Bill's World

(Kathryn Kosak)

What if you were sitting in church and you had just heard a good sermon and the minister asked you to take off your shoes and walk out of the church?
Would you do it?
You are thinking: Well, maybe. But probably not. Tell me more.
Well, it happened in a large church in Kernersville, near Winston Salem, a couple of weeks ago. Here’s what occurred:

Kathryn Kosak, formerly of Gastonia, is a member of Summit Church in Kernersville and has been attending there for some time. She is the daughter of Bob and Marilyn Kosak of Gastonia. She came here with her parents when she was two. Her dad landed here in the ’50s with that group that came down from Minnesota to open and run the new Lithium Corporation plant that opened near Bessemer City. It wasn’t long until he sent word back to Marilyn to come on down and bring the family. That included little two-year-old Kathryn.
The Kosaks became members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Kathryn grew up there, graduated from Ashbrook High School and went off to UNC-Chapel Hill. She lives and works in Winston Salem at Mullen Advertising  as a media buyer.
She became a member of Summit Church, a non-denominational body with average attendance of around 1700.
So, with 1700 in attendance (three services) that Sunday two weeks ago, the Rev. Jonathan Robins was reminding his parishioners that there still is a lot of suffering and need in the world and that everybody needs to search themselves and do what they can to help.
Katheryn Kosak sat in the church that day and heard her minister ask the entire congregation to take off their shoes, leave them, and then walk out in their sox, or bare feet if they  had walked in soxless.
The request was an extension of a church drive to collect coats for a mission church being started in Baltimore. They need shoes, too, he said. And, underlying it all was his word about overcoming evil with good. He said that no one was obligated to do this. “Just do what’s in your heart.”

Said Kathryn:
“People started taking off their shoes immediately . I kept saying no, I’m not going to do this. I had a pair at home that I wouldn’t mind giving, or I could go buy a pair – but not this pair that was so really comfortable and was unique and a good mix of comfort and style.
“Eventually, I ended up deciding that I could make myself uncomfortable for someone else. I ended up like everyone else in church that day. I walked out into the cold, barefooted, cold – but warm all over, actually.”

It seems that, on that day, a lot of people took a big step in “overcoming evil with good.”

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