How Bethel Church of God and Sincere Praise Ministries Feed their Community

by Pastor Charles Rice

Last year Pastor Charles Rice from Bethel Church of God in Neodesha, KS shared about how the feeding ministry at Bethel had grown, the way Bethel loved their community, and how they perceived their mission. Pastor Charles said, “God was sending us workers all along, but because they weren't ‘members’ of the Bethel congregation, we failed to see that through us God was touching lives.”

A year later, we’ve come back to ask Pastor Charles about the full story of Bethel’s feeding ministry, and how a small church is able to serve 19,000 people in a single year! What stands out the most is Bethel’s recognition that partnering and serving alongside other organizations is fundamental to allow them to have the massive kingdom impact that they are having. Read on for the full story.

From Pastor Charles Rice:

I don’t imagine anyone would have been able to predict the impact that a small handful of people have made on a community. King Duncan’s amazing law of influence is certainly a reality in Neodesha, KS. The idea that “one life touches another, and potentially both lives are changed. One life touches another and potentially the whole world is changed” has become a lifestyle that the Bethel congregation understands.

In 2011, there were exactly eleven people in regular attendance at Bethel. The former pastor had pretty well left the remainder of the congregation disheartened and discouraged. The change in mindset was gradual from a condition of wandering in the wilderness of performance religion to one of actively looking for opportunities to serve and bless.

In 2012, Sincere Praise Ministries came on board. Clay and Pam Eury along with Cora Stokes operated a food ministry out of the Eury home. This was a 24/7 adventure which was funded out of their own resources. Neodesha already had a food pantry, but it was only available for two hours, twice a month. The need for help was much greater than the available food pantry resources.

Congregational support for the food ministry began to grow as people realized that it was difficult to bless someone without receiving a blessing in return. The congregation’s regular washing of feet is a reminder of something Jesus said in John 13:17, “You know these things . . . now do them! That is the path of blessing” (NLT).

As the congregation got farther away from “doing” church and drew closer to becoming the Church, the Body of Christ, the spiritual growth was fantastic. They have truly become the physical embodiment of Jesus Christ in Neodesha. Not the entire Body perhaps, but certainly the hands and feet. Most have come to understand that as a Royal Priesthood they now have the opportunity to bless others.

Each month we see and hear a regular update on the number of people the food ministry serves in the community. For several years, Bethel supplied food to 90-150 families each month. In 2021, God opened the gates of heaven and poured out a tremendous blessing, and the folks at Bethel were up to the task.

With people out of work because of certain mandates, the need for assistance grew. Clay Eury and Dave Cashman made one or two trips a week to a distribution point 30 miles distant to haul produce back to Neodesha. Roughly half the load was dropped off at the Independence, KS, service center in exchange for several racks of bread products. The Bethel congregation mobilized to distribute the perishables as quickly as possible.

The Kansas State Department of Agriculture offered boxes of food and frozen meat products which we were glad to receive. The frozen items we were able to store in a walk-in freezer at the Independence Service Center until we could set up distribution. Once the Department of Agriculture became aware of a need, they helped with grant money to purchase three new freezers, two refrigerators and a 16-foot trailer to facilitate transportation of food and produce.

For all of 2021, it was business as usual. None of us had any idea the impact Bethel was having on the area. At the end of 2021, Bethel had supplied over 40,000 pounds of food, bread, and produce to some 19,000 individuals. To God be the glory!

The average age of the Bethel family is 69 years. We had been praying to the Lord of the harvest for laborers, but our ways are not God’s ways and our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. There was so much work and so few people, but the work always got done. God had sent the laborers, but it took a while to realize that those laborers didn’t have to be part of the Bethel family. There is now a distribution network that includes several outlying communities and people from several other church congregations.

While Sincere Praise Ministries is no longer involved in crisis mode, the blessings continue to roll. The Kansas Food Bank regularly calls with offers of produce. The Independence, KS Service Center regularly calls with offers of bread products which are gladly received and quickly distributed.

Through it all, the Bethel family has discovered the true joy of giving. They give of what they have, but more importantly they have learned to give of themselves. As their pastor, my joy is found in the joy they express in finding new and better ways to serve others. In twelve years the Bethel has grown from a “have to” congregation to the “want to” Body of Jesus Christ.