Some assembly required
Peace Lutheran Church (Cherokee Village, AR) commemorated the 500th Reformation anniversary with a two-prong approach: first, they gave away 500, 9 volt batteries on Oct. 28, at their local Walmart, to the community in generous celebration, encouraging everyone to make sure their smoke alarms are functioning properly at the usual daylight savings time. Peace Lutheran Church (Cherokee Village, AR) commemorated the 500th Reformation anniversary with a two-prong approach: first, they gave away 500, 9 volt batteries on Oct. 28, at their local Walmart, to the community in generous celebration, encouraging everyone to make sure their smoke alarms are functioning properly at the usual daylight savings time.
Smoke alarms “sound the alarm” when danger is present, just as Martin Luther and Christians valuing God’s Word still today “sound the alarm” to their communities to take God’s Word seriously and heed its healing message. The giveaway opened the door to invite the community to attend the Luther movie showing the following weekend in their fellowship hall.
The result — many people refused to accept the batteries because they didn’t believe people truly gave something away for free! It took a great deal of encouragement for some to receive the gift. In the end all 500 batteries were given away within 90 minutes, bringing Christ’s love and interest in people to their comfortable turf rather than waiting for them to come to church. “We pray the Lord will encourage the recipients with His love and interest, and that God will especially keep working on the hearts and lives of those who do not yet know and trust in Him” said Pastor Brian Pummill.
