Have you ever imagined what can happen – imagine what will happen! — when the Church unites, it’s “unstoppable.”
Last weekend 11 area churches joined together – united to worship God, to grow in faith in Him, to share the love of Christ with the community, to bring hope to those in our community — because of God’s love for us! Because when the Church unites, it’s “unstoppable.”
I have been asked, ”Was CORE successful?” and “What impact has it had?” So, I pondered, “How do we measure success?”…that over 450 people participated? That we completed 38 projects? That MANY people were served in multiple ways?
At 5:30 last night, our door bell rang and there stood an “unchurched man” that we have come to love and appreciate because of a relationship that has been built through CORE. He stepped inside and we talked about CORE and then as we sat in our living room we talked about family. Not far into the conversation he began to weep because of how the churches’ prayers have made a difference in his family. As he left I began to cry as God reminded me that there is the success: relationship, connections, good deeds — which lead to good news. I don’t find it coincidental that he showed up at our house as I was pretty tired and feeling a bit weary of doing good. Then I remembered, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galations 6:9
Yes, we can measure the number of people and say it should have been more. We can measure the number of projects completed and say, we accomplished a lot. But what I’ve come to believe is when relationships are built and connections are made through a weekend of serving, it provides a way for good deeds to move to good news and THAT is success. Just over 450 people may not have seemed like enough when 11 churches were involved, but one man pointed to Jesus through a weekends of serving?… that’s enough.
What differences were made?
- Built a ramp for a man who couldn’t leave his house because his wife couldn’t get him out by herself. (The coupled were able to attend the CORE celebration service Sunday evening!)
- 150 bags of groceries given away
- 19 bookshelves built for our schools and our kids
- filled baskets of items to say thanks and to encourage our teachers
- cleaned and landscaped school yards
- gave a hand in moving a school library from one floor to another
- re-sided a house for an elderly couple
- gave away massive amounts of clothes and household items… with not a penny profit!
- Helped Catholic Charities get caught up with sorting clothes
- Roofed, painted and made relationships and connections in Greenup
- Performed maintenance, painting and finishing work at the HOPE house and the food pantry
And the list goes on….
Thanks for being Christ-followers who engage in serving and meeting the needs of our community and for building relationships within that community.
We are serving because of God’s love.
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Tags: CORE Weekend, Relationships, Serving, Success