Meredith Snoddy has spent nearly two decades equipping her church to serve their neighbors with the love of Jesus. In this Q&A, she shares what keeps her passionate about service and practical wisdom about how to get involved serving your community.
North Carolina Baptists serve on mission together with women across the state who are faithfully leading and making disciples. In this four-part Q&A series, we’re highlighting women in ministry who are making an impact for the kingdom as they reach, train, send and serve.
This second installment features a Q&A with Meredith Snoddy, missions and communications director at Green Street Baptist Church in High Point, N.C. Snoddy has served at Green Street for almost 19 years. She has also served with N.C. Baptists through women’s conferences and with Baptists on Mission as a disaster relief volunteer. Last year, Snoddy coordinated service projects for ServeNC Week, a statewide initiative that mobilizes local churches to meet needs in their communities through service projects.
Stay tuned for the next two parts to get to know Janet Packard, global missions coordinator for N.C. Baptists, and Anna Hopper, SendNC’s spouse care advocate. Read the first Q&A with student ministry strategist Merrie Johnson here.
Q: You are a “ServeNC Week advocate” among N.C. Baptists. What fuels your passion for leading community service efforts? What keeps you energized over time?
A: The “Sunday school answer” for a kid is always Jesus, but truly, that’s it. Who Jesus is, how He treated people and how He lived drive me in passion and energy. There’s nothing more important than Jesus, and there’s nothing good outside of His creation, so the energy comes from that truth.
Q: How do you help your local church maintain a culture of service year-round, outside of ServeNC Week?
A: I thank God that we have the example of service in Jesus. More often than not, we choose opportunities where we go back to the same places or visit with the same people to build relationships, which is encouraging. We provide a list of opportunities through our partners year-round, which allows people in any age, ability or stage of life to find a place to serve. We also find it helpful to reintroduce our partners and objectives.
Q: Serving others is sometimes seen as a women-led effort in the church, yet many women feel stretched thin. How would you encourage women to engage meaningfully in service, even with limited capacity?
A: Whether the church supplies an intentional list of opportunities or not, one can pray and ask God to show them where He would have them serve. He’ll answer, and often it’s directly in front of us and more simple than we think.
I have been blessed with having a female college student as an intern the past few years, which served as a great reminder to always bring people along. Build them up, help them discover their giftedness and ways they can serve in whatever season of life they’re in.
Esther, in the Bible, reminds us that some things are for a season that God has placed us in to serve. He gifts, and we go in obedience while He takes care of the rest. Ruth learned from her older mother-in-law; it is always important to have opportunities where the generations learn from and grow with each other in service. Personally, I have been inspired by an older adult leading out relationally with our English as a second language ministry, as she worked around her after-school commitment of keeping her grandson, a high school student. She not only served but encouraged others to join her in their free time.
Q: In your experience, how have you seen God at work in people’s lives through service projects?
A: We have seen an interest in learning more about God, visiting our church, meeting up with people to discuss life and spiritual things. A favorite story is people hearing that Jesus loves them and believing it or, because of us showing up again and again, they were open to hearing us share about Jesus.
Q: What has been one of the most memorable service projects you’ve coordinated? What makes it stand out?
A: Ahead of National Night Out, we gathered local community partners to ask what was needed. We already had relationships with the parents or kids. We like one thing to build on one another.
Kids need good backpacks and school supplies. We asked the kids what kind of backpack they wanted (Batman, sports, plain black) and school and grade they attended, so we bought the correct school supplies. We recruited enough volunteers so that everyone would not only be greeted at the door or when they went to the different stations (games, meal, school supplies, Sunset Slush), but that they could serve as their host all night. They were invited back for Life Skills from a biblical perspective and other kids’ events.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to lead a service project for the first time but doesn’t know where to start?
A: Pray first. That’s not the cliche or the Sunday school answer. Truly, pray for direction. There are many gifts, and we need all of them. So gather a group of people with various gifts to recognize the details needed. If you want to serve a certain place or people, ask them what they need. We are often bad at thinking we know without any feedback from them. Call other churches, N.C. Baptists or Baptists on Mission for ideas.
You can pray for churches as they “ServeNC” this summer in these two ways:
- Pray for churches to love God and love people in such a way that people see Jesus and are drawn to Him. Pray for N.C. Baptists to love your neighbor wherever you are.
- Pray for people to know Jesus and know we love them.
Women in N.C. Baptist churches can take the next step of engaging in N.C. Baptist ministry and serving on mission together at this year’s Women’s Evangelism & Discipleship Conference. On Sept. 13, be inspired and challenged to grow deeper in your faith, strengthen your commitment to discipleship and live out evangelism every day. Sign up at ncbaptist.org/events/womens-conference.
Join N.C. Baptist churches in serving your local community during this year’s ServeNC Week on Aug. 2-9. Sign your church up at servenc.com.
