By Chris Marie Smith Thompson Tomlinson
It’s that time of year again – GAPsGiving is here! GAPsGiving (year 3) will be held on November 13, 2012 at 7pm at Fieldstone. But before we get too far into this, head on over to sign up to bring something that I would find delicious: GAPsGiving Signup
Now if you’ve been to a GAP group before, I’m sure you’ve heard of GAPsGiving, but I’m going to say what it is anyways. GAPsGiving is a time for all of the GAP members to come together and feast. Turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, pecan pie – whatever makes your Thanksgiving world go ‘round, we probably have it. This is also a time to invite your friends to come out in a non-threatening setting and see that Christians aren’t terrifying people. You never know, a turkey leg may be the difference in bringing someone to Jesus or not. Now to the most important part of this blog post – the origin of GAPsGiving.
It all started 2 years ago… sure, GAP was around before the Thompson-Tomlinson’s arrived in Blacksburg, but did it REALLY? There are two food holidays GAP is famous for – GAPsgiving in the Fall and the Cookie Swap in the Spring. Interestingly enough, the most-est humblest man alive (Me) played in integral part in the creation of both of these GAP staple holidays (Liz and April deserve co-credit for the cookie swap idea, but GAPsGiving is ALL MINE).
It became apparent that most GAP events would revolve around food, so when November rolled around, my BRILLIANT, humble mind went into overdrive and decided to mash up two of my favorite things – GAP and Thanksgiving. And so was the birth of GAPsGiving. The first GAPsGiving featured around 10-15 people. I remembered standing outside of a locked Lancaster House with April, holding a 20-30lb turkey, waiting to be let in… clearly 2lb of turkey a person is proportioned correctly. This last GAPsGiving we tripled in size, having over 30 people show up, many of whom were non-Christians just enjoying a hot meal and having a great time. If history is any trend, we’ll probably have 472 people this time.
I’m pretty excited, as should you. You’re all a part of GAP history now. Enjoy it, savor it… it tastes a little like turkey.