It
is time to close out the week, and there is so much that I’d like to share
looking back on back2school and all
that God accomplished through this outreach.
I want to begin by saying and reminding us that it really is all for God’s
glory. Success is not marked by the
number of students we served but by the faithfulness and obedience of every one
of us. God was honored.
Then
the name of our Lord Jesus will
be honored because of the way
you live, and you will be honored
along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and
Lord, Jesus Christ.
There
are several people I want to tell you about, but I do recognize that I am going
to leave some people out. Forgive
me. Those of you who served probably
have some people that went the extra mile several times. I am grateful for each one, and God knows who
each of those people are. He will reward
them.
Some
of the people who blow me away are Dawn, Janet, Wayne, Kirk and Emily. These folks helped to lead the five churches
where back2school took place. Each one of you have gifts and talent God
places in your life. Dawn, thank you for
leading at Mercy Crossing and for helping all of us by dealing with details and
inspiring so many of us. Janet, thanks
to you and Myron for making our Danville location go so well and smooth. You are a blessing to watch as you make every
detail come together as you pushed through some struggles. Thank you Wayne for making Mt. Calvary a
great place for kids to see Jesus.
Honored to work with you. Last, I
thank Fairway’s team of Emily and Kirk who did whatever it took. I so confess that this would not have been as
great, blessed or sweet without each of you.
I also want to thank Adam, Seth, Meredith (who have been part of our
team), Manny, Phil, Davida, Katherine (our friends at Samaritan’s Feet), Brad
and Leigh-Ann (from Cintas who supplied towels for feet washing), and to all of
our supporters and sponsors.
I
believe that God called us to partner with other churches, and next year we are
to offer this blessing to more churches across our region of the world and
beyond. Pray for growth and place share
the story.
As
I move back to thinking about our church, The Community, there are several
people who did so much more than I even know.
Thank you Betsy for doing all the mind work and number crunching. Thank you Jeannie for counting and preparing
so many things. Thank you Tiffany for
making our haircut area excellent. Thank
you Brooks for pushing, asking, preparing and championing this work. There are so more people that deserve a
special or extra ‘thank you’, but I want to focus on what is the biggest piece
of all.
It’s
not backpacks and school supplies. It’s
not shoes and those awesome feet we get to wash. It’s not the resources, planning or process
that we’ve done a good job of putting together.
It is about honoring God.
Micah 6:8 NASB
He
has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk
humbly with your God?
I listened to Manny Ohonme
share His story several times, and one of the biggest things He reminded us of
was the fact that our place in life doesn’t determine the purpose of our
lives. God gives us hope and purpose.
Several times I watched a
volunteer wash a student’s feet.
Listening to them share and hear about dreams is incredible. Several of those students shared that they
know and love God. The smile on those
faces is priceless.
The people who have stopped
me, sent notes and encouraged us have been a real blessing, but what blesses me
more than any thing is what God has shared since last Friday and Saturday. It has been sweet. Our team of volunteers, each church and their
leaders have seen and heard the voice of God say “well done” in many different
ways.
Doing good things and serving
makes us feel good about ourselves and about what we did. Knowing that we did what God asked us to do
gives us satisfaction and reassurance that God was honored.
The future is bright for back2school as we plan for growth and
stretching all of us to serve more and further.
It is only one week since our outreach event, but the next 51 weeks are
sure to be exciting and more. Pray for
2015’s back2school outreach and for
those who will be a part.
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