Bad Soil, Fertile Ground

The university extension wanted some ground. In the local paper, the extension officer announced that they were hoping to start a new enterprise by providing fresh vegetables to food pantries in the area. Pantries often receive an abundance of canned goods but rarely deal with seasonal vegetables. "The hope," the officer said, "was to provide some fresh vegetables to those who otherwise would not be able to get them."

I called the extension office to say that our church had some available ground. "We have adequate land but it isn't very good soil," I explained. Our grass looks more like a collection of Midwestern weeds than it does a plush lawn. It is one of those lawns that look better the farther you are away from it. A few years ago, when the church was built, tons of topsoil were removed to make it even with roads and the surrounding area. He said they would take a look at it and get back to us. I guessed we would not hear from them again.

H.O.P.E.

A few months later the office called to say that we had been selected to initiate a new, urban program. Growing H.O.P.E. (Helping Omaha's People Eat) is a partnership between the University of Nebraska Extension, several Master Gardeners and now, our church. The plan is to use our property to plant the garden and master gardeners from the area would cultivate the soil and harvest the vegetable crop. Now the hard part: convincing our elders that this project would produce.

Instead of a regular meeting wherein we would discuss the pros and cons of this ministry, I decided to have the elders meet on the lawn and visually show them the possibilities. As we met, I sensed the elders believed this was a good project with the opportunity for outreach. There were the usual questions: Who would pay for water? What about erosion? What if the garden doesn't get weeded? How can we help? One by one the group came together in order to allow the project to proceed.

The master gardeners went to work on the garden. They decided to start small because this was a new venture. Ample rain provided enough water for most of the summer. Irrigation was rarely needed. Amazingly, the garden produced a variety of vegetables and produce for the pantries and the garden project seemed to turn out very well.

Reclaiming Land

Every time I look out at the garden, I wonder who I limit by assuming they won't produce. Where is the bad soil in your ministry? How is God shaping it to produce abundance?

Harvest is now in full swing at the garden and everyone seems pleased at the outcome. The gardeners are extracting many vegetables grown on less than perfect ground. Next year, I will probably do the same thing. The group will ask to expand the garden and I will remind them that the ground isn't very productive. "We've had trouble maintaining our lawn," I will utter. They will nod their heads and proceed as if God is going to do something spectacular. I hope so.

Darin Seaman is pastor of Faithful Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE and knows nothing about gardening. Darin lives in Omaha with his wife Shauna and their two children.