Local pastor starts Love Medford campaign

Medford, Ore. — You may have heard the term “pay it forward”, where you pay for someone behind you in line at coffee shop or a toll booth.

A Medford pastor has taken that concept and is looking to elevate it, in order to make the Rogue Valley a better place.

Pastor John Howell, of the Rising Church said, “The Love Revealed campaign is an outlet we use to show them in a very tangible way that we love them and this is part of an overarching campaign called Love Medford. The Love Medford idea came out of the idea that we really want to have ways to show people we love them.”

It sounds great but how does it work, how does one put into practice loving a community? Pastor Howell continued, “We asked them to take the love reveal cards, if you are in the drive through, or your favorite coffee place you can buy the coffee for the person behind you, sort of like the pay it forward campaign, but we have taken it a step further than that, if we are at the grocery store and we see a clerk and he is really smiling or she is really having a good time, enjoying his job we want to recognize that.”

The responses they have seen are wide ranging, some people are really excited, and some just don’t know what to think they are overjoyed.

“The long term goal for the Love Revealed and the Love Medford campaign is that we as people in Medford are really finding value in each other, I think sometimes we lose track that every person has value, every person has value and every person has a story to tell,” Pastor Howell said.

If you want to learn more about the campaign or read about some of the responses John and his team have gotten, visit www.lovemedford.org.

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