Tenth Community Dinner, a ministry of ACTS, is marking its thirtieth anniversary this Thanksgiving (1984-2013).

Community Dinner is primarily a ministry of hospitality. Each month we welcome our guests—creating a safe place to share with them the meal, our lives, and our Lord. They enter as strangers and leave as friends because we treat them with respect and integrity. Many attend Fellowship Bible Study and are assisted in entering Christian recovery programs. When they graduate they are new creatures in Christ and good citizens.

You would never know when you meet one good citizen—a Tenth member—that he was homeless and addicted for fourteen years. He actually slept on the synagogue steps just up the street. Now he has such joy in the Lord, such a “glow” that is difficult to remember he once looked like a walking dead man. And because of God’s work in him, his wife became a Christian and his children, too. Now his brother is at a rescue mission where God is doing business with his addiction and his life.

A woman spent time in prison for murder. Upon release, she became homeless and addicted. A Tenth member saw her and invited her to Community Dinner. Afterward she attended our Bible studies regularly but only wanted to feed on the physical food we offered afterward. She was arrested for stealing and was again incarcerated. This time she was hungry for the spiritual food and we were able to minister to her long-distance. She requested a women’s study Bible, and God transformed her life for all eternity. She is a member of a Bible-teaching church in Kensington.

One volunteer staff’s comment says a lot: "The needs out there are great. I wanted to be involved in ministry where I can work with my spouse. Other ministries focus on material or emotional needs, not spiritual like the Community Dinners. And God’s timetable is important as he accomplishes his work (not me accomplishing mine)."

You can help too. People are needed to purchase and cook turkeys for the November 10 Community Dinner. Sign up in the church mail room or email me. Bring the carved meat, giblets, and bones (for soup) to the church kitchen by 11 AM on November 10. And pray for more fruitfulness as God is glorified through this ministry.