Two weekends ago, we held our 2nd missional outreach event at Royal Oaks Apartments, a neighboring apartment complex to our McAllen church location. On our first visit, we prepared and gave away breakfast tacos. It’s was a good introduction, letting our neighbors know we were around.

This time, we held a BBQ cook-off, featuring two Logos men competing for an incredible chicken trophy (I’m serious!) and inviting the community to spend the evening with us as we ate, face-painted, socialized and voted for our favorite chicken chef! It was a tough competition and the vote ended in a 5-ticket difference!

Why a BBQ you might ask? Because it’s what the Bible tells us to do.

“Then he turned to the host. ‘The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be - and experience - a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned - oh, how it will be returned! - at the resurrection of God’s people.” - Luke 14:12-14 (The Message)

Can I confess something? All this time, I’ve been reading this scripture and seeing myself as the host, the inviter. But do you want to know the truth? I’m the misfit. I’m from the wrong side of the tracks. God is the host I’m the one with nothing to give Him in return. He feeds me and sits with me and shows me He cares about me. And then, He tells us to do the same.

The event was a huge success, not because we fed 100 people (which we did!) but because we sat with one another. We talked. We brought food to a woman who couldn’t get out and we prayed over her. We laughed and we played and at the end it wasn’t just Logos members doing the clean up. We all were. It was “our” event - Logos and Royal Oaks. We were one group just being community. That’s what it’s like in the Kingdom of God. One family. One body. And, well, there’s probably not a chicken trophy but there is definitely a sense of joy.