Weather Worship

Did you ever stop to think what a worshipful experience it is to sit and watch the Weather Channel? Wow!! Our God is indeed an awsome God!

Love Granbury May Project Report

What a great time we had this morning during our May Love Granbury service project.

This month we were asked by Mission Granbury to assist one of their clients in getting his property cleaned up around his house. It seems the elderly gentleman has fallen on some pretty tough times the last year or so. In fact, he just got released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago after suffering a mild stroke. His property had become so littered with trash and debris that the Hood County Health Department was getting ready to condemn his home...which would effectively evict the man from his home, making him homeless.

So this morning, the Church stepped up and showed up to be the hands and feet of Christ. On Friday afternoon, we had a 30 yard capacity trash dumpster delivered to the man's home, paid for by Mission Granbury and the Love Granbury ministry at Lakeside Baptist. In a little less than 2 hours this morning, our crew had completely filled the 30 yard dumpster.

While we didn't finish the project today, we made great progress! The man was so excited and happy! He just kept saying over and over again, "thank you so much for all you're doing." On Tuesday, the filled trash dumpster will be picked up and an empty one delivered. We are planning on returning to the man's home next Saturday, May 30th to finish the job.

If you'd like to join us and help out, we will be meeting at Lakeside Baptist at 10:00am next Saturday morning. What an incredible privilege to serve others as Ambassadors of Christ!

Kindness Explosion 09 Wrap Up

"This was so much fun…I want to do this every week" was what one participant of Kindness Explosion 09 had to say during the closing testimony time on Saturday afternoon. That pretty well summed up what most people said was by far the best Kindness Explosion yet. Twenty churches, hundreds of Believers from all different denominations, all coming together for the purpose of worshiping God and loving the community in His name.

Friday night's Kick-off service really set the tone for the weekend as Lincoln Wiseman and his band led in worship. The Rev. Tim Adams, who drove all afternoon through torrential downpours from San Antonio, delivered an inspiring message about the Good News that we have been entrusted to share and the power that it has to not only change individual lives both spiritually and physically, but to renew and transform entire neighborhoods and communities as well. Especially when the Body of Christ comes together to join our hearts, our hands, and our resources!

Then on Saturday morning, under cloudy and threatening skies, the Church went out to blanket the entire community with the love of Christ. What an incredible day it turned out to be in spite of the weather…which by the way, turned out to be not so bad. Well over 1,800 hot dogs, over a 1,000 bottles of water, hundreds of soft drinks, nearly 100 dozen homemade cookies and brownies, dozens and dozens of cars washed, dozens of bags of trash and litter picked up, countless smiles, and so many other acts of humble service done in the name and kindness of Christ…all with no strings attached!

Then after the Kindness Explosion ended at 2:00 pm, the Church came back to Granbury Baptist for an "agape feast" of food donated by numerous local eating establishments. Already the stories about the day were beginning to pour out as we gathered around the tables to eat. After lunch, everyone gathered in the sanctuary to hear the reports of how God worked throughout the day. Over the next few days, I'll be sharing some of those stories with you on this blog, so stay tuned!

I just want to thank all the congregations that took part in this year's Kindness Explosion and I hope you truly received a blessing for taking part. If you were a part of Kindness Explosion, be sure and spread the word about your KE experience to your brothers and sisters in your congregation and start encouraging them even now to plan on being a part of Kindness Explosion 10. Speaking of, be sure to go ahead and mark your calendars now with the dates for Kindness Explosion 10. Kindness Explosion 10 will take place on Friday, April 16^th and Saturday, April 17^th, 2010.

The Church has left the building!

 

Gas, Groceries and God’s Love

"Looks like you guys picked the wrong day to be out here," was the first remark we heard this morning a little after 9:00 AM as we gathered for our January Love Granbury service project. The temperature was a crisp 25 degrees and the wind chill was down around 15 degrees as we arrived at the Brookshires Gas Station on Morgan Street to pump gas and the Brookshires Supermarket to bag groceries and do carry out and cart return.

 

And even though it was pretty chilly, the look on people's faces when confronted with the unconditional love of God was more than enough to keep us warm. The people's reactions were varied…ranging from "I can't believe you guys are out here today," to "Why would you do this on such a cold day?" One of the students in our group had a great response when asked why we would be doing this on such a cold day. He simply replied, "hey, anybody can pump somebody's gas when it's sunny and seventy-five, but it really means something when it's cloudy and twenty five."

 

It never ceases to amaze me how God's love can be shown and shared through something like pumping someone's gas or bagging their groceries and carrying them to their car.

The Integrity of Our Calling

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: although He was rich, for your sake He became poor, that through His poverty, you might become rich. ~ 2 Cor. 8:9 HCSB

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- The nation's most broadly ecumenical Christian group is urging the new administration of President-elect Obama to include help for the poor in any economic-stimulus package. Leaders of Christian Churches Together in the USA met with journalists, members of Congress and the Obama transition team Jan. 15 in Washington to implore them not to let the new economic concerns of the middle and upper classes crowd out the ongoing travails of the nation's poorest citizens.

 

It is typical of political leaders to focus on the middle class, and we too care about the middle class," Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, said at a press conference announcing the push. "However, it is our religious responsibility to make sure the poor -- who are so close to the heart of God -- are not left out and left behind in this severe economic crisis. They are already in crisis, so we don't recall Jesus saying, 'I was in the middle class and I lost my 401(K).'" Wes Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America, said he was part of a similar group that discussed poverty issues eight years ago with then-incoming President Bush and his transition team.

 

"Eight years have passed, much has changed," he said. "Poverty in many parts of the world has seen some such reduction, as in Africa. But in the United States, four million people more have fallen into poverty." Formed in 2005, Christian Churches Together includes diverse mainline Protestant, African-American Protestant, evangelical and Pentecostal Protestant, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox denominations, as well as parachurch organizations. The American Baptist Churches USA, National Baptist Convention USA, National Baptist Convention of America and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship all belong to CCT. Other Baptist groups -- including the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Progressive National Baptist Convention -- are either considering or in the process of joining.

 

William Shaw, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, told reporters one of the broad Christian principles giving the group common ground was God's concern for the poor. "We really can't be true to the integrity of our calling and our Christ without addressing the issue of poverty," he said. "Because, as our theological statement says, he was rich, but became poor for our sake." The leaders said the organization does not advocate specific policy proposals, but agreed on the principle of including poverty-reduction provisions in the stimulus package. Some denominations and organizations within CCT, however, have offered specific policy proposals.

 

For example, the Christian anti-poverty group Bread For the World is asking Congress and Obama to include provisions boosting benefit levels for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) by 15 percent for the next two years. They are also asking for a significant funding boost for fiscal year 2009 for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition-subsidy program, as well as a boost in federal funding for food banks. Other member organizations in CCT have advocated strongly for an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, which the House of Representatives passed Jan. 14. The program provides federally subsidized health insurance to children whose families can't afford it.

 

Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.

 

January is "National Poverty in America Awareness Month," and as part of that larger movement, a coalition of local churches, non-profit organizations and social service providers are sponsoring "Hood County Poverty Sunday" on Sunday, January 11, 2009. To commemorate Poverty Awareness Month, each day during the month of January, Life on The Way will present a devotional thought relating to the issue of poverty and the Bible.

Opportunity

Laura Ingalls, the heroine of the Little House on the Prairie series, quoted an adage of her parents in desperate times: "There's no great loss without some small gain."

The economic havoc wreaked by stunning job losses and market upheaval is a great loss indeed. We have only begun to glimpse the impact of this downturn on the lives of children, not only in the U.S. but also and especially around the globe. Demand for public and private services is spiraling up while resources evaporate. Yet there is also small gain.

As budgets contract and needs rise, there is a chance that churches will conclude they have nothing left over to offer their communities, and simply bar the doors to prevent looters. But maybe, just maybe, the truth will hit us upside the head that the most valuable gift we have to offer is not what's in our bank accounts.

"But Peter said, 'I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.'" (Acts 3:6)

The economic downturn presents an opportunity for churches to shift—-by necessity, if not by principle—-from commodity-based ministry to relational ministry, from giving things to giving ourselves, and sharing Christ who gave Himself to dwell within us. The cost of developing healthy children and youth is time, energy, community, vision and faith. Many of us are not used to thinking of ourselves as rich in this currency.

Churches may have shrinking budgets yet be overflowing with assets, especially the kind that are best invested in children and youth. "What I have, I give you!" This is a secret that many of our brothers and sisters in poorer nations have mastered, and that we now have the opportunity to discover. Our season of struggle offers us a small gain that we can offer to God to multiply in the community.

 

Adapted from the "Hope for Children In Poverty" blog at http://www.hopeforchildreninpoverty.blogspot.com/

 

January is "National Poverty in America Awareness Month," and as part of that larger movement, a coalition of local churches, non-profit organizations and social service providers are sponsoring "Hood County Poverty Sunday" on Sunday, January 11, 2009. To commemorate Poverty Awareness Month, each day during the month of January, Life on The Way will present a devotional thought relating to the issue of poverty and the Bible.

The Good Body

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it…11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

"I remember hearing about an old comic strip back in the days of St. Ed's. Two guys are talking to each other, and one of them says he has a question for God. He wants to ask God why he allows all of this poverty and war and suffering to exist in the world. And his friend says, 'Well, why don't you ask?' The fellow shakes his head and says he is scared. When his friend asks why, he mutters, 'I'm scared God will ask me the same question.' Over and over, when I ask God why all of these injustices are allowed to exist in the world, I can feel the spirit whisper to me, 'You tell me why we allow this to happen. You are my body, my hands, my feet."

From "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne

 

January is "National Poverty in America Awareness Month," and as part of that larger movement, a coalition of local churches, non-profit organizations and social service providers are sponsoring "Hood County Poverty Sunday" on Sunday, January 11, 2009. To commemorate Poverty Awareness Month, each day during the month of January, Life on The Way will present a devotional thought relating to the issue of poverty and the Bible.