Neighboring

Several members of the AHUMC staff traveled to Seattle this spring to be a part of the Inhabit Conference.  The purpose of this event is to brainstorm and hear new ideas of how to "be the church" in our local communities.  The term "neighboring" was tossed around throughout the weekend, and it is one that specially applies to the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry.  How well do you know your neighbors? What are you doing to meet your neighbors?  This is a question the church should constantly be asking herself. 

The Five & Two Food Truck ministry gives us a unique ability to take the church out into our neighborhoods ... and not just the one surrounding our beautiful church building.  It allows us to truly be neighbors in Como, on East Lancaster, in Ridglea, on Crestline, on the TCU campus, and on and on and on. 

When Jesus took five loaves and two fishes and fed the multitudes, I'm certain that neighboring took place.  People who previously did not know each other or were convinced that they previously wouldn't like each other shared a meal and discovered they were more alike than they thought. 

On Sunday, we were privileged to help our neighbors at Trinity Episcopal Church celebrate their Homecoming Sunday.  We served lunch and had fellowship with over a hundred of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Everyone was excited about giving a donation because of the good work we are doing in building the Kingdom of God.  We're doing this Kingdom building together as we go out and participate in "neighboring." 

 Do you know your neighbors?  Do you want to share a meal with those neighbors you don't know yet?  Help us transform the world and build the Kingdom:

 http://www.fiveandtwofoodtruck.com/#/upcoming-events

National and International News!

God is Good all the time and all the time God is Good!!  The Five & Two Food Truck Ministry is busy these days and others have taken notice of the good things that this ministry is accomplishing in building the Kingdom of God.  Here are some links to some of the articles that have been written about the ministry:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/for-some-churches-food-trucks-are-a-vehicle-for-serving-the-poor/2015/08/05/14975f00-3baa-11e5-b34f-4e0a1e3a3bf9_story.html

http://digital.360westmagazine.com/publication/?i=267273#{"issue_id":267273,"page":98

http://www.fwtx.com/blogs/bon-appetit/unusual-entrant-food-truck-scene

http://www.newsnjoy.or.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=199802

We are so blessed to see this ministry succeed!  We thank God for placing this ministry on our hearts and being with us as we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with our neighbors, even around the globe! 

Family Reunion

Sometimes I can't believe my own eyes.  The dream of this congregation for the Five & Two Ministry was realized, and every time I get behind the wheel of the truck, I am humbled.  We are making a difference already!  God is working through this ministry!  People know what is coming when we roll up: good food and people who genuinely care about them.  

We have had the privilege of serving dinner to veterans at the Patriot House and women and children at the Presbyterian Night Shelter.  Dedicated cooks at AHUMC have prepared well rounded meals to serve out of the Five & Two Food Truck, and believe me, people are loving this food!  

Beyond the physical hunger needs that are being met, we are making relationships.  The Prayer Shawl ministry handed out over 50 prayer shawls to mothers and their children at our first visit.  The atmosphere each time is like a big family reunion.  Adults playing with children, folks eating together and sharing their stories, praying with one another, laughing and enjoying the simplicity of fellowship and food.  

All a very real reminder that we are all God's children and should get together for a meal more often!  

There are many more family reunions to be had all over this community.  Thanks to God, we have a church "on the road" that can go to all of them.  I hope that you share our prayer:

For food and fellowship, 

For the miracles of the 

loaves and fishes, 

For hope and grace,

For being in ministry with

our neighbors,

Lord, we give you thanks.

Affirmation

What an incredible few weeks for the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry!  We officially dedicated the truck after worship on June 7, and we had a fantastic time together in fellowship.  Fort Worth, TX Magazine was there and wrote a great article on our ministry:

An Unusual Entrant

During the last day of the Annual Conference of the Central Texas Conference of the UMC, the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry was highlighted as a special and unique ministry during the Mission Support presentation with a wonderful video:

 

Five & Two Video

We followed up with the Mayfest Wrap Party and are gearing up for our first meal at the Patriot House at the Presbyterian Night Shelter this Thursday.  July will be a busy month as we add a fellowship meal with women and children at the shelter, and hopefully become a regular presence at the Thistle Hill Food Truck Park in the hospital district.




God is moving and working in our congregation and our community, and we are blessed to be able to answer God's call with the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry.


Already, after conference and the article in Fort Worth, TX magazine, we are receiving calls about how we can partner with other churches and agencies in our community and our state to help eliminate hunger and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those in need. 


When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick. That evening his disciples came and said to him, “This is an isolated place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
But Jesus said to them, “There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat.”
Matthew 14:14-16

Feeding ... Everywhere!

 

Whew!  This has been the hardest "soft opening" in the history of openings!  We are officially commissioning the Five & Two Food Truck on June 7, but when the community caught wind of what we were doing we got busy sooner than we expected. 

 

The original plan was to do the April 25^th Race for the Cure event as a trial run and use May to get everything in place to launch the ministry in June.  Obviously God had other plans.  We got invitations for May events from Mayfest and Betsy Price’s Compassionate Community effort that collaborated with Feed the Children Everywhere.

 

 

 

On May 1, Five & Two fed over 300 people at a special opening of Mayfest for FWISD special needs children.  This past weekend, we served hundreds of volunteers who were participating in the Feed the Children Everywhere event where over 300,000 meals were packed to be sent to Mexico, Africa and right here in Ft. Worth. Our next event will be feeding Como Food Pantry clients and volunteers.  June will begin with the Dedication of Five and Two on June 7, followed by an appearance at the Central Texas Annual Conference, June 8-9.

 

Beginning in June, we will begin serving dinner to 30 homeless veterans once a month at the Patriot House and in July we will begin serving dinner and ministering to over 100 women and children at the Presbyterian Night Shelter, also once a month.

There is so much excitement about this new ministry, both in the community and within our AHUMC family.  It is humbling and overwhelming to know that we are able to respond to God’s call to help “the least of these.”  This is has been a great few weeks and we are looking forward to an amazing first year of the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry!

Twelve Baskets

 

"And all ate and were filled; and they took what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full."  Matthew 14:20

 

 

 

Abundance,  noun: 

1. an extremely plentiful or over-sufficient quantity or supply:

an abundance of grain.

2. overflowing fullness:

abundance of the heart.

3. affluence; wealth:

the enjoyment of abundance.

 

 



 



 

Wow!  This past Wednesday, we offered a Food Handler's class to anyone who would be interested in volunteering on the Five & Two Food Truck.  Much to my surprise, over SIXTY people filed into the fellowship hall to be certified!!  What an amazing affirmation of the support of this new and exciting ministry!  We will have no shortage of willing and certified food handlers to work on the truck at our upcoming events.  Speaking of which, I'd like to highlight the first three events that Five & Two will be serving food.

• April 25th, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

                   Serving breakfast tacos

• May 1st, MayFest:  FWISD Special Needs Day

                   Serving lunch to Special Needs students and teachers

• May 15th, Como Food Pantry

                   Serving a "thank you" breakfast to volunteers

We hope you can join us for one or all of these events, contact Allen at alutes@ahumc.com for more information!

I've been testing the recipes that we'll be "selling" for donations at multiple locations and the AHUMC staff got the chance to try it out.  Big thumbs up for our Street Tacos, Cuban Sandwich and Mushroom Swiss Burger! 

The Children and Horizon Seekers Sunday School Class donated the most cans to our recent canned food drive for WestAid (we gathered almost 600 cans total!) As a prize for winning, these two groups get to name two of our menu items!  The Children have the task of naming the Grilled Cheese sandwich from our children's menu and the Horizon Seekers have the naming rights of our Pulled Pork Street Tacos. 

It is truly humbling to see God's hand at work in this ministry

The excitement is building and we are ready to get rolling in a few short weeks. 

See you on the road!

God is Good!

God is Good! 

As we near the first public appearance of the Five & Two Food Truck, it is exciting to see God at work in this ministry. 

We will be serving breakfast tacos at the Fort Worth Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on April 25^th.  This will be an excellent opportunity to serve God by supporting this cause, but also allow us to share our dreams about this ministry with the thousands who are expected to attend. I hope you can join us there!

I was blessed to spend a few hours at the Presbyterian Night Shelter last week taking a tour and exploring how we can best serve our homeless neighbors. 

• Currently the Presbyterian Night Shelter is housing 45 women and 80 children between the ages of 3 days and 17 years old.  We will be partnering with the shelter to provide a meal to these women and children once a month as well as providing fellowship and guidance for the women and spending time playing with the children.  
• Also at the PNS, there is a unit called Patriot House which houses 30 homeless veterans.  We will also be providing a meal and fellowship for these men once a month as they struggle to get back on their feet.   Both of these opportunities allow us to be in ministry WITH those in need. 
• Many families at Cook Children’s are “long term.”  As such, their finances are often stretched and it is difficult to eat affordably.  Also, frankly cafeteria food gets old.  We are working to partner with Cook Children’s to identify those families who are “long term” and will be offering them vouchers for a free meal at the Five & Two Food Truck which will be parked in the Thistle Hill Food Park at least once a month.  

We are not alone in building the Kingdom of God.  These partnerships allow us to work in community with others to help share the love of Jesus Christ as we break bread together. 

Jesus commanded us to “care for the least of these” in Matthew.  These are just a few of the ways that we plan to do just that.  Your continued prayers and support are greatly appreciated. 

Want to help?  Contact Allen Lutes at alutes@ahumc.com