The door opens and an elderly woman peers out with her hand on the door frame, “What do you want?” A few teenagers explain they are delivering for Meals on Wheels, and the lady’s face lights up with happiness as the teens come into her apartment to provide her with some food and company. These students are part of Colonial’s Gap ministries which was set up by Pastor Aaron Miller and Chris Wertz. The duo teamed up with Meals on Wheels and the Raleigh Rescue Mission in order to provide elderly people with meals on the weekend, since Meals on Wheels only supplies meals on the weekdays. By providing meals on the weekends, filling in the “gap” when MOW doesn’t deliver, Colonial students who are in school during week-day deliveries are given an opportunity to evangelize and share the good news of Jesus Christ, while showing love to the elderly.

Every Sunday afternoon, the students in Pastor Aaron’s Basic class gather together after church and begin assembling meals. Everything starts with the finance committee, who is in charge of raising all the money to buy the food. They have raised over $1500 by selling concessions at the recent Red & Attalus concert, holding a raffle for an iTunes gift card, and selling snacks at their schools. The finance committee supplies the purchasing committee with a $150 budget to work with each week. Mindful of their budget, they head to a grocery store a couple days before Sunday to scout out the best deals, figure out the meal plan, and buy food for that week. On Sunday, the prep teams begin to prepare the food by forming an assembly line in order to maximize their time and manpower. Some of the meals they have prepared include: chicken wraps, fruit salad, and subs. As soon as all of the food is prepared, the delivery teams start heading out with food and smiling faces.

The Delivery Committee does more than just deliver meals; they also try to develop relationships with the people they serve. Quinn McGinnis said their strategy is to share the Gospel through getting to know each person. “We have a group of a leader [an adult], a girl, and a guy, and they go to a few rooms each week, trying to build relationships [along with delivering the meals].” What they [the students] do is, if the opportunity presents itself, they definitely ask to pray for them, ask them about their relationship with Christ. We don’t force anything, so if they talk about something along that lines, we say ‘I’ll be sure to be praying for you’ and that’s a window to open up the conversation.” He also told what volunteers do if recipients are less open: “But if they just open up the door and say thanks, see you next week, then we don’t force anything.” The idea behind their approach is this, he said, “We’re going to build relationships and stay and talk to them because until you’ve done that, you really can’t do anything. Otherwise, you don’t know them, you can’t see what’s hurting them . . . and you can’t do any of that until you build a relationship with them. And ultimately the means of sharing the Gospel will be there through your relationship.”

The Gap Meals volunteers work hard and enjoy their work. Quinn McGinnis, chairman of the Delivery Committee, said, “The most rewarding part . . . is a combination of two things. The first thing is... when you come in and you talk to them, just seeing the excitement on their faces, and knowing just how happy they are to see somebody to talk to . . .but the second thing that’s really rewarding is in one of the rooms that I’ve been going to, there’s a lady who we’ve been talking to and we haven’t even gotten into a direct conversation about her salvation or anything, but it’s just so great because she’ll even say things that are just obvious things to mention, like “Oh, thank you, Lord!” or “The good Lord gets me through it.” Quinn summed up his feelings for those helped by the Gap Meals ministry adding, “It’s just so rewarding to see that we’re not any better than them, because we have more money or anything like. It’s just rewarding to see that we have the same bond to them through Christ.” Mica Cline, chairman of the Preparation Committee, said, “My favorite part of doing [Gap Meals] is the fact that were able to do all of this without traveling for a short term mission trip, and that we’re able to help people and show God's light to people that are ‘right in our back yard’ so to speak. Also, I love working with all of these people [other students] to help connect with those who do not have salvation. It's just a great opportunity.”

While helping the needy of Raleigh and sharing the Gospel with them, the Gap Meals volunteers have learned quite a few things themselves. Quinn McGinnis said, "One thing that I’ve learned is that you can’t get down on yourself or be disappointed if you go and they open the door and they say, ‘Thank you. Bye. ‘People always have this idea that you’re going to walk in and you’re going to save all of Raleigh and it’s going to be all happy and everybody’s going to be a Christian.” He explained the reality is, “That’s not going to be how it’s going to work. People are going to deny you, and they’ll show hostility, and one thing I’ve learned is that you can’t get down on yourself, because it’s really not your plan, it’s Christ’s will, and it’s His plan whether or not you give the Gospel to them.”