OXFORD, Ala. — When Pastor Bryan Dodd stood before the congregation at Westside Community Church last Sunday morning, he was not asking for money. He was asking for something harder.
He was asking them to notice what he had given up.
"I want to lead from the front," Dodd told the assembled congregation, which sources estimate at approximately 200 to 230 people on a given Sunday. "So starting this campaign, I am not purchasing my $6.75 specialty latte from Brew Theory on Monday mornings. I'm making coffee at home. That is the kind of sacrifice that opens your hands to give."
He paused. "That is what generosity looks like."
The church's annual stewardship campaign, themed "Open Hands, Open Hearts," runs through September 14. The campaign goal is $340,000, which the church said would fund a renovated fellowship hall, new audio-visual equipment in the sanctuary, and a replacement HVAC unit for the annex building.
Dodd said he has given up the specialty coffee purchase for the full duration of the campaign, a period of seven weeks. The estimated savings — roughly $47.25 at $6.75 per week — were not earmarked for the campaign fund, he said. They were "a personal offering of discipline."
"I'm not saying the dollar amount matters," Dodd clarified in a follow-up conversation with The Green Tomato. "I'm saying the posture matters. The posture of sacrifice."
Congregation member Wanda Tillman, 61, said she found the testimony meaningful. "He cares," she said. "You can tell."
Congregation member Gary Presnell, 44, said he had pledged $2,400 to the campaign and was currently researching whether he could swing the HVAC unit on his own if enough people fell short. He did not comment on the coffee.
Dodd confirmed he is still purchasing a fountain Diet Coke from the gas station on his way to the church each Monday morning. "That's not the same thing," he said. "That's a dollar. That's not what we're talking about."
The campaign's first Sunday raised $11,400 in pledge commitments. Dodd said he was "encouraged."
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