. When I spoke to her, she said she had just come from one of the community meetings and they had been discussing some of the problems that they needed to address with the committee that oversees the projects. I asked her what kind of problems and she said, "Well, it's all of the trash that's all over the place." Ha, I realized right then that I wasn't going to get away from the trash idea and I just gave up. So after talking to Auntie Joyce and getting her hearty approval, I took my trash bags and my rake and I started picking up trash. The only difficulty was deciding where to start because there is literally trash EVERYWHERE!
But the really cool thing was those kids- remember the kids I mentioned from Puppets in the Park? Well before I had my first candy wrapped in a garbage bag they had shown up, and for the next 3 or 4 hours there were constantly kids around, asking questions, helping pick up trash and talking about life. It was great! I didn't feel stressed like I had to keep them entertained or focused, I just gathered trash, talked and enjoyed their company. We talked about everything from American celebrities (which they knew more about than I did) to the differences between religions. Without even hardly trying I was able to tell them about my faith, who Jesus is and what the Bible has to say.
Before I left I asked if they wanted to hear a story and I shared the paper cross story with them and told them about Jesus dying on the cross for their sins. There were 8 or 10 kids sitting around at that point who were all attentively listening, and I just had to smile when I thought about the unlikely opportunities that God gives us. When picking up trash becomes an open door for the gospel you know that God is at work and that God's people are praying!