Free Studio Photos was Day 9 of
30 Days of Kindness, and for this act of kindness everybody was all smiles : ) This event was special because it was sponsored by my boss Chris Chase and his family from
Directive, and it is a great example of how much good can be done when an employer takes an interest in their employees and is supportive of their life goals.
Being a bi-vocational church planter is difficult. It seems like there is never enough time for the church and outside jobs can be draining. Last September, my bi-vocational task became much easier when I landed
a new job as a content writer for Directive; which, interestingly enough, could be traced back to a connection I made doing
an AoK last Spring. I went from working for managers who barely knew me, to having my first office job, and working for a family that loves to be supportive of their employees.
When my boss told me that he wanted to help with the church, I was quick to find an AoK project that he would be good at. Chris is an amazing photographer, he loves taking pictures, loves to be generous, and has invested in professional equipment. I floated him the idea of running a free photo shoot for the community, and he instantly said yes. I was thinking that he would drop by our building and snap a few photos, but he did me one better. Chris opened up his downtown photography studio to be used for the event, and he used his business connections to arrange for
The Village Printer to donate one free print for each participant!
This was an exciting opportunity for me and the church, because as much as I enjoy having a place on River St., it has been on my heart since the day I first envisioned church planting, to do ministry in an active downtown. Oneonta has a lively downtown that is packed full of college students, local townsfolk, and people from all around the tri-county area every weekend. One day, I believe that our church will
expand to Oneonta's downtown, and the success from this event made me look forward to this goal with even greater anticipation.
In all, we had roughly 25 people get their pictures taken, and 20 of them were people that I had never met before. The way we had it set up was conducive to great conversation. While one person was in the studio getting their picture taken, I got to wait in the lobby with people in line and discuss God's love and our church. This made for some delightful discussions!
Many of the participants had a hard time believing that it was free and kept asking, "What's the catch?" This is my favorite time to tell people, "No catch. We are doing this for free to show God's love." There was a female in a group of students that made the comment, "I thought altruism was a myth!" And there as a male student in the same group that kept asking me if this event was part of a social experiment for a masters paper, I assured him that it wasn't, which took a fair amount of convincing. In my opinion, I think it is sad when a receiver of a kind act would think "social experiment," before thinking "church." I think this goes to show how the American church might be out of touch with culture and need to step it up in the outreach department.
There was one man out walking his dog that got his picture taken with his dog. He informed me that he and his wife were looking for a new church. There was several groups of students that pulled in for silly group shots, a few even came back with more friends. There was also a young group visiting from California, they were students at the Oneonta Jobs Corps who had their photos taken to be sent back home to their families. All of these people I got to sit with them and share the vision for the church, give them a kindness card and a 30 Days of Kindness calendar, and tell them that we are doing this to show God's love.
Feel free to
contact us if you wish to participate in any more of our
upcoming acts of kindness!
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