Champion Life is a ministry that came all the way from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, in order to collaborate with the local church Living Word Worship Center to put together a bike and tablet giveaway for the children of Minden. $20,000 worth of bikes and tablets were given away on Saturday at Victory Park, but the ultimate goal of the event was to bring people closer to walking a life with Jesus Christ as their Savior.
“We want to let people know that God loves them. And sometimes using things like this helps us to say God is so generous and so good. It just kind of melts our hearts to know how good God really is,” said Pastor Trey Waller of Living Word Worship Center.
The event started off by hosting numerous activities for kids, including bounce houses, face tattoos, free snacks, and more. After a while, the focus of the event shifted to the main stage, where pastor of Champion Life, Roddy Shaffer, spoke to the crowd about what the event was about and even let local Patrick White of We’re Here We Care share a few words about the occasion.
“I just want to let y’all know this is possible for you. What you see is possible for you because I was lost. I had nothing. I’ve been homeless. I’ve had my parents beaten in front of me and my father shot. There are so many things I’ve seen, and yet God has brought me to a spot where I’m able to give. That is the goal,” said White.
“What they’re doing is so amazing. They’re not only just giving, they’re giving a message. They’re giving the spirit. They’re letting you know that God is real. That anything is possible. All you have to do is believe.”
Later Shaffer hosted some games for the crowd to participate in, including a dance contest, a cricket spitting contest, and a burping contest. He did this as a way of showing that ministry can be fun and engaging. After though, the tone shifted and he elaborated on the true purpose of why they came all the way from Florida to be there that day.
“Every one of them bicycles probably won’t even be working next year. The tires will go flat, the chains will fall off. It’ll get rusty. You thought you came here for a bike. We give away $20,000 worth of stuff and we don’t care, because if you don’t hear what we’re telling you now, that bike won’t mean anything. The battery on every tablet will go down. You’ve been looking for life in stuff, and it’s only in Jesus,” said Shaffer.