tion>
THE AUTHOR
Renee Crosby is a Christian with spiritual gifts in teaching God’s word. She is active in her home church and community. She has a desire to inspire and empower Christians, especially the laity, to realize that their modern faith walk can be so much more! She enjoys cooking and doing anything outdoors (except gardening). For some reason she can help people grow spiritually, but with plants? They don’t have a fighting chance. She is currently working on her Master’s degree in theology from Asbury Theological Seminary. She is married with one son and one daughter.
THE BOOK
Soup Kitchen for the Soul combines testimony with a challenging scriptural foundation and follows it with specific guidance on how you can get out of your church and make a difference in your community. Each chapter builds on a Bible story and the author's personal experience, and ends with thought questions, and then action questions. References include specific ways in which you can take action on what you have been studying in the book.
This book is suitable for personal or small group study, or could be used effectively by an entire church to transform their ministry.
In the introduction Crosby says: “Upon entering Seminary, I was required to serve in the community and begrudgingly accepted my assignment, choosing to serve in a soup kitchen. While serving in the soup kitchen, God revealed himself to me in a profound and miraculous way. It was in restudying the scriptures with this new heart knowledge of God that allowed me to see a message of a mission for His people that we lack a connection with today. I began asking, ‘What if ... What if I'm not the only one who doesn't understand the whole mission God has planned for us? What exactly are we supposed to be doing? Where in the Bible can we find directives on our missions for God? What if I wrote a book about radically new old ways of doing the gospel?’”
Soup Kitchen for the Soul is that book.
Soup Kitchen for the Soul
What I didn’t learn about God in church, I learned in a soup kitchen!
by
Renee Crosby
Energion Publications
P. O. Box 841
Gonzalez, FL 32560
www.energionpubs.com
Energion Publications P. O. Box 841
Gonzalez, FL 32560
Twenty percent of the royalties on this book go to Ft. Walton Beach Waterfront Rescue Mission.
Scripture quotations and references unless otherwise noted, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version.
Scripture quotations marked NLT are from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Cover Design: Jason Neufeld, jasonneufelddesign.com
Cover Picture: Mickey C Photography, mickeycphotography.photoreflect.com
Hair and Make-up: Spoiled Gals Hair and Makeup LLC
EPub Edition
Print ISBNs:
ISBN10: 1-893729-79-6
ISBN13: 978-1-893729-79-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010929364
Copyright © 2010 by Renee J. Crosby, All Rights Reserved.
DEDICATION
To the place that removed the boulders on my way to Mount Zion, to the spirit and love found in my local soup kitchen that changed my life and my relationship with God and others…
the Ft. Walton Beach, FL
Waterfront Rescue Mission.
OWED TO JESUS
I owe my life to a wonderful friend of mine, Jesus that saved and healed a wretched soul as mine. I owe Him every blessing, every smile, every time my husband makes me blush, every time I smell my children’s hair, every sunrise, every lady bug that makes me giggle, and every blessed tear in the pruning of my dead branches. I owe Him my gratitude, every inch of my heart and the deepest depths of my soul.
FOREWORD
In the first twenty-eight years of my Christian experience, I learned that each Christian had a spiritual gift that was to be used to serve the Body of Christ. I had finally figured out my spiritual gift of teaching and put it to good use in the church.
Upon entering Seminary, I was required to serve in the community and begrudgingly accepted my assignment and selected to serve in a soup kitchen. While serving in the soup kitchen, God revealed himself to me in a profound and miraculous way.
This new heart knowledge of God led me to reevaluate; to pray, read, and meditate on scriptures that allowed me to see a mission message for God’s people—a message that today we lack a connection within our faith walk.
I began asking, “What if…”.
What if... I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand the whole mission God has planned for us? What exactly are we supposed to be doing? Where in the Bible can we find directives on our missions for God?
What if... I’m not the only one who had never contemplated where to meet God instead of being focused on God meeting me where I am?
What if... I’m not the only one who needed to go find God before I could find what it is I was really here for?
What if... I wrote a book about radically new-old ways of doing the gospel?
What if… we all had a 100% chance of getting to know God better?
What if... we all absolutely knew what God wants us to do and why and pursued it with conviction?
What if... I shared this message with other Christians?
What if... I could do some small part to change our mindset from being a come to me, God to being a go to God kind of Christian?
What if... we could get people to reconnect with our Christian heritage and the Godly design of our faith walk found in the Bible by getting refocused on feeding and serving others and not on self?
What if... Christians came to ask not what can God do for me today, but what can I do today for God and His kingdom?
That is the heart of a soup kitchen-like experience.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing the book seemed easy compared to sitting down to write acknowledgments. I feel like it's Oscar night, and I have sixty seconds to say thank you- and hope I don’t forget to mention my spouse, my parents, my children, my friends, my in-laws, my brother, my brother in-law and my editor- of course! So, here is my attempt to document this abstract concept of gratitude to those that have helped me accomplish my first published works.
There is no published works without a publisher. So, thank you Energion Publications for taking a chance on a first time author like me! Your mission, your marketing plans, your grace and your company