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Georgia Church Reaches The Needy in Century With Free Thanksgiving Lunch
November 28, 2014
They came from all walks of life Thursday in Century to enjoy a free Thanksgiving lunch spearheaded by a Georgia church.
From the unemployed, to the disabled, to folks just down on their luck, they came. And then there was the man who struggled against his emotions to explain that he had just found a job, but was not yet able to feed his family of seven a good, hot Thanksgiving lunch.
For Rivertown Church of Columbus, GA, it was the latest in several trips to Century. It was their second year hosting a Century Thanksgiving lunch, and the church has reached out for a couple of years with volunteers painting and making improvements around the Carver Community Center in Century.
“We were looking around Pensacola for some outreach ministry opportunity where we could also maybe take our youth to the beach for a day,” Rivertown Senior Pastor David Rathel said Thursday. They spoke to ministry personnel at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.
“And they told us that there was this place we might not want to go called Century, FL,” Rathel said. According to the American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, Century is the 41st poorest place in America and the poorest place in the state of Florida. The median household income is just $17,188 — nearly half of all Century’s 1,698 residents live in poverty.
But Rathel and his Riverside flock soon learned that Century was rich in people, rich in spirit and rich in souls that needed comfort in the Lord.
“The Lord is doing good things here,” he said. “We love Century.”
Rivertown was not alone in their “Compel Century” outreach Thursday, with the Abundant Life Assembly of God in Century and the First Baptist Church of Flomaton also participating in the free Thanksgiving lunch with turkey and all the fixings.
“We had about 55 people here for lunch when we prayed,” Rathel said. “And they’ve just keep coming in.”
For a photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
3 Responses to “Georgia Church Reaches The Needy in Century With Free Thanksgiving Lunch”
Special thanks to Rivertown Church, Pastor Rathel and the local churches, Abundant Life, and Flomaton Baptist for recognizing the need of the people in our area and stepping up & doing something about it! May God bless you all for your unselfish giving of your time, money & food to help others. God is so Good!
To Rivertown Church of Columbus, GA and Senior Pastor David Rathel, THANK YOU FOR CARING for Century’s poor and needy on Thanksgiving Day, I know Jesus is very proud of everyone who made the feast possible.
The north end of Escambia County, Florida is known as the neglected and forgotten part of Florida. Were like the red headed step youngen that no-one wants. (lol) However, what others who judge Century don’t seem to realize is, the north end (Century, Byrneville, Bratt, McDavid, Walnut Hill, Flomaton,Al) is rich with history and has lots of wonderful, respectful and caring citizens of all races and of all income levels who live together in harmony.
Our family moved from Pensacola,Florida in 1995 to the north end and we don’t regret it for one moment. I have never felt unsafe while shopping in Century or visiting the food establishments. It has the old town feel about it, it’s a town where people still smile, speak and wave to one another and go out of their way to help out if needed. As a matter of fact, if I have run into someone who wasn’t friendly or was rude, I found it was someone who was from another area just passing through, not the locals. I would NEVER move back to Pensacola, where people are rude and the crime is bad.
” GOD IS GOOD “