That logo is cool… what does it mean?

We get a lot of questions about the meaning of our logo, which is exactly what we had in mind when we designed it. When we wear our Ransom T-shirts or hand out flyers, we love telling people the meaning behind the symbols. This gives us yet another opportunity to share the love of Christ one-on-one with the people around us.

BE SALT

We are all called to be salt in Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Salt has two uses: to give flavor and preserve. We are called to give flavor to and preserve the culture and people around us by being a positive, involved, Christlike presence in our communities. However, we should also remember that too much salt is unhealthy, so while we must be salt, we should not be overbearing or pushy.

THE SYMBOL

The symbol for salt comes from the Alchemical symbols, which were used to denote elements and compounds until the 18th century.

BE LIGHT

We are called to be light in Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” We are to shine like a lamp (not a spotlight) so people may see this Jesus we love through our lives, as well as the love we have for others through our interactions with them.

THE SYMBOL

The symbol for light comes from electrical symbols used by electrical contractors. On a set of electrical plans, this symbol represents a source that generates light when an electrical current flows through it. This symbol is personally meaningful to Ransom Ministries because of God’s provision through a job in the electrical industry that allowed Matt to start Ransom.

BE JESUS

In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul tells us that we are ambassadors for Jesus: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” As ambassadors of Christ, we strive to emulate Him in the way we treat people, love people and carry ourselves on a daily basis. This is why Ransom Ministries exists — we want to be a picture of Jesus’ love for everyone in our community.

THE SYMBOL

The symbol for Jesus is a combination of the first two letters (XP, or Chi Rho) of “Christ” in Greek. The X and the P are superimposed to create what is known as the Monogram of Christ, Chrismon or Labarum. While it was used long ago by persecuted early Christians in the catacombs, the circle around it represents eternity.

Thanksgiving 2015 at Ransom Cafe

We loved having our friends from Red Level serve with us again!

Thanks to Flour Girls Bakery for the yummy cookies!

New volunteers having a blast!

These two drove all the way from Jackson to help.

Happy Thanksgiving!

First-time Ransom guest!

This table stayed in deep conversation for about an hour!

Coming together

Kitchen crew at Theodore

Making new friends

We had another great Thanksgiving at Ransom Cafe! This year, we hosted Thanksgiving meals at all seven of our cafe locations, had 275 volunteers come out to help, delivered plates to lots of local businesses — in all, we served 1,100 people!

It was a great turnout, but those big numbers don’t tell the story adequately. To really understand why we continue to celebrate Thanksgiving at Ransom Cafe each year, we have to zero in on a few individual stories.

→ A pharmacist cried when strangers brought her a to-go plate full of turkey, ham, dressing, green beans, sweet potato casserole and pie.

→ An older couple said they weren’t invited to any Thanksgiving celebrations and were so happy to have a place to go. They ended up staying for over an hour and opened up to volunteers about their strained family relationships.

→ Last year, a group of volunteers went out into a mobile home community and met a man who said he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was all alone on Thanksgiving. The volunteers prayed for him. This year, they went back to his home and found him! He was shocked and humbled they remembered him and came to check on him again.

→ Firefighters were so appreciative of someone thinking of them and wanted volunteers to stay and spend time with them.

→ A man had been recently divorced and was missing his daughters on the holiday. He came to the cafe for the first time on Thanksgiving because he didn’t have anywhere else to go. He struggles with guilt about not being able to provide for his daughters. He came back the next week and talked more about his insecurities as a dad and even opened up about feeling unworthy of God’s love. Volunteers prayed with him and talked to him about the assurance we have through Jesus’ death and resurrection. He got a haircut, too, and left feeling much more confident.

→  A brother and sister couldn’t go home to celebrate and were so thankful they could enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal together without having to go to all the trouble of cooking for just two people!

→ A family was in the process of being kicked out of the hotel room where they were staying. Our volunteers showed up at that precise moment with a meal. They were able to pray together.

→ A woman whose mother died the day before Thanksgiving served with us. She said coming to volunteer was exactly what she needed during her time of grief.

It’s amazing what God will do when His people show up and say “yes” to serving Him! We love partnering with churches and volunteers to open doors for them to have these kinds of experiences. We exist to empower others to find out how God wants to use them to show others the Gospel in their daily lives.

To find out more about how you can get involved, visit RansomMinistries.com, email us at info@ransomcafe.com or comment here!