During a week-long mission camp in 2014, I led a team that served at Shockoe Hill Apartments, a subsidized housing complex for seniors. Our Senior Ministry was just one year old at the time.
On our first day we saw a man, who appeared to be around 80, slowly push his walker to the area where we were serving. When he came in, the other residents greeted him as Deacon Davis. We helped him gather the few things he said he needed, and he headed back to his room.
After he left, the other residents told us that he started a prayer chapel for them and functioned as their pastor, even though he wasn’t ordained. I was surprised when they told me he was 95, not 80 as I had guessed. I got a chance to chat with him when he came back downstairs. What a passion for Jesus! I was humbled.
Deacon Davis and 10 others were waiting for us when we arrived the next day. The teens impressed me by the way they turned their entire focus onto the people they served. The time passed too quickly.
It was getting close to our time to leave, so I asked Deacon Davis to pray for the youth before we left. We gathered around in a circle and held hands. The Deacon had to lean on his walker, so the youth on either side of him placed their hands on his.
Then he began to pray. It was one of those prayers that makes the earth shake and sends chills up your spine. God’s presence descended on us like the fog covering a mountaintop. I don’t remember his words, just the power behind them. When he finished, I looked around to see if the others were as impacted as I was. They were all rubbing their arms. Several of them said “Wow!” One said, “That was awesome!” Deacon Davis just gave us a gentle, toothless smile.
At worship that evening, the young volunteers got to share their “God sightings.” Cody, a bright-eyed, gregarious 7th grader, was one of the first to raise his hand. He told about Deacon Davis’ prayer and said, “When he was praying it was like fire shot through my fingers.”
I know our young volunteers blessed the residents of Shockoe Hill Apartments through their provision of food and other needed items as well as through their presence and company. But I think most of them would tell you that, on that day, they received a lot more than they gave.