....one of the guys who invented Silly Bandz or the Wii.

  I always expect Tuesday night to be good, but tonight was exceptionally good and for lots of reasons. I'll try to give you as many as I can remember.
First and most importantly, God's goodness and blessings. We had so much food to pass out last night. God provides us with so much great food it's unbelievable. And not leftovers we just reheat. Wonderful fresh stuff that our friends can tell was cooked specifically for them.
To be able to create and cook something, then put it in someone's hands for them to eat and have them come back and tell you how good it was and how much they appreciate you doing it, might be the biggest long term benefit kids get from this ministry. It's the kind of thing that makes an impression and sparks them to do (and lead) similar things when they go off to college and beyond.
Another great thing was a lot of people came and helped last night.
HOLT / KEVIN / CUTTER / MARCUS /CHRIS / CHRISTIAN / TYLER / CHRIS ADAMS / EBY / MARK / /HAMPTON / TJ / TWIG / MITCH / CHUCK (my new favorite person and hero!) / JAMIE / ELAINE / MADELYNE / MERRITT / CECELIA / JOHANNA / CAITLYN / KAYLA / ALEX / ALEXANDRA / BRIANNA / CREEEEECH! / ALEXIS / DAVID / STEPHANIE / TERESA F. / BRIEN / MARILYN / put faith into action by putting food in people's hands last night.


Teresa Fountain was able to obtain a tremendous amount of fruit and vegetables for last nights meal, which was :
CHICKEN SKEWERS
VEGETABLE SKEWERS
BAKED BEANS
DINNER ROLLS
CANTALOUPE SLICES
WATERMELON SLICES
PEACHES
DESSERT
WATER / SWEET TEA / GINGER ALE


It's been at least 4 years since we did any kind of kabobs or skewers, so last night was a real treat. The kitchen was a well oiled machine with people cutting  and skewering, making tea, slicing watermelon and cantaloupe,washing dishes, etc.


We had cherry tomatoes, zucchini, squash, bell peppers, and mushrooms on the vegetable skewers. (That's a lineup I go 1 for 5 on. I like cherry tomatoes but you can have the other stuff.)
We also had peaches to give out as they were leaving.
The second stop guys can't take food back into the Mercy House, so with something like peaches, I take them in to the Night Captain and he hands them out in the morning as they leave.  


Susan Lewis was kind enough to provide half of the chicken we used last night and we greatly appreciate her thinking of us.


At the Sr. Banquet last Sunday night, I looked at the 20 Seniors there and realized 10 of them are die hard Tuesday night regulars. My first thought was That's really neat but my second thought was Yikes!* I'm losing 10 people that help almost every week! 
It'll actually only be 9 because J.BOGGS is staying here to go to UNCW and he'll still come. Plus I won't lose TYLER right away because the current plan doesn't have him leaving for the NAVY until December. Still, that's a big loss. I'm gonna miss seeing them on Tuesdays. BAILEY /SAM /CHRISTIAN / ALEX / DANIELLE / ELLEN / EBY / LIZ /  are heading out! 

HERE'S WHY CHUCK IS MY NEW FAVORITE PERSON AND HERO

I love to read. Books, magazines, online, mysteries, thrillers, historical- everything. But my absolute favorite thing to read is Comic Books. I make no apologies for it. I love them. I did when I was a kid and I do now. I deeply care what happens to Batman, Superman and The Flash every month. Here's the depth of my love for comic books: If I was ever in a "last man on earth" scenario (I am Legend, or the Twilight Zone episode with  Burgess Meredith) , I 'd cope by heading to the comic book store and reading everything they have. And it would take a long while. Oh, I imagine eventually I would get around to missing some of y'all, but ....
Anyway, CHUCK has been coming for a few months now. He's an older gentleman who's a big help, but I've never had a sit down discussion about what he does now or used to do. Chuck noticed that CHRIS ADAMS, the Minister of Students, had on a Justice League T-shirt and a conversation started. Out of the blue he mentioned Green Arrow and Green Lantern and referenced a story done in 1970. I said "Hard Travelin' Heroes" and we proceeded to go back and forth about who drew it(Neal Adams), who wrote it (Denny O'Neal, who inked it (Dick Giordano), etc.
I was amazed. But that was nothing.

Then he says I remember talking to Neal.........
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!

Neal Adams? My favorite artist of all time? The most definitive Batman artist of all time?
Yep. CHUCK knows him.

CHUCK used to work in the comic book industry!
CHUCK used to do covers for comic books and paper backs. He starts naming off comics that I have read and characters that I know.
Then he says the magic words: I used to help on the DOC SAVAGE paperback covers.

FLASHBACK: 1970 - I'm a little kid and an older friend of mine lets me read a paperback book called DOC SAVAGE : THE MAN OF BRONZE.

I loved the book, and thought it had the coolest paperback cover of all time. A publisher called BAMA was reissuing the DOC SAVAGE books from the 30's  and 40's with  all new cover art. I liked the cover to the one above so much that I tracked down a poster of it and bought it. Then I started reading every one of the 100+  books I could find.

And now, years later, I'm talking to the guy who played a role in all of that.  Way beyond cool.
I start dropping Hall of Fame names from the comic book industry and he knows them all. 

He had to leave towards the end of the first stop, but we're not done by a long shot.
I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he keeps coming. I don't care if he helps cook or not, I want him for the stories. 
The kids couldn't believe how excited I got the more CHUCK and I talked.
They will one day.
Maybe they'll meet .........

....I could be swayed if someone had a better idea.

2 bags of grits, 180 eggs, 20 lbs. of deer sausage, a #2 can of cheese sauce and 60 slices of white cheese.
That's all you need to feed 80 people a couple of bowls of jacked-up cheese grits.
It wound up being about 10 gallons altogether. We had 5 gallons of grits and 5 gallons worth of the other stuff. Mixed together it was pretty thick and hearty.
We had TEXAS PETE and jalapenos for anyone who wanted to go that route - and lots did. Got back to the church after the 2nd stop with about a ladle and a half left.

The rain earlier in the day actually made for a pleasant first stop. It wasn't muggy like I was expecting. the second stop did turn out that way, but it was still ok.

BAILEY / SAM / DANIELLE / CHRISTIAN / TYLER / J.BOGGS / EBY / JASON / JADE / EMILY / HAMPTON / LIZ / JANE / CHUCK / FIRST TERESA / SECOND TERESA / BRIEN / WAYNE / TWIG / BLAKE / MARK / JOHANNA / MORGZILLA / ALEXIS / CREEEEEEEEEEEECH! / BRIEN / CHRIS / NICK / JOSH / ALEX / STEVE / MARILYN /  are all every bit as colorful and lively on Tuesday nights as their names are on the blog.

John Liverman brought us a pan of baked chicken and a half pan of barbecue from his Rotary Club luncheon. We pulled the chicken off the bone to use next week and put the barbecue in the freezer. John's a good man.

I'm gonna be gone some this summer with YG trips and stuff. People have stepped up and offered to help in my absence. If you want to help and get us through the summer, contact me and let me know(gamyharns@gmail.com). A group of families can get together and do it, a Sunday School class, it doesn't matter. I've already been contacted by another church's youth group and our church's Boy Scout troop.
The reason we need help covering is not that I'm gone, but it's because when I'm gone it's with the Youth Group, and as you notice in the list of who helps every week, they make up a lot of the crowd that comes. I don't have to be replaced- but 20 kids do.

Gene McIntyre and Mitch Cook are the ones responsible for supplying us with Deer Sausage this time. We appreciate it.

We've got chicken to use for next week's meal. Right now I'm leaning toweards some kind of kabobs. 
But I'm flexible........