Pastor’s Manna

Mission Possible!

Last month I was blessed to be able to travel to Denver with our youth group as one of four adult sponsors from our church.  We had seven work locations in and around Denver including the Guadalupe Center, The Food Bank of the Rockies, Brother’s Redevelopment, Denver Urban Matters, the St. Catherine of Sienna School, the Denver Rescue Mission, and The Crossing.

At these locations we did everything from pulling weeks, to painting an entire house, cleaning kitchens, classrooms and facility bathrooms, helping at a pantry, helping a school change their lighting to eco-friendly LEDs, boxing up food for Senior Citizens, sorting food, getting rid of expired food, palatizing food for shipment to other meal ministries, and serving breakfast to those living in one of the programs.

All told, this group put in 504 hours of volunteer mission work, saving these ministries at least $4600. More importantly however was that this group touched the lives of those who need to know God’s love.

People saw that the church cares and wants to help.  People saw that young people want to listen and figure out ways to help.People saw us as the hands and feet of Jesus.

I think the world needs to see more of this, and we each should seriously consider Matthew 25 which asks us to ponder whether we will be separated as a sheep or a goat when we must answer what we did for the least of those among us.

How can you respond in the world around you? What can you do to share God’s love with your neighbor, an acquaintance, or even a stranger? What mission is God calling you to, that you can be His hands and feet in the world you live in?

In Him,

Pastor Jon