Glorious Hope Baptist Church Showers Seniors With Holiday Joy

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Holiday season is in full swing around Middle Georgia, and while the focus may be on what we may receive, a church in Macon took a moment to focus not on receiving, but on giving joy.

“As Christians we’re the salt of the Earth. Well, we’re not supposed to be the salt shaker–we’re supposed to spread that everywhere.”

And that’s exactly what happened.

The Glorious Hope Missionary Baptist Church set out on a mission to spread good cheer Saturday morning.

And with the adopt-a-resident program, church members provided a time full of singing and gift giving for seniors at the Oaks at Peake Nursing Home in Macon.

“It was in our spirit to give back to the community, and because this is one of the nursing homes–this is one of the outreach services that we provide to–this is the nursing home that we’ve adopted, we thought what a better place to begin than with the nursing home we have adopted,” said event organizer Deborah Dennard.

Dennard made sure gifts were in the right hands, and Holiday cheer was on everyone’s mind.

“We took each person’s gift–their name, and we adopted a person. We had their size, we had their name, if they were male or female and each person was given a gift. So we have gifts for all of them.”

Glorious Hope Pastor Emeritus John Herring spoke a brief message to the crowd of about 50 seniors and nursing home employees–one that he hopes brought a message of joy.

“We’re here simply because we know that there are seniors in this residence that can’t get out–they can’t go like you and I are blessed to go from place to place. We just try to bring that to them,” said Herring. “We do so much for those that don’t need it and seldom do things for those who that really need us. And this is an occasion that we at Glorious Hope–we know that we’re blessed by what we do.”

And for these senior citizens, it was one of the many blessings passed out this holiday season.

The seniors received gifts of all shapes and sizes, but none were bigger than the smiles on their faces.

Herring went on to say he wants everyone to remember you can give holiday joy at any time of the year,
not just during December.