It’s not about fueling cars. It’s about fueling souls.
For Fred Whitaker, pastor of Consuming Fire Global Ministries just outside Roanoke Rapids on Aurelian Springs Road, that’s what he and other church members will be doing on March 30.
Whitaker devised a plan to pay for gas for at least 130 people and is hoping for matching money to do more beginning at 1 p.m. at the BP Station next to Ruby Tuesday.
The gas giveaway comes on a high weekend for Christians, Easter weekend. “The thought is it’s resurrection weekend. Resurrection weekend is like Super Bowl weekend for Christians,” Whitaker said today. “Jesus paid for our sins so we’re going to pay for gas.”
(For more information contact Westry Thorpe at 252-536-8117)
Why gas? “Because it’s a need in the community, to let the community know we care about you. Why not show it? Showing I love you is a whole other thing,” he said.
Whitaker realizes gas prices are high. “People need to get around and we’re doing what our church can afford right now.”
In his seven years as minister of the church, Whitaker has tried to do things differently — holding a tent revival in Scoco Park when crime was at its worst, doing free car washes and holding grocery store takeovers where church members bought groceries for customers. The church even paid the price for a year of drug rehab for one of its members.
This kind of ministry is what attracted Westry Thorpe to Whitaker’s church.
The flyer Thorpe designed.
Thorpe, a former law enforcement officer with the Roanoke Rapids Police Department, knew Whitaker from the minister’s work with the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office, where Whitaker is currently a deputy within the Civil Division.
He began attending Consuming Fire in 2009. “My life changed,” he said. “I started going because I knew him from law enforcement. It’s gone beyond the personal relationship we had in law enforcement. I saw a different side of him.”
Thorpe, who designed the flyers for the March 30 event, said Consuming Fire is an out of the box church. “We’re not your mamma’s church. You come as you are. It’s about the inside of a person.”
Dana Frierson has been a member of the church for the past five years. “I was invited by a friend and came and had a chance to sit back and watch. One of the great things was the pastor didn’t try to be someone else and he allowed me to be who I am.”
Frierson believes the gas giveaway is a way to touch people’s lives, “So they know Jesus did pay it all.”
Whitaker believes people will listen to the message as they put gas in their vehicles. “If we give them gas they’re going to listen. We’re not trying to be religious, we’re trying to be real.”
