Preparing a feast in a Honduras dump

Christians will set up tables, chairs, silverware, cups, soap and water in a garbage dump outside of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, this month as they serve the poorest of the poor.
The “Jesus banquet” is modeled after Jesus’ challenge in Luke 14:13 — “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” — said Trey Morgan, minister for the Childress, Texas, church.
Looking through a missionary newsletter about a year ago, Morgan read about a group of Hondurans so poor that they were living at a dump, digging through the trash for anything edible.
The missionaries, Marc and Terri Tindall, started taking about 300 sandwiches to the dump each week. In a recent blog post, Terri Tindall wrote about witnessing the Hondurans as they scrambled toward a truck loaded with discarded leaves from vegetables and rotten fruit.
“They were ecstatic to have such a find,” she wrote. “To think someone’s waste was another person’s food.”
The missionaries were running out of funds for the sandwiches, so Morgan launched a fundraiser on his blog, www.treymorgan.net. The news spread across the Internet through Facebook and Twitter.
“Can’t stand watching people search for something I have so abundant. I want to help,” one donor wrote. A third-grade class collected $8 for the effort. In all, the fundraiser netted $12,500.
The missionaries have been feeding the Hondurans from the back of a truck, but the December banquet will be on a grander scale, Morgan said.
“I’m still amazed at just the thought of having a sit-down banquet at a dump,” he said. “Instead of them getting one small bowl of food, they’ll eat until they are full.
“The missionaries have worked hard to build a relationship with these people and will continue to use the Jesus banquet to reach them.”

• Feedback
  The online survey question bothers me. It asks if “long-term effective” efforts to feed the chronically hungry can be done..makes me wonder – if it can’t; are we to not even try? The better question is, “will YOU feed at least one hungry person today”….while I agree we should be smart with our efforts and responsible with our funds,Jesus taught us to care for every single person we can-even if it is only one. We have the responsbility to use or blessings to share with those who have less. I have a photo of a Dominican trash dump that I visited a couple of years ago- with a dear missionary friend feeding the hungry – with the Word and with a peanut butter sandwich. I keep it on my office wall and think of them every.single.day.

  karin kerby

  fairfax church of christ

  leesburg, va
  usa

  January, 13 2010

  Thanks- How can we help in Haiti

  Buster Herren

  Gulf shores C of C

  Gulf Shores, Alabama
  USA

  January, 13 2010

  A big shout out to the Christian Chronicle for covering the Jesus Banquet. It was a GREAT success. If you’re interested, you can read all about it here:
  http://tinyurl.com/yc4vhop

  Trey Morgan

  Childress CofC

  Childress, TX
  United States

  December, 17 2009

  I would love to be at the Jesus banquet. When you pray with them
  it will be so awesome. I cant wait to see it and to be with you all someday! We just dont think enough about how much and why we are blessed. I am just beginning to see that it is our responsibility to serve in every way possible…and there are so many things to be done.
  God bless you and God’s people in Honduras.

  Debbie Carey

  Overland Park Kansas

  Overland Park, KS
  US

  December, 5 2009