Long after Super Bowl XLII, the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund will continue benefiting from this year’s “Souper Bowl of Caring.”
Youngsters at Third Street Baptist Church in Arkadelphia, Ark., add their efforts to the annual “Souper Bowl of Caring.”Under the umbrella of the Souper Bowl of Caring – now in its 19th year – Southern Baptists give to the SBC World Hunger Fund. One hundred percent of the money Southern Baptist churches collect goes to the World Hunger Fund or to the participating church’s charity of choice.
“We hope our Southern Baptist churches will consider supporting the World Hunger Fund’s domestic program with their collections,” said Sandy Wood, hunger ministry specialist for the North American Mission Board.
Wood said Baptist youth participate by simply taking up a collection in a soup pot during a church’s worship service.
First Baptist Church in Chester – located along Interstate 77 about halfway between Charlotte and Columbia – is a congregation that not only participates in the Souper Bowl of Caring, but has taken it to the next level.
“We started several years ago just collecting money in a pot as our folks left the morning worship service,” said Clay Waldrip, the church’s pastor. “Then a few years ago, we started making soup for lunch after the service, charging $5 apiece.” Half the proceeds go to a local food pantry and the other half goes to the World Hunger Fund.
“It gives us a chance for some good church fellowship and plays off the Super Bowl theme at the same time,” said Waldrip, whose church runs 225-250 each Sunday, with half staying for the soup lunch. “We’re just so blessed, we want to help others have something to eat.”
SBC churches report donations to www. souperbowl.org, but the collected money is sent directly to the SBC World Hunger Fund or to the church’s charity of choice. Wood said NAMB’s Hunger Relief Ministry assists churches, associations and state conventions so that in the process of distributing food, the gospel also can be shared with people in need. Last year, more than 30,000 people accepted Christ through hunger ministries in North America.
Souper Bowl of Caring began in 1990 at a single South Carolina church as a simple activity designed to fight hunger and has grown into a national movement. Since 1990, the initiative has raised more than $41 million for those in need.