This is a beautiful description of the church:

“There’s nothing like the local church when it is working right. When the Spirit is in charge, and when God’s power is on a church, lost people are getting found, and found people are growing up, and lonely people are getting enfolded, and bored people are finding a purpose, and the poor are being cared for. When that’s all happening, prompted and empowered by the Spirit as opposed to fueled by human power, that is the most beautiful activity we’ve ever witnessed” (Bill Hybels).

Saturday, we witnessed the church at its best in Covington First United Methodist Church’s Great Day of Service. More than 100 volunteers gathered at the Sharp Stadium parking lot early in the morning for prayer, led by the Rev. Dr. Doug Gilreath, senior pastor of Covington First United Methodist Church, and Ed Hutter, missions chair, before heading out to be the helpful hands and feet and smiling faces of Jesus and to spread the love of Jesus Christ.

We spent an amazing day, rolling up our sleeves, getting dirty, giving of our time and talents and sharing lots of fellowship, laughter and smiles with members of Covington First UMC and friends from the community.

The projects for the day were widespread and touched many lives.

• The Covington First UMC Mobile Food Pantry was held in the church parking lot serving 266 families with fresh fruit and vegetables including bananas, squash, cucumbers, baby greens, fresh corn and zucchini. CFUMC volunteers were joined by our friends at The Church of the Good Shepherd and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Newton County.  
  
• Youth and youth leaders of CFUMC headed to Atlanta Community Food Bank, where they partnered with Action Ministries at their food warehouse to pack 800 SuperPacks (food packets for local children who face food insecurity on the weekends) and to sort books for our upcoming Smart Lunch Smart Kid Summer Nutrition Program. During the Smart Lunch Smart Kid Summer Nutrition program, each child will receive five books to take home, all as part of Action Ministries’ summer initiative to feed mind, body, and spirit. The volunteers also cut out Box Tops for Education, which are used for schools and organizations to receive much-needed school equipment, books and supplies.
  
• Four teams headed to do home maintenance and improvements on four homes in the community. These teams included hardworking and generous volunteers and partners supplying manpower, materials and donations. Improvements included repair and replacements of air conditioning; repairs of sidings; replacements of new facets; repairs to roofs, ceilings and floors; painting; carpet; appliances; landscaping; installation of new smoke detectors; replacements of all bulbs to LED; installation of ceiling fans and other repairs. Volunteers of time, labor and materials were donated by Five in One Painting, Sherwin Williams, AllGood Heating and Air, Mayfield Ace Hardware, Newton Electric, Home Depot, Southeastern Appliance, Hardy’s Floor Covering, Covington Fire Department, Atlanta Fire and Restoration, Great Estates Landscaping, Mundy Residential, Wagner Services, Hutter and Associates and members of Covington First UMC. The generosity of these partners was greatly appreciated by CFUMC and the homeowners. Not only did Covington First UMC want to see improvements done to these homes, but we look forward to building a relationship with these homeowners in the future.

  

• Work teams traveled to three local cemeteries in the community, providing much needed clean-up and clearing of brush, and bringing beauty and dignity to the place where loved ones rest.
  
• Cricket Frog Trail, the area between Clark Street and Turner Lake Park, received attention as volunteers from CFUMC and Trails Board members picked up debris and cut back growth that had filled the trails during the spring blooming season, clearing the trails and making them a beautiful path for families and friends in the community exercise and enjoy the outdoors.
  
• CFUMC and Keep Covington/Newton Beautiful partnered together to plant seasonal flowers in flower beds at Pruitt Health Care and Riverside Nursing Home, bringing happiness and beauty to the surroundings of the patients, families and employees of these facilities.
  
• CFUMC Kidmin families and the Hospitality Team made homemade treats for all the residents of Merryvale, Benton House, Pruitt Health and Riverside that included a special note assuring each of them that they are prayed for and loved by the church family of Covington First UMC. Cookies were delivered door to door at each location, where visits were made to residences by parents and sweet children that brighten the day of so many. 
  
• Several years ago in conjunction with Change the World Day, Covington First UMC built park benches and tables out of wood that the city had cut and milled from trees here in Newton County.  On Saturday, as a part of the Great Day of Service, these benches and tables were power washed to clean them up from the winter weather, preparing them for families to come and enjoy the beautiful summer days ahead. At Academy Springs Park, you can play on the playground, picnic, enjoy the butterfly garden and roaming the property around the ponds found at the park.

A team of volunteers went to a home where the homeowner was unable to do yard work and as a result the shrubs were overgrown and the yard was in need of maintenance. The finished product was beautiful!

With all this hard work, our teams worked up appetites, and were nourished by lunches prepared by volunteers at Covington First UMC. Special thanks to ladies at Covington First UMC for making sure there was water, sandwiches, chips and cookies for all that needed lunch.

The day ended at Hutter Farm, where everyone that participated in the day was invited to come, relax, reflect on the day and enjoy some great music from the Covington First UMC Living Proof Band that leads our 11 a.m. Contemporary Service on Sunday. Laughter, fellowship and a great meal after a long day was a perfect ending to a great day of serving the Lord in our community. 

It was a great day. Our prayer always, in every ministry that Covington First UMC does, is that people always see the love of Jesus Christ through us and know that Jesus loves each of them. We hope that somehow we lightened a load, left things better than we found them, made a difference and showed people we care about our neighbors in Newton County.  We, at Covington First UMC are blessed – blessed that Jesus calls us and trusts us to be His helpful hands and feet and smiling faces, that He calls us into the world to make disciples, and walks with us as we are committed to making sure the next generation has a relationship with Him.

Thank you to this county and community for your heart to come together and serve together as God’s people to make Newton County a better place to live and flourish and grow.

For complete info about the ministries of Covington First UMC, visit our website at www.covingtonfirst.org. 

Claudia Minge is the church facilitator at First United Methodist Church of Covington. Her email address is claudiaminge22@gmail.com.