the    sides

We had over 35 volunteers drive up to the Potowatomi on Saturday to pull off a Christmas party for the Boys and Girls Club there. We brought 300 gifts plus chili and candy. Before this weekend, the most people that showed up for something like this was 5 or 6. Then over 200 children showed up plus another 100 adults. Last year, only 60 people showed up. The last cup of chili went to the last person in line. The last handful of candy went to the last kid in line.

We had some extra gifts at the end of the day when another agency showed up and asked if we had anything extra for some families that weren’t going to get any Christmas gifts this year. How many gifts did they need? 23. How many gifts did we have left? 23. At some point I guess I’ll quit being surprised.

We’ve sold ornaments made by the XX (closed country we are partnering with)

There is a life group that is providing food, shelter, and so much more for a homeless person.

We’ve bought an appliance for a family in need. We’ve provided two months of groceries for another. We’ve got another crew that serves the Rescue Mission.

There are more stories to tell but what is awesome is that at the center of each of these stories is a person (or group of persons) that made a decision to just do it. Different people coming to the same conclusion of – it is now time to stop talking about being blessing and just start doing it.

Becoming an externally focused church, a church that chooses to bless the city she find herself in – there is only so much programming that can be done. There are only so many ‘big event’ events that a church can pull off before it becomes another dog/pony show as opposed to ministry. At some point if a church is really going to be the hands and feet of Jesus around her, then the ‘church’, aka the people, have to be ‘infected’ by the vision of SERVE ALL and just start doing it. Unplanned. Uncontrolled. Unpackaged. Unscripted. Undirected by human means. Unleashed.

It has to get messy at some point. Life groups serving together, determining – hey, God’s called us to do adopt this person, serve this area and it’s time to do it. A leader seeing a need and meeting it instead of analyzing it. A group of people dreaming of a way to serve others and instead of focusing on all the ways it could go wrong choosing instead to obey the nudging of the Spirit.

It’s a good kind of conspiracy to grow in a church. And it’s awesome to watch it unfold here.