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Rob Shepherd recently hosted holiday potluck but with a new spin: soup.
A Virginia pastor even came up with a festive name for his party.
“Soup-mas was a fun get-together with our little group from church,” Shepherd told Fox News Digital in an interview. “We meet every week for Bible study, and this was ours Christmas party as a group.”
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Usually, he said, the group is about business, but this year they were open to innovative ideas.
“My wife, who is an educator, rejected the idea that everyone brings soup share,” recalled Shepherd, who is lead pastor at Next Level Church in Yorktown, Virginia.
Virginia pastor Rob Shepherd said his wife, Monica, left, came up with the soup pot idea for their annual group holiday party. (Rob Shepherd)
The idea was a winner. But the next question was how the guests would enjoy the soups at the cake party.
This led to another great idea.
“My wife shared the idea to also bring muffin tins to put cups of soup in so it would be easy to taste different soups,” Shepherd said. “There are six couples in our group – so we had five different soups and one couple brought dessert.”
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Muffin tins turned out to be a smart idea for serving choice of soup: tomato, vegetables, broccoli, tortellini with sausage and chicken tortilla.
“They were all delicious, but my favorite was the broccoli cheese soup,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd was so pleased with the cookie that he decided to share the idea on social media.
Muffin tins were used to hold cups of soup during the holiday cake. (Rob Shepherd)
“There can be a lot of negativity on the internet and one of my goals is to provide positive content,” he said.
Shepherd said he went to TikTok in 2020 “simply because I had more time.”
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“I post games, recipes and family fun,” Shepherd said.
And his soup was hot.
“I didn’t expect it to go as viral as it has. It has 3 million views on TikTok and 3.9 million on Instagram,” Shepherd told Fox News Digital last week.
Before publication video he had 1500 followers on Instagram. After the video, it jumped to 15,000 followers.
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I am delighted with the response, he said.
The holiday soup party hosted by Rob Shepherd with his church group featured five choices – tomatoes, vegetables, broccoli cheese, sausage tortellini and chicken tortilla. (Rob Shepherd)
There were thousands of comments on the post, but Shepherd listed two of his favorites.
“Cheap, easy and fun way to get the family together, so disappointed,” wrote @kodarodriguez97.
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“This is my dream. Soup is my favorite food. I need new friends,” wrote @BRXJ.
Not only is Shepherd thrilled that his soup thread has been so well received, he’s also surprised by the reach of his post.
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“I get messages all the time from friends who have been sent a soup video by their friends, and they’re very excited to let their friends know that they know me in real life,” Shepherd said.
“The whole thing was fun.”
