Across the state, over 1,100 churches are gearing up to serve their local communities as part of the statewide emphasis “ServeNC.” Read on to see how several churches plan to “shine a light" in the weeks ahead.

Aenon Missionary Baptist Church in Elm City is a small country church looking to make a big impact in the community in the week ahead. 

With an average attendance between 20 and 25, the church intends to involve almost every member of the church to complete community service projects on Aug. 3-10. Together, church members will host a dinner for community volunteer firefighters and their families — a total of about 60 people — while also bringing care packages to a nearby hospice center, as well as an EMS and sheriff substation throughout the week. 

The church will wrap up its week of service by hosting a dinner for a Hispanic community that the church has been attempting to connect with for several years. 

“We’ve been trying to figure out what we could do (for the Hispanic community) for the past five years,” said Mike Willard, pastor of Aenon Missionary Baptist Church. 

According to Willard, though Aenon Missionary has made several attempts to serve this population — a community growing rapidly in their county — the church has lacked many of the financial resources to put its plans into action. 

It wasn’t until Aenon Missionary learned about “ServeNC,” and the plans of one congregation to give $1,000 to any church needing support to participate, that the church saw an avenue for connection. Willard reached out to Fellowship Baptist Church in Moyock — the church offering the “ServeNC” grant — and secured the funds needed to take a step forward in serving its community. 

“This little bit of a grant has pushed us into being able to do this, which is just amazing,” Willard said. 

Now, Aenon Missionary plans to join churches spanning 92 counties across North Carolina to participate in “ServeNC,” a statewide emphasis that calls on congregations to serve within their local communities. As of Monday, July 29, more than 1,100 churches have pledged to participate in the initiative, which is taking place Aug. 3-10. 

In the weeks ahead, Aenon Missionary and many others across the state will be taking advantage of the statewide emphasis, using “ServeNC” as a catalyst to engage their community’s needs and form connections within their neighborhoods. 

“We would not be as far as we are right now if it hadn’t been for “ServeNC” coming out and giving us that little push,” Willard said.

Here’s how seven other churches across North Carolina are planning to meet the needs of their communities through “ServeNC.” 

Coweeta Baptist Church, Otto

In the far western corner of the state, Coweeta Baptist Church in Otto began “ServeNC” early after partnering with four other churches in Macon County to do a backpack giveaway for students on July 27. 

Together, the five churches — which included Black Mountain Baptist Church, South Macon Baptist Church, Newman Chapel Baptist Church and River Bend Baptist Church — provided backpacks to 150 students in preparation for the new school year. 

“(Working together) has been encouraging and has helped us grow spiritually as a community,” said Keith Ashe, pastor of Coweeta Baptist.

Following the backpack giveaway, Coweeta Baptist will be engaging in additional community mission projects Aug. 5-6, including underpinning a mobile home, pressure washing several houses and providing meals for the community each day. Ashe said that Coweeta Baptist’s youth will be completing landscaping projects, while the seniors in the church will be going into the community to visit with neighbors on the front porch.

“Communities need to see the churches giving back,” Ashe said. 

Eastern Hills Baptist Church, Charlotte

Coweeta Baptist isn’t the only church using partnerships to serve. In Charlotte, Eastern Hills Baptist Church plans to partner with nearby churches Life Church and Providence Baptist, as well as the Charlotte Eagles soccer club, to host a weeklong soccer camp in the community.

For several years, Eastern Hills has been committed to reaching its increasingly diverse community. As part of those efforts, the church has opened up its facilities for non-English services and international church gatherings. As a result, services are held in six languages every Sunday.

According to James Weddington, pastor of Eastern Hills, the church was excited to join “ServeNC” as another step in bringing the gospel to the multicultural community around them.

“We knew it really just fit what our heart was,” Weddington said. 

Trinity Baptist Church, Mooresville

Just north of Charlotte, Trinity Baptist in Mooresville will join “ServeNC” by partnering with N.C. Baptist Aging Ministry to build a wheelchair ramp for a member of the community.

Earlier this year, Trinity Baptist hosted its own “ServeNC” week which involved visiting nursing homes, building a large wheelchair ramp, delivering flowers to neighbors, giving cookie trays to the fire department and helping with repairs at a local pregnancy center. According to missions committee chair Bob Joyner, nearly three-quarters of the church was involved in the late-April event, with somewhere between 250 and 300 members joining the projects to serve.

Joyner said that the church is motivated to serve because that’s the model they see in Jesus. 

“(Christ’s) model was meeting needs first and then sharing the gift of salvation,” Joyner said. “That’s what missions is — meeting needs and sharing Christ.”

First Baptist Church, Thomasville

In preparation for the upcoming school year, First Baptist Church of Thomasville will be hosting a “Back to School Bash,” serving meals and games to students while also offering them a free vision screening through a partnership with the local Thomasville Lions Club.

“We find that …  25% of students can’t see or have their vision impaired,” said Pastor Michael Floyd, who also serves as a member of the Thomasville Lions Club.

The church will also partner with the Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina to do a food drive throughout the month of August, giving the congregation another means of serving the community.

“If we don’t love others, we don’t demonstrate the love of God (and) we don’t know the love of God,” Floyd said. “In (‘ServeNC’) we have the opportunity to find needs and meet needs, to learn the community and build relationships.”

The Connect Church, Cary

In the Triangle, Korean-American congregation the Connect Church in Cary will partner with other Korean churches and local ministry Refugee Hope Partners to host a soccer league for refugees on Aug. 18. The event will also serve as a back-to-school gathering, including a backpack giveaway for the students.

“Since the church was planted, the Connect Church has been reaching out to serve refugee families in Durham and Chapel Hill,” said MC Ko, pastor of the Connect Church. “As ‘ServeNC’ was revealed, we (wanted) to expand our refugee ministry and collaborate this event with churches around us.”

Ko hopes that this event will not only serve as a blessing to the students and their families, but that it will also be an opportunity to show the refugee community the hope of the gospel.

“We hope that it will be the beginning of a relationship with God by sharing the gospel of the cross of Christ,” Ko said. “We want to break out of the limits of what a small church cannot do and celebrate a heavenly celebration that God is pleased with.”

Myrtle Grove Baptist Church, Wilmington

On the east coast, Myrtle Grove Baptist Church in Wilmington has the goal to see how many members it can get involved with projects throughout the week of “ServeNC.”

“It’s not (about) what we can go out and do — it’s also how many people in our church can we actually get involved in doing something,” said Gary Southerland, chair of the missions committee for Myrtle Grove. “There are a lot of people that would like to do stuff in church, but they don’t know how to ask. So we bring it right to them.”

As a result, the church has prepared a wide range of projects for “ServeNC,” including landscaping, building a wheelchair ramp, performing home repairs, sewing and making repairs to clothing, and hosting a senior lunch in the middle of the week.

Winton Baptist Church, Winton

Winton Baptist Church was motivated to join “ServeNC” as it felt the importance of being involved in the life of the community.

“A question I often ask our church is, ‘If we closed our doors tomorrow, would our community notice or even care?’” said Derik Davis, pastor of Winton Baptist.

Located in the northeast corner of the state, Winton Baptist is partnering with two other churches in the community to host a medical clinic as well as take on a weeklong project to meet the repair needs of seniors in the area. The emphasis, according to Davis, is to get members of the church out with their neighbors.

“This is not about getting the community in our church but rather getting our church in the community as a testimony to the power and love of Christ,” Davis said. “That’s why the Lord placed us in our town, to serve others as He served us.”

Editor’s Note: How does your church plan to ‘ServeNC’ this summer? We want to celebrate God’s work with you! Tag @ncbaptist in your social media posts, use #ServeNC and email your ‘ServeNC’ stories to submissions@ncbaptist.org.