FULL SERVICE – NO WAITING … Awaiting the arrival of the customers are, Front – Jeni Traxler, Tammy Swank, Carol Crisenbery and Audrey Taylor. Back – Roger Swank, Allan Valentine, Judy Feeney and Pastor Christian Taylor. Not pictured – Nadia Taylor (PHOTO BY TIM KAYS, STAFF)
By: Tim Kays
When the combined congregations of the Pioneer and West Franklin United Methodist Churches, schedule a soiree, it’s going to take something more substantial than the COVID-19 pandemic to call it off. Even single-digit wind chill factors couldn’t move the February 6 cookout into the cancelled column.
You read that right; I did say a cookout. You remember…that time-honored thing where you wheel out and fire up the barbeque grill?
Yeah, THAT thing, so those who were in the East Baubice Street area of Pioneer that sunny Saturday afternoon who thought that they were noticing the summertime scent of barbequing burgers and hotdogs dancing upon the frigid air…you weren’t imagining it.
The next question should be the most obvious. A church cookout? Sure…great idea. But a church cookout when there’s snow on the ground, and a potent nip in the barbecue smoke-perfumed air…why? “Because we like it.” Said Pastor Christian Taylor of the Pioneer and West Franklin United Methodist Churches.
“We first started doing this last May, and we just wanted to give folks some place where they could go and where they could sit. So we created this idea for a drive thru cookout, cleared out the parking lot so people could come and they could sit. If there were other people they knew in the parking lot, they could roll down their windows and holler at them.”
“Because everybody was so confined when everything shut down, we just needed a place. So we did this, and we got such a great turnout and such great community support that we kept doing it.”
Cookouts in the dead of winter, and in the midst of a global pandemic? You would think that turnouts would be pitiful…and you’d be wrong.
“This month it’s been a little bit light,” Pastor Taylor said, “…but usually we’ve seen upwards of 100 people. We did this in conjunction with Trunk or Treat last October, and we saw over 250. That’s tremendous, but on average we see about 100 to 110.”
“I had a mentor when I was doing ministry in Toledo that told me that no matter what…always be there,” Pastor Taylor recalled, “So, even in the blustery weather, we bring the grill out. And we’re GOING to be here. When it rains, we’re here.”
“When it snows, we’re here. We’re the Church…we’re SUPPOSED to be here, hands down. The church is supposed to be present in their community, and just because it’s cold or snowy doesn’t mean that we get to take the day off.”
In John 21:17, Jesus charged the Apostle Peter to, “Feed My sheep.” The members of the Pioneer and West Franklin United Methodist Churches, through the public service of their monthly cookouts, are following through on that 2,000-year-old commission, providing both spiritual and physical sustenance to any who would pull into the church parking lot.
Like their Pastor, they take their mission seriously. They are quite good at what they are doing, and they have no plans on shutting it down because as Pastor Taylor said, “We’re the Church…we’re SUPPOSED to be here.”
Tim can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com
