SAN ANTONIO – A Northwest Side church reversed the offering plate to its members on Sunday, providing the families at its morning services with envelopes of cash.
Oak Hills Church said it handed out 762 envelopes Sunday between its two services, each one with a $100 bill inside. With attendance higher than expected, the church told KSAT it still had more than 60 families who would pick up their envelopes next weekend.
Church officials don’t expect most of the money to stay within the congregation, though.
“If you are in need, then this is for you. But if that’s not you, then this is for you to pay it forward and to bless somebody else that only you could possibly know about,” lead minister Travis Eades told congregants. “You know needs that we will never know, and you can reach people that we would never be able to reach.”
Speaking to KSAT after the services, the church’s adult ministries pastor Matt Moore said the idea had come out of a meeting earlier in the week and a story of someone who had done something similar.
Now they’re looking forward to stories this gesture will spawn.
“We’re excited to see how stories flood back in of how each person goes into the places where they live, work, learn and play and get to use that money for the benefit of others,” Moore said.