Republic photo | Brian Blair
Shareece Frye figured the practical way to a person’s heart was through his or her stomach. So she and a friend from her Christ Embassy Church in Columbus gave her simple idea some real sizzle Sunday when they grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, mixed with baked beans and cole slaw, outside the worship center at 3103 N. National Road.
And then Frye fed family, friends and even complete strangers who happened to be at the gas station next door. And the 32-year-old local resident who turned her birthday on its head by giving instead of expecting to receive from others hardly hesitated when someone asked her to rate the experience.
“Absolutely, this rates as my No. 1 birthday,” she said.
She got the reminder that it’s better to give than to receive from her church’s Pastor, Emem Akpanekong. Since he launched the house of worship in 2018, he has preached a message of Jesus’ love being focused on others.
“Typically, on a person’s birthday, they look for people to celebrate them and give them special attention, and they can tend to get very offended when that doesn’t happen,” Akpanekong said. “But Christianity is all about giving. So we give because Jesus said in his word that is more blessed to give than to receive. So it’s always a huge blessing to be able to give.”
The minister also pointed out another of Christianity’s basic tenets: that God gave his only son as an act of selfless love.
That observation became part of a recent sermon message that convinced Frye to focus on others. Yet, she’s human and vulnerable enough that after the Sunday morning service at church, attendees presented her a cake and serenaded her with three different renditions of “Happy Birthday,” including a Stevie Wonder version. Frye laughed about the love.
“People were just singing and dancing,” she said. “We celebrate birthdays really big at this church.”
Then, hours later, with friend Mark Munoz manning the grill and Frye serving the food, she fed 70 people, with the help of money she saved for the gathering. For those she didn’t know, she also presented them with free booklets of spiritual reflections and readings known as devotionals to let them know that God loves them.
“Those start each morning of mine to be a good day and they keep my spirits high,” Frye said.
She takes her faith seriously enough that she keeps a Scripture from Isaiah 26 affixed to her car dash to keep her focused on her ultimate road: “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusts in thee.”
Frye mentioned that, since attending the church since 2019, she has overcome any self-consciousness or hesitancy to more boldly share her faith with others.
“And I am just so very grateful that I could do something for the community (like the cookout),” she said.
Her overall perspective about the matter was simple.
“I wanted people to eat,” she said. “And I wanted them to feel loved.”
Deep down in their heart.
