On the day that Christians commemorate Jesus Christ's crucifixion, a local church pastor urges people to participate in its outreach and do a good deed for somebody who can't return the favor. New Birth Church, pastored by Bruce and Sheniqua Davis, will host an event they have dubbed "Good Deeds on Good Friday" at the R.M. Bailey Park, at which they aim to give away 4,000 bags of groceries, and hundreds of pieces of articles of clothing for adults and children.

At the good deeds event, professional hair stylists, dentists and medical personnel will be on-hand doing their good deeds by offering all manner of hair care from shampoos and styles, to cuts including braiding; dentists will be doing dental checks; with blood pressure and cholesterol checks also being made available. And for those people attending who are in need, and believe they have nothing to offer, they can feel free to offer up "the gift of life" by donating to the Princess Margaret Hospital and Doctors Hospital blood banks as personnel will be at the site collecting blood donations from people that are eligible. They are also encouraging people who may have changed household items like refrigerators and stoves which may be old to them, but could be another man's treasure.

As long as an old appliance still works and is in good condition, the church will accept it. Davis said the church could even arrange to pick the appliance up if donors cannot bring them.

"There are some people who don't have anything. And what you are discarding could be someone's blessing... some women have a cooler with ice in it to keep their milk from spoiling," he said. "We want you to get that feeling of doing something for someone else. You may go home and see a pair of earrings that you may like, but you can give them to a complete stranger. You may never see them wear them. They may never tell you thank you, but it's the whole feeling of doing something good for someone else."

"Good Deeds on Good Friday" takes place on Friday, April 3 between 12 noon and 4 p.m. Goods will be meted out on a first come, first serve basis. The outreach is a big deal for the six-year-old church located in the Heastie Building at #85 Robinson Road. It's something Davis said God impressed upon his heart to do.

"As a young church we're limited in what we can do, but I need to reach my city, and my conviction has always been that you do the best you can where you're at. I remember our first year we did something at which we gave away 100 bags of groceries. This year by the grace of God, this Good Deeds on Good Friday we're going to give out 4,000 bags of groceries. The whole premise behind this event is really to do good to those who can't return the favor."

Davis stressed that the event is not a church-related one. People do not have to be members of New Birth Church, or any church for that matter, to participate. And during this Lenten season, he encourages people to not be self-centered.

"Most people who are stressed out are stressed out because they think life is about them. Their problems are magnified because they think about themselves so much, and don't look at someone else and see their problem and say let me try to help their problem. It could be as a little as $5 -- it could be a woman who has two cans of soup in her cupboard for her children, but who could take one can to give to someone else who doesn't have any. The whole principle behind it is, as a country we need to get to the place where we begin to consider someone else."

Davis who says his conviction and that of his church has always been Matthew 25 which states: "I was hungry, you didn't feed me; I was thirsty, you didn't give me drink; I was imprisoned you didn't come visit me;" and "If you do it to the least of them, you do it to me." He said it is on that premise that the church is built on-- on doing good for others.

The pastor who describes himself as a preacher of the hip hop, rap and reggae era said as he goes about the Lord's work he understands that people's spiritual needs cannot be addressed until their physical needs are addressed.
"It is what it is."

He also said there are people who may have food in their cupboard, their bills paid and two cars in their garage, but they still have a feeling of emptiness because they have no peace. He said they are the people that need to give to break that cycle.

"Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive so Good Deeds on Good Friday is about experiencing the blessing of giving to someone else. It's not about Bruce Davis or New Birth Church. God put it on our hearts, so we're in the forefront pushing it. But this event is not a churched event, or just for church people who say they're going to give and go and give someone some shoes or clothes because they're a Christian.

It's not about that. Everybody in this city knows that God is real and that God is good and that they may not have everything that they want, but what they have God gave it to them. And so the premise behind this is that we want persons in the church, out the church, from the club to the pulpit, we want people to give something back."

The pastor said the church is able to do events like Good Deeds on Good Friday because of its partners and members.
New Birth Church is a member of the Assemblies of God in The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Fellowship.

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