My parents had a ministry of hosting people in their home. Dad was an incredible cook, chef, and baker. Mom was a talented host. Dad could break the ice with any person and mom could cultivate relationships from acquittances to close friends. They would plan, prepare, and execute their strategy as a team. Once in a while, we would get a call of an impromptu visitor. You should have seen my parents spin into action. Mom would dash to the cleaning closet and dad would dive into the kitchen to whip up an Italian homestyle dinner. Our guests would arrive and mom would say, “please excuse the mess; we had no idea we were hosting guests today.” I would laugh to myself thinking, “you mean the mess you just cleaned up?” Dad would sell the meal as something extra we just had laying around. The truth is, on any given day, dad was storing food to feed an army in our basement freezers. Yes, it’s plural: freezers. Here’s what we can learn from this trip down memory lane: we need to prepare. My parents would prepare when they had time and even when the didn’t have time, they had prepared for the possibility of guests. They invested time, strategy, and resources to do what they considered a holy obligation.
As a church we need to prepare too. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting practical ways we can help prepare to host guests to our church. Join me in learning and praying for our guests!