Church cancels services to give back to community

Visitors to Rock Solid Church of Conway may find the sanctuary empty this Sunday.

Church members, believing it is time to give back to the community, plan to spread the word of God among the Conway area through various service projects.

"We believe this is what the church is called to do, to give and serve," said youth pastor Brian Ramey. "Sometimes the church gets so caught up in having church that we kind of forget to be the church."

His wife and partner in the service project, Serena Ramey, agreed.

"It is a day we are showing the community that we care and love for them, like Christ did for His people," she said.

All age groups expressed interest in participating, the pastor said.

"We're probably going to have at least 150 of our church people involved," he said, adding the preschoolers and youth group plan to sing at the Heritage Nursing Home. "The older ladies have been working for weeks sewing quilts and handbags for the Battered Women's Shelter and for the nursing home. Every age group has been very committed and fully involved."

Serena Ramey said she took charge of the project, organizing the teams and ministry sites. "Part of being a Christian is just finding a need and filling it," she said. "You actually teach servicehood by going out and doing it hands-on."

Areas the church plans to visit include Conway Regional Hospital, Bethlehem House, the Battered Women's Shelter of Central Arkansas and various schools.

"We're grilling lunch for Conway Regional Hospital, and we're also partnering with them to do some landscaping work and cleanup around the hospital," Brian Ramey said. "We're cooking lunch for all the fire departments and ambulance service. We've got a group that are taking a bunch of donations to the Bethlehem House."

The church's goodwill extends to both Florence Mattison and Ida Burns elementary schools, as the teenagers from the church plan to do landscaping and basic cleanup work at both locations.

"Every place we contacted was more than agreeable to us doing this," Brian Ramey said.

Serena Ramey said the original service locations included the fire departments and hospital.

"Those were originally picked to give back to people of service ... and we wanted to extend it as far as we could, she said. "The hospital doesn't get enough recognition. We picked the Battered Women's Shelter to show Christ's love to women who have not received it often."

She added that the community has reciprocated their efforts.

"A lot of grocery stores or just organizations in the community have donated gift cards or items," Ramey said, referring to laundry detergent for residents at the Bethlehem House and food for the lunches.

The Rameys hope the Church can continue to do this in the future. "We plan on going forward with other churches," Brian Ramey said.

"We would love to do it for sure yearly," said Serena Ramey. ""I think it will be a huge milestone in the future of our Church and this community."

(Staff writer Jerrica Ryan can be reached by e-mail at jerrica.ryan@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1266. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)