the GENEROSITY project « Michael Robison

Matt Harrison on July 18, 2010

I shared the ten dollars that my envelope contained with a woman at a gas station. She asked me if I was crazy and I simply told her no. I told her that Jesus loved her and that’s all that matters. This was such a great experience!

Kim Lane on July 18, 2010

I gave the money to my waitress at lunch today. I wrote “Blessings from Grace Church-Kingsport” on the envelope and gave it to her with my bill payment. As I was preparing to leave, the waitress came running back to my table with tears in her eyes and hugged me. She said “thank you—you have made my day”. I told her the money was from Grace Church not me and invited her to attend next Sunday. I really feel I was the one that received the blessing from that money. Thank you Grace Church!

Bill Saddler on July 18, 2010

I had the chance to give the money I received today to a lady in Food City who had a few small kids with her. She was buying a few simple things. I offered to pay her bill…..She was SHOCKED! I think I was just as shocked at her reaction. Anyway, as I was fighting back crocodile tears in my own eyes I explained why I was doing this and how I was able. I invited her and her kids to Grace Church….I’ve only been there a few weeks now, but I am sure it’s a great place for anyone with kids!…..All this to say, I had NEVER experienced anything quite like this today. I was so excited and really broken by it. I think this is something I am going to start doing on a regular basis. THANK YOU GRACE CHURCH!

Jymmi Davis on July 18, 2010

I never opened my envelope I just gave it to a friend who is in dire need of cash. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and hugged me. Thank you Grace Church!

Big Al Shockley on July 19, 2010

I was at a local department store and was trying to find out the price on a product,using a bar code machine.I have to use a wheelchair when shopping,and I couldn’t read the barcode machine because it was up so high.I heard a voice from behind me that said,”…it’s five dollars.”I thanked the lady and,as I always do when God opens the door,I asked the lady if she knew Jesus as her personal Saviour.She said she did,and was a widow,and her husband had been a pastor.She said her health wasn’t the best and she didn’t have a home church.I invited her to Grace this Sunday,told her about our day of generosity(20 dollars was in my envolope)and asked her if she would allow Jesus to help in paying for her items.She graciously accepted,and I pray she is sitting beside us come Sunday.

michael on July 19, 2010

Al, You’re awesome! Thanks for being a voice to always share the Gospel!

michael on July 19, 2010

Jymmi, every day that goes by I amazed at your heart for people bro. Thanks for being part of making a difference.

michael on July 19, 2010

What can I say…..I LOVE THIS STORY!

michael on July 19, 2010

Thanks Kim! The truth is through this entire process….those who choose to accept the challenge will be the ones who get the true blessing! Thanks for always being a willing servant!

michael on July 19, 2010

Matt, isn’t it crazy how the world thinks we are crazy when we are simply trying to show a little love. Keep it up dude! Thanks for sharing!

Kelsey Curtis on July 19, 2010

I am sharing my $10 with a lady whom I’ve never met but my mom and Aunt used to go to school with. She and her husband have had a very difficult year. They have had car troubles, financial struggles, and now have some pricey medical bills due to her husband gearing up for a trip to Vanderbilt for a liver transplant. I shared what our church is doing and invited her to church this Sunday. She replied that the prayers, love, and understanding from strangers have amazed them and Jesus is providing for them. She also replied that she is blessed and honored to accept the money from the church and hopefully be there Sunday. I am meeting her and her family this week.

michael on July 19, 2010

Thanks for sharing Kelsey. Thanks for being bold to invite them and serve them.

Janet Curtis on July 19, 2010

I received $5 in my envelope. I took that money and added to it to share God’s love with a friend of mine. He and his wife have four children, and they have struggles with paying bills, buying food, gas, etc. Today, I gave him the money to share with his family. I said he could use for his gas money this week as he drives from Jonesborough to Kingsport to work. He thanked me with tears in his eyes for sharing God’s love. They have a home church, but was thankful for our church sharing, caring, and opening the doors to all. God is good; all the time!!!

Joylene Steinmann on July 19, 2010

Jeff and I met a lady at Office Depot who told us her husband had just left her and her 3-month old. She quit working due to the baby. Today,she had gone to the ATM to get money for formula and the account had been emptied. I gave her the $5 from my envelope and an additional $5, told her about what Grace Church is doing and invited her to come to church Sunday. We talked with her about how God knows our needs and he will provide what we need. She had heard about Grace Church and hopes to be there Sunday.

michael on July 19, 2010

Janet…Thanks for jumping in an making an impact in someone’s life. You do it every week at Grace. and now I see you are doing all over!

michael on July 19, 2010

Jeff & Joy…..So cool! I LOVE hearing about the ways we offer hope to single moms and babies. Incredible. Let me know if she’s there Sunday.

Chuck Baker on July 20, 2010

On 7/19/10 I left work in Johnson City and went to Sam’s Club then to the Sam’s gas pumps. While pumping gas I saw a man standing at the curb holding a sign that said “hungry no money” or something to that affect. I had left the envelope w/ the $5 at home in my Bible. I just happened to have five $1 bills in my pocket, it’s all the cash I had. God led me to this man. I parked my car beside him and got out. I told him this was my last $5 and I wanted him to use it as he chose, he told me he didn’t drink. Then another car stopped with a mother & daughter who gave him $5. His name was John, I told him about Grace Church and invited him to Kingsport, he said he didn’t drive, I told him he was welcome anyway if he ever made it to Kingsport. I asked him if I could pray w/ him, he said yes and held out his hand, I held his hand and put my other hand on his shoulder, we bowed our heads and I prayed for God to give John strength and courage, to open his mind and Heart to Jesus, and to lead, guide and direct him through his daily struggles. Many cars were passing by and staring, I didn’t care, I was touched. I’m a bit teary eyed as I write this. It’s not my place to judge this man, he may have purchased a bottle of booze or a sandwich, either way he heard about Grace Church and Jesus! We see folks like this every day on the street corner or exit ramps and pass them by. They may be scamming or they may truly be in dire straits and need. IT is not for us to judge. John was grateful and thanked me.

michael on July 20, 2010

Chuck….Dude what an awesome story. Thanks for not only sharing the money, but for giving the man quality time and attention. That is generosity in motion bro. LOVE IT!

Brook on July 20, 2010

Well, I was unable to make it to church this week but have been coming back here to read all the great stories and I completley love the idea. After I got out of class today (college student) I went through a fast food chain to get a drink & burger and decided to pay for the guys food behind me. The lady taking the money asked me why I was paying for his food and I told her because every one needs to pay it foward and show generosity and that my church had this “challenge” going on this week, besides I think that it might just be the lift that someone needs when he sees God’s love comes in people in small ways, like paying for a couple of burgers and big ways, like changing your life… She just looked at me and smiled big and giggled like she was excited to tell him why someone just wanted to do it, because.

I don’t know what he said or thought and never will I just hope that he was able to see God’s love in a random everyday life sorta way. Small, but there.

Giving people money, or paying for their things may be what we are all doing this week with the money but I feel like this should be an on going challenge to take the time every week to look for a situation where you can show God’s love.

michael on July 20, 2010

Brooke you are AWESOME. My hope is that this will stick with TONS of folks at Grace Church and something we keep doing in our community. Thanks for loving and serving others.

Alan and Alisha Coates on July 20, 2010

After leaving church every Sunday Alan and I have a playful arguement back and forth about where we are going to eat……this past Sunday we had decided we were going to just go home and eat. As we were driving home Cayden said “Daddy I want fish” our four year old requested fish wierd I know,but Alan turned the car around and headed to get him a piece of fish. Going thru the drive-thru Alan asked if I wanted anything? I asked him to take me to the drive-thru next door instead. As we pulled up to our second drive-thru we saw a man holding a cardboard sign sitting on the sidewalk. Alan said “I just knew something would pop up.” He pulled up beside the man and got the money from both our envelopes and headed to hear his story. His story- The man told Alan that he had recently been laid off from a local business and all he had was the backpack he was sitting on and the clothes on his back. He told Alan that he was in need of socks ect. and Alan told him about the clothes drive Grace would be having and invited the man to church on Sunday. I did not get out of the care because we had the children but I saw the man’s eyes light up and his frown quickly turn to a smile as Alan handed the man the money, I saw him thank ALan over and over again. I never saw the man look to see how much money he had been given, He didn’t care how muchit was he just knew it was more than he had, what a blessing it was to see my Husband sharing Jesus. As we pulled out of the drive-thru parking lot it began to rain……

Anonymous on July 20, 2010

I knew exactly who I was going to give my envelope to the moment I found out about our Generosity Project. One of the ladies I work with lost her 4 week old grandbaby to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome a few weeks ago. This is dear to my heart as my family too has suffered the loss of a baby to SIDS. Her family is really struggling mentally, financially, and she has not been able to return to work. I anonymously placed my envelope, plus my last 3 dollars, and a note that said “Because I love Jesus” and Grace’s web address in her supervisors mailbox. When she receives it I hope it will bring a smile to her face and she will know of a church that would love to have her

Ruth Menard on July 20, 2010

I knew right away at church, when Michael preached Sunday, who God put on my heart to give to. A friend, in Orlando, a single mom without a summer income, needed some money, so wrote her a check, and told her about Grace Church’s Generosity Project. She was touched, and wanted us to give it to someone besides herself. Also, a local pastor, who is taking a huge step of faith, came to mind, and I’ll be seeing him tomorrow. I really felt God wanted me to be generous with my encouragement- as well as with my money, and when I told him all he could say was-”I don’t know what to say.” Then, today, at Walmart, I asked God to show me who was supposed to get the money given by Grace in our envelope. I got $5 and was really challenged by that . I knew God was telling me it’s easy to give away something handed to you, but what are you going to give? I added to that , looked around Walmart, and walked out with my envelope. Parked across from me was a lady with several kids putting a few bags in her car. I explained about our project, and how God led me to her, and she got tears in her eyes. She said “you don’t know what this means to me. I just returned a highchair, so I could get money to buy my kids some food.” We hugged and had tears, and I told her it was a “God Thing.” My card inside just said, “Be Blessed, and thank God.”Her name is Misti, I talked about the clothing giveaway, and service on Sunday. She said she was always looked down on at church because of tattoos and piercings, and one of her kids has pink hair. I laughed and said-”you won’t have a problem with that at Grace!” She excitedly said -”I will be there with my kids on Sunday!” I am so excited about that, and will be looking for her! Awesome project, thanks Grace for challenging us to do something we should have already been doing more of! Anticipating great things from God, and changed lives, from this outpouring of love on our community.

Melinda Baker on July 21, 2010

I have a motto that I use every day in my business and in my life. Every customer that I have knows my motto. It means so much to me and to anyone else who hears it. So….. I went and had business cards printed that just say this motto. All of my customers have one of these cards and I also give them plenty extra ones to take with them so they can share them with anyone they want. I hand these cards out all over town, practically everywhere that I go. Every time that I hand someone one of these cards (even if thay seem like they are having a bad day) I ALWAYS get a smile in response! I used my $5.00 to go toward paying for the person’s meal in front of me and behind me at the drive thru window at Pal’s on Fort Henry Drive. I gave all of the employees one of these cards and asked them if they would please give one to the person in front of me and behind me as well. On the back of these cards I wrote “JESUS LOVES YOU” COME VISIT US AT GRACE CHURCH Eastman Road (Green Acres Shopping Center). I also asked if they would perhaps put my motto on their sign soon. The motto is …………….. I AM TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED

Joe & Tori on July 21, 2010

As we were leaving a local parking lot, we saw an old car stranded by the side of the road, and a couple and their mother were standing in the hot sun. We stopped to see how we could help, and we were looking for Security when the police pulled up. Tori stood with the mother while Joe helped push the car out of the way up the hill. The mother thanked Tori so much for us stopping…she said “there’s few people who would do that,” and she proceeded to tell Tori that she feared the problem was their engine and she didn’t know how they would afford it. At that exact time we “combined” our Grace Church envelopes and told her our church (Grace Church) was encouraging us to be generous. We also invited her to visit our church. At first she said, “oh, I can’t take this money”…but I told her it was a blessing for us too if she would. Thank you, Jesus, for this opportunity.

Linda Bostic on July 21, 2010

I received $20. I overhead a couple of our youth talking and ended up swapping envelopes with one of them who received $5. I simply went to her and said I’d like to swap envelopes without telling her why. She looked at me like I was nuts. From a distance I saw her grinning from ear to ear when she opened her new envelope. With the $5, I paid for someone’s gas.

Pauletta & Charles McKenzie and Sharon & Rod Watts on July 22, 2010

We used the money to provide a tank of gas and money for food for a single mom who has a special needs child. After paying rent, utilities, etc., she only has a small amount of money to live on. She stretches her money by having meals each day at the Kitchen of Hope or the Salvation Army. We discovered her need for gas when telling her about the Clothing Give-Away at the church. She cried the entire time that I was pumping the gas. She loves Jesus, loves to help others and is constantly praying & giving thanks for her many blessings. Frankly, most of us would have trouble finding a blessing if we were in her shoes.
She does attend Grace Church, I’m just not sure how often she is able to attend.
We also gave another lady money help with family needs. She works hard to support her son who has cancer and her grand children. She is a proud and humble person and would never have accepted the money that we offered her if we had not told her that Grace Church gave us the money with the stipulation that we use it to make someone’s day a little brighter. She was grateful and we were blessed.
THANKS GRACE CHURCH, THIS WAS A GREAT IDEA! ! !

layne haywood on July 22, 2010

There was $20 in my envelope. I already knew what i was gonna do with any amount before i even got it. Ironically a girl I grew up with my whole life who works with me was pregnant the same time as me. She had her baby the day after me and we went to the same doctor’s office,our stations are beside each other at work so we have a lot in common! She is a young single mom (i had been there once too) who is very independent finacially. I signed up for short term disability at work because me and my husband planned on having one more baby and maternity leave was covered in the policy. I dont think she had planned for a baby so she had no financial back up if she had to take off work. She saved the whole time she was pregnant so she could take exactly 6 weeks off! If she had questions or concerns I was always there to answer them. This was my third baby and any momwho has had kids thinks she is a pro so of course i loved it! I have been in very few circumstances where I could financially help anyone! I knew she had mentioned she needed a couple things for the baby earlier that week and I had some extra packs of diapers so i told her I could bring her a pack (or atleast half a pack so we could both survive til payday) so as soon as I left church I called her and said I have somethin for you! I explained to her what we were doing and she was beyond relieved,excited and thankful! It felt really good to help someone that needs it worse than you even though its hard to think of it like that but after that service it put things into perspective! It also makes you realize how God does always find a way to meet your needs when your goin through hard times!!!!!!

James on July 24, 2010

I was trying to think of what could i do with the 5 dollars i recieved from the church ,so i heard them talking on wcqr radio about the second harvest food bank taking donations . I went that evenin after hearing about the drive i purchased 5 dollars worth of canned goods i felt like this would impact more than 1 person . thanks to GRACE for the opportunity to serve and show Gods love.

Greg on July 25, 2010

I had $5 in my envelope. I used it to buy my niece a pair of shoes. Her mother, my sister in law is a single mother. Her oldest daughter had holes in her shoes but didn’t tell anyone because she knows its hard on her mom. We help her out all we can. She didn’t tell anyone about the holes until she took her shoes off we just happened to see. So, we used it to put toward a new pair of shoes for her. She was very happy! Thanks Grace Church!

Dora Keith on July 26, 2010

Hi, my name is Dora. I chose to help one of my really good friends from school.We go to school in Gate City, her name is Heather. She is just fourteen. She has a little girl whose name is Jamie. Jamie will be one year old on 8-24-2010. They came from a family who doesn’t have a lot of money.They go to school everyday with holes in their clothes. Her brother Brandon, who also is a friend of mine, always comes to school wearing boots with holes in the bottom of them. I love them a lot. They are really nice, and are very thankful for everything. Their mom is a single mom who works all night long, and comes home and cooks breakfast for them.Then about 12 or 1 she is up cooking lunch.When I talk to them around 5 or 6 she is always cooking dinner for them. Anyway, every time I see Heather’s little girl she never has clothes on. She is always in her diaper. Jamie’s dad is only fifteen, so he can’t work and help with her. I know it’s hard on Heather being a fourteen year old mom, because I am a single mom at seventeen myself. I received 10 dollars in the envelope from Grace.With that 10 dollars I went and bought a teething ring,’cause Jamie is teething, and didn’t have one. I also got a few cute “girlie” toys.When she got them she acted like she was the happiest baby around. She didn’t have any toys like that in her home. I got her a little soft pink throw, she liked it a lot.I even added a few dollars to that $10. I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone at Grace Church for their help. Because of someone’s loving, caring, and giving to others, Heather has things she needed for her baby.I just want to say thank you for letting me get her baby some clothes from the clothing give away, too!

Mark Peters on July 27, 2010

On a plane flight to Miami, I was sitting next to the youth pastor for Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis, IN. He was taking a group of 18-20 year olds to Brazil for a mission trip. Each person raised money to pay for the 2 week trip (>$2000 each). I felt this was the perfect opportunity to contribute to their work with my portion of the Generosity Project and also a perfect person to share our vision for Generosity. Both the money and the vision were very well received. My contribution will help a member of the mission team travel down the Amazon in an extended part of the trip to provide additional medical support to the region.

Repass on July 27, 2010

A guy I know pretty well had multiple heart attacks. He is in his late 20′s, has a son less than a year old, and is no longer able to work enough hours to support his family. I’ve had multiple conversations with this guy about why I feel he should accept the gift of money but so far he’s reluctant to take it. I believe he knows Jesus but it’s hard for him to transistion from the guy that helps people to the guy that receives help from people. I’ve decided to find another way to invest the money provided by the church but keep adding a little money each week for this guy in case he decides to accept the help he deserves.

John and Michelle Kilgore on July 29, 2010

John and I received $5 in our envelope and couldn’t really think of what to do with it. We finally decided to pay for the car behind us at Pal’s. John explained to the young man at the window that we were from Grace Church, about the project we were doing, and asked him to give the money to the person behind us. He thought it was cool, and said sure. I admit I was kind of bummed because that is all of the story I can tell because we don’t really know the reaction or impact it had. Then yesterday the coolest thing happened. I was waiting on a very nice couple at work, and they had kept us well past closing. During the conversation she had mentioned they had had a terrible week and thanked me for helping them out. As they were leaving the man handed me and my co-worker $10 each. I tried to declined but he said, “This week I was given a gift, and I want to do something for someone else.” I have no idea what the gift he received was, but it was a wonderful blessing to see how it felt to be on the receiving side of someones generosity. Totally a God thing.