It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon. You're driving through the small town of Moody, Alabama and as you pass the Chevron you see a line of cars so long it's wrapped around the restaurant next door. Why? Free gas!! From 2-4 that day everyone got 20 dollars worth of gas, FREE.
First Missionary Baptist Church in Moody, Alabama held this event on November 19, 2016. There were members of this church standing on the street holding signs with slogans that read "Salvation Is #FreeGas." When you pulled in you were welcomed and sent through a line that wrapped around Carpenetti's Pizza. As you pulled through the line you were met by two men. These two men talked to you and told you about their church and then asked if they could pray with you. You had people walking by your car making sure you were spoken too and prayed with and taken care of. When you finally reached the gas pump you were asked what type of fuel you needed and then your gas was pumped for you.
I asked Vincent Curtis, the pastor of First Missionary Baptist why they decided to hold this event and his response was astounding. He explained to me that every year the church tries to do one big event for the community. This was their second year doing the Fuel for the Soul event and it continued to prove successful. "We try to get out in the community and show people that church is more than a brick building" he said. "Jesus dealt with physical needs as well as spiritual needs and we want to do the same thing." His goal is to help all churches in general, as well. He wants people to understand that church is about giving and not receiving.
The church holds many other events like this one, due to their belief that the basis of Christianity is to go out and mission. They have taken up goods for nursing homes, and bought bikes and given them to kids in the community that are without. They go to the Jimmy Hill Mission and cook meals, and they collect coats and shoes for those in need. At the moment they are loading an RV with hams and turkeys and the church's youth to go around and give to people in need in order to "bring joy to someone's life if not for a moment." Four to five times a year special event proceeds go to ministries for at risk kids.
When asked what some of the rewards are to the church and the people of the church for these events the pastor responded with "Praying for people, hearing their stories, and how much something small helped them, it's a reward on both sides."
You can see it in the pictures above, pure joy to be out helping others. Spending their day pumping gas and praying for absolute strangers. It can't get any better than that.
