First, Center Point, ministers to community with free ‘sale’

By the time First Baptist Church in Center Point concluded its “Free Garage Sale,” 23 people had made professions of faith, countless items had been given away and free health screening may have saved one woman’s life.
   
The sale was held Oct. 22 and was the second year the church has conducted the event.
   
Pastor Ryan Whitley described the sale as an opportunity to “give everything away totally free, with no strings attached. Christ told us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and minister to the sick without making judgments, and that’s what we tried to do.” 
   
With that in mind, the church pulled together in an effort that involved every ministry team in the church. Each ministry organized a separate section of the event, including food, furnishings, clothing and Bible distribution, bringing together more than 500 volunteers to facilitate the crowd.
   
Although the sale did not begin until 3 p.m., people were lining up at the entrance when church members left the morning worship service at 11:45 that morning. By the end of the sale at 6 p.m., more than 3,400 individuals had visited the sale.
   
Whitley said the church gave away two washer/dryer sets, two ovens, countless sofas and recliners, 45 children’s bicycles, 250 boxes of food and more than 25,000 pieces of clothing.
   
In fact, despite the colossal crowd, many clothing items were left over from the garage sale and later donated to Birmingham’s Jimmie Hale Mission and Jessie’s Place Mission.
   
Along with free merchandise, the church offered food, serving more than 2,000 hamburgers and hot dogs.
   
The outreach effort also included free medical screenings. Whitley said the screens may have saved the life of one lady who was diagnosed with diabetes by a doctor at the garage sale.
   
Whitley said the woman saw another doctor the next day and was on an insulin regimen the following day.
   
While thousands of people benefited from the tangible items and health screenings, the event’s most dramatic results were seen in the individuals who made professions of faith during the afternoon sale. These people were led to Christ under the care and counsel of the church’s FAITH teams.