Amazing Night!

Last night was our final night of Community Building 101. We had 25-30 people who came and we ran it just like a regular small group setting. But our goal was different tonight. In groups I believe we should have an Upward focus (toward God in worship & prayer), Inward (pastoral care of group members), Forward (developing new leaders), and also Outward (reaching our community).

So last night we had 22 bags of groceries and after worship we divided up into groups, grabbed the groceries and went out into the surrounding neighborhoods to bless our neighbors. You should have seen some of the people's faces when I told them what we were going to do! Some looked mad...some looked dismayed, almost in pain. But everybody loaded up and headed out the door.

They had 45 minutes to accomplish this task: Take the bags, ask the Holy Spirit where to go, give away the groceries, and then come back. Of course the hard part is finding a place to go.

You should have heard the stories that came back! But first one of mine...we went to a home where I always put our Vineyard street signs telling when the services are. I thanked the guy for letting us use his yard. We gave him a bag of groceries and he was caught off guard - but so thankful. He then asked if I knew that sometimes the arrows on the sign pointed to his house -- like it was the church! He thought that was funny...so I asked him if people had been showing up and if he had been taking an offering! We had a great laugh!

Here's another story:
So last night was so totally awesome!We went out for outreach in the neighborhoods where God led us. We stopped at twin homes where neither person accepted the groceries. When we returned to church one of the ladies from that twin home had come over and asked eric to come back that she had some food she wanted to give us. Eric and I went back after the community 101 meeting and she invited us in. She gave us 7 bags of food. Her husband had an intestinal blockage and was on a restricted diet and she had had weight loss surgery and was on a restricted diet. We talked with her for a long time. Then we were able to pray for her and her husband. She said she felt the prssence of the Lord.It was so amazing! Go God!

Isn't it cool when we break out of our holy huddles and actually do something to show the love of Jesus to the community! I love it! People get to see God and that He is real and that He cares for them -- and it's just fun to be His messenger!

I hope that this encourages you to step out and do the stuff! There are opportunities around you everyday that need someone willing to say, "It's my turn!" I pray that you'll seize that opportunity today! God's best to ya! Chris