Turkey-sharing benefit to givers, those in need

The Rev. Matt Mosler, left, pastor at New Life Church in Pine Bluff, and Bryan Paul, a church member, load a just-fried turkey into a bag on Tuesday to get it ready to be given away. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Byron Tate)
The Rev. Matt Mosler, left, pastor at New Life Church in Pine Bluff, and Bryan Paul, a church member, load a just-fried turkey into a bag on Tuesday to get it ready to be given away. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Byron Tate)

PINE BLUFF — Give a little; receive much.

That’s a paraphrase of a verse in Luke that Matt Mosler quoted as he wrapped another turkey up in aluminum foil Tuesday afternoon and made it ready to be picked up or donated.

Mosler is the pastor at New Life Church in Pine Bluff, located toward the back of Jefferson Square shopping center. On this day, as the church has done for the previous two years, the parking lot had been turned into a huge assembly line of big pots of grease frying one turkey after another on propane-fired stoves.

Mosler said the event was not a giveaway, as such, but an opportunity to give.

“The way it works is this,” Mosler said. “Bring us two thawed turkeys. You keep one and we give one to a family in need.”

Mosler, who has been at the church since it was started in 2017, said the idea is to encourage people to give back to their community.

“It’s to show people the value of service,” he said. “And when you serve, you unleash the blessings of God.”

Mosler said he starts the process for the event by discussing it with the church’s congregation. When the day is set, some three dozen members volunteer to operate one of the 22 propane turkey cookers as well as to set up at stations to wrap the birds in aluminum foil and place them in aluminum pans that can be used on Thanksgiving to reheat them.

Mosler, sporting a beard and wearing a cowboy hat, said he wanted to bring back a “service mentality” to Pine Bluff, where he said people were “robbing and cheating themselves by not serving.”

He said that as a pastor, his arguments about good and evil are based in spiritual teachings, adding that there is a God, which is good, and at the other extreme, evil. The Pine Bluff community, he said, has been under attack “by an enemy that hates you,” an enemy that will use “economics and politics and culture” to gain an edge.

The act of service, he said, helps people break free of the “bondage of poverty,” he said, “because poverty is a spiritual condition.”

“That’s a lot,” he said, pausing and then laughing as he gave directions to those around him.

The day started around 6 a.m., and by 2 in the afternoon, John Varnell was still going strong.

Varnell, who works for Union Pacific Railroad in Pine Bluff, had taken the day off to help, as he did last year.

“This means a lot to me,” he said. “Giving back to the community, taking our blessings and blessing others, being thankful for our blessings and giving blessings back.”

Varnell said he also enjoyed the fellowship he had with those from other churches who showed up to help out, as well.

“It’s good to see the community coming together,” he said.

As he talked, cars and trucks were waiting to drop off turkeys, with drivers talking and visiting with volunteers. In all, Mosler said, the volunteers would fry about 150 turkeys on Tuesday, which is down from the 200-plus they did last year, but “still pretty good” considering the limitations from the covid-19 pandemic.

Frying takes about three minutes per pound, Mosler said, so a 15 pound bird takes about 45 minutes, long enough for the person donating the two turkeys to run an errand or two before theirs is done.

One of those donors who was making her way across the parking lot to pick up her fried turkey was Tiffany Nutt, a member of New Life Church.

She said she was happy to support the effort.

“It’s a way to give back,” she said. “It’s a way to be a part of service outreach and provide a staple for a family for the Thanksgiving holiday to show God’s love.”

Asked if she was going to heat up the turkey on Thursday, she said she had been studying up on it.

“I’ve done a lot of googling on how to do this,” she said. “I’ll stick it in the fridge and then heat it up and it’ll be good.”

“Thank y’all,” Nutt yelled out to no one in particular as she walked to her car with her turkey.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” someone yelled in return.

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