“Chances are, if someone cannot cut their grass, there may be something more going on there. I see offering to cut their lawn as a way for me, as a Christ follower, to open doors to help hurting people,” said Brusky, a member of Apex Community Church in Kettering. “This can eventually lead to conversions and discipleship.”
He was inspired to start this mowing ministry after hearing about a problem a co-worker was having that made her lawn a distant priority.
“The purpose of this ministry is not only to take care of a need in a region with many hurting people, but also to use this as an opportunity for believers to build relationships with them,” Brusky said.
He took it upon himself to get a list of people who had “long grass” violations from the Butler Twp. Trustees office. He visited those homes, talked to the owners and offered to mow their grass for free. In this cynical world, it had to be a breath of fresh air to realize someone cared so much that they would go out of their way to help you, a virtual stranger.
“We can respond with grace,” Brusky said. “I shared the Gospel and prayed with these people, and I gave them a pocket New Testament that had my contact information on it.”
He also recently started mowing the neglected lawn of a vacant home about a block away from his own house. This opened the door to a relationship with the owner who lives in California. The home was his mother’s residence until she passed away.
“I’m asking for as many people as possible to help out with this, as I see this as an effective way to open doors for the Gospel. Just come and bring a mower,” Brusky said. “If you don’t have one, that’s fine, because I have an extra one. We also need people to do tasks like sweeping, picking up tree branches, and things of that nature.”
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“It would be awesome if people could join me as I follow Jesus by offering an act of love to my neighbors,” said Brusky. “I know that if we can just show up in their lives by offering them a free lawn cut, then we will have at least planted seeds.”
We will be offering this service to those in need in the Northridge and Benchwood Road area. These are some of the things that we need:
1. People — whether or not you have a mower, we will be able to find ways that you can help.
2. Mowers — if you are planning on coming to help, and you have a mower and the ability to bring it to our meet-up location, please bring it with you.
3. Lend or donate a mower — there will be many apartment dwellers who want to help, so in order to allow them to participate in this ministry, would you consider lending us your mower? Or, if you have a mower that works that you no longer use, would you consider donating it to our effort?
4. Do you have a pickup truck? You could help us move our volunteers and their mowers between locations with ease.
5. Pocket Gospels — One tool that we use when talking to people when we are out offering free mowings, is the Gospel of John from the Pocket Testament League.
This fact is the most important, because the purpose of this ministry is to share the Gospel. If anyone would like to order some of these for our efforts, or even for your own personal evangelism, please visit http://www.ptl.org.
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“Last Saturday we were able to mow three lawns and shared the Gospel with five people. We have some incredible Jesus stories as a result of this,” said Brusky. “We will be conducting this ministry every Saturday this summer, so if you cannot help (today) there will be further opportunity in the future.”
People interested in volunteering can call Brusky at (614) 205-9141 or email nabrusky@yahoo.com.
Tentative plans are to meet around 10 a.m. at a location to be decided.
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