Local church delivers Christmas blessing to pizza driver

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When Rebecca Brandenburg delivered a pizza to a Seymour church on Sunday, she had no idea the blessing she was about to receive.

Working for Domino’s, Brandenburg arrived at The Point and was asked to bring the large pizza inside to Pastor Steve Greene while he was leading worship.

Greene paid for the $13.10 pizza with a credit card, signed the receipt and then gave her $5 in cash to keep. But he was curious how much people usually tip.

"What’s a generous tip? Have you ever had a really good tip on a pizza like that? What’s the best tip you’ve ever received?" he asked her.

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She responded that on average, people tip between 10% to 15% for delivery, meaning Greene’s tip should be between $1.50 to $2.

The best tip she received was 100% of the bill, a $20 tip for a $20 order, she said.

After hearing that, Greene decided to up the ante. He continued adding $5 bills until he ran out at $55.

"I’ve heard people talk about Christians being poor tippers," he said. "When you go out to restaurants on Sunday, people don’t want to work on Sunday because they think Christians are cheap. We don’t want to be that."

The Point has spent the year living out its "For Seymour" campaign, and on Sunday, those efforts continued in a unique opportunity for the congregation to be generous and feel what it’s like to be giving.

"We want people to know we are for people," Greene said. "When we show somebody that we care about them, hopefully, it’s a shorter step to letting them know that God cares about them, knows where you are, knows what’s going on in your life."

Greene said he didn’t feel as if $55 was enough, so he invited anyone sitting in the pews who wanted to contribute to step up and place their donation in the now empty pizza box.

"If you’d like to get in on doing a Christmas blessing for this young lady, I’d love for you to just stand up and just bring it up," he said. "Come up and get involved in this and do something generous for this Christmas."

One after another, dozens of members of the congregation, young and old, lined up and dropped small and large bills into the pizza box.

Brandenburg couldn’t hide her disbelief or her tears of appreciation.

Quickly, the box was overflowing with money.

"This is awesome," Greene said. "We may have to get another pizza box."

Eventually, more than $1,000 was collected.

"I was very shocked, relieved, kind of overwhelmed by emotions," Brandenburg said.

But it wasn’t just money the congregation offered, as many of the people stopped to hug her and share their love.

"This is a gift for you," Greene said. "We think it’s wonderful to be able to let you know that we care about you, and we want this to be a blessing for you and your family. I want to encourage you to use it wisely however you feel he would direct you to do. I think there is enough in there to make a little bit of a difference this Christmas. We’re praying that will be so."

Brandenburg told Greene and the congregation the money means her bills are paid and she will be able to buy presents for her son.

"My 2-year-old son is going to have a fantastic Christmas," she said with joy on her face.

The congregation broke out into cheers and applause and later prayed for Brandenburg.

Greene said he felt God had his hand on Brandenburg as another driver could have taken the order or the church could have ordered from a different pizza place.

He also believes the service touched the hearts of not only Brandenburg and the church but to anyone who watches the video of the service online.

"I pray it will be a blessing to others who hear about it or see it," he said. "We’re honored to be part of your Christmas, and we hope this is a great reminder to you that God loves you. Are you glad you came to church today, Rebecca?"

"Absolutely," she said.

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