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Texas church gives its members $100 per family to ‘pay it forward’

SAN ANTONIO — A Texas congregation is ready to “pay it forward,” and all it took was a little encouragement - and a little cash - courtesy of their pastor.

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In a reverse offering, elders at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio handed out 762 envelopes, each containing $100, between services on Sunday, and encouraged those parishioners not in need to find creative ways to help their community with the money, instead, KSAT reported.

“If you are in need, then this is for you. But if that’s not you, then this is for you to pay it forward and to bless somebody else that only you could possibly know about,” lead minister Travis Eades told his flock.

“You know needs that we will never know, and you can reach people that we would never be able to reach,” Eades added.

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Oak Hills Church is among San Antonio’s three largest congregations, with an 1,800-seat Northwest Side sanctuary, as well as an at-home audience, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Meanwhile, church officials told KSAT that more than 60 families who were not in attendance during Sunday’s services are expected to pick up their envelopes soon.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, one man from an earlier service told Eades that he recently helped a woman get back on her feet and still intended to cover the cost of the outstanding licensing fee she needs to clinch a job offer. The $100 bill in his envelope is the exact amount he needs to do just that, the minister said.

“We’re excited to see how stories flood back in of how each person goes into the places where they live, work, learn and play and get to use that money for the benefit of others,” the church’s adult ministries pastor, Matt Moore, told KSAT after Sunday’s services.