On the Outside, Looking In

"Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.  He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory."  1 Timothy 3:16

Admit it, you are curious.  You must be, or you wouldn't be reading this blog.  What is it about Central Church of Christ that has people so charged up?  The people who attend this church seem so happy--they are always out doing things together in the community.  The other churches of Christ in the area seem so upset about the things we are doing.  Sometimes, there are even passionate editorials written in the paper about what people at Central are doing. 

Yet, our membership continues to grow, as we now have two services and our numbers continue to increase each month.  People seem to either passionately love or passionately dislike Central--something is creating a lot of passion in this place.  What is it?  The answer is infinitely simple and infinitely complex. 

The answer is.....Jesus.

You see, the story of Jesus has been told and retold, all throughout the ages.  Many different denominations have emerged through the years, there are different churches on every corner in this town that seem to have their own "flavor" of Jesus. 

Some people believe that we should worship Him on Sundays, some on Saturdays.  Some worship with huge bands of instruments, others worship Him simply with the sound of their own voices.  Some have Wednesday night Bible studies, and some rely on their preacher to read the Bible for them and just tell them what it says.  Some churches have hard wooden pews and worn out song books, while others have cushiony chairs and Power Point slides.  Some churches have pot luck meals in members' homes, others in the church building. 

Most all of these church people go to church, sit in a pew, check it off their list of "good things I did this week" and go on about their business.  They sit in Sunday school classes and talk about how they have it all figured out, but their neighbor at the church across town, bless his heart, he is totally wrong in his approach to Jesus, tsk tsk tsk. 

These differences get people really fired up and passionate, and fights break out among "church-going Christians" about all these things.

What about the people on the outside, looking in?  What about the people who aren't born-and-raised-three-times-a-week-every-time-the-door-was-open-my-Mama-took-me-to-church people?  What do they think about all this bickering?

I have gotten to meet a few of these people through our work with Mission Athens.  Most of these people, upon hearing of these squabbles, get a faraway, eyes glazed over look on their face.  They just don't get it. 

It seems so ridiculous. 

What about Jesus?

What have we done with our Lord's story?

Where is the love?

Where is the majesty?

Where is the glory, the chill bumps on the back of our necks, wonder of it all?

Take a moment today, close your eyes, and think about the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He was born in a barn to parents who lived in poverty.  At the young age of about 12, He began His life's work of serving others, sharing food, telling everyone about God's love for them, preparing the way to His Father's house.  He attracted people everywhere He went.  And then, one sad day, this world beat him up, nailed him to the cross, and stuffed him in a tomb behind a rock.

And then, our Lord overtook death; He conquered the grave.  He was seen by angels and by men and women in His beautiful glory, and He ascended to the right hand of God, and there He is today, watching all of us, and I wonder if sometimes, He shakes His head.

Does our Lord look down at His family, the people who have proclaimed Him and think, what are you doing?

We are His disciples here on earth.  There are so many people here who we need to tell His story.  There are millions who need us to feed them, help them, care for them in His name, and yet, we are pointing our fingers at each other, claiming we have all the answers to the perfect way to worship Him. 

We sit in pews when we should be out in the streets.  We cling to those who believe the exact iterations we believe, who practice our same traditions, instead of working side by side with our neighbors from the church down the street, as a unified body of Jesus, fighting for souls all around this world who need us to proclaim His hope.

Is Jesus on the outside of our churches, looking in?  Or is He in our presence, working in our hearts, serving as our purpose, our guiding light, our sole hope of salvation?

I'm all about worshipping God.  I am so thankful that I was blessed by Him to be born in a country where I have the freedom to worship Him any way I choose.  I am so thankful you have that right, too.

I am not trying to minimize any one's right to a different opinion on the right way to worship.  You do your thing....

I am just so over it.

I am over trying to be perfect.  I am over going to a church service only to walk out feeling like I can never be good enough.  I am over churches that seem so much like a club, and only a few people get to be members.  I am over placing tradition over transcendence.

I just want Jesus.

Two years ago, my family and I were curious, too.  We walked into the doors of Central Church of Christ on Friends and Family Day.  We sat down, started singing songs, began to worship, and over the next few months, we all felt Jesus in our midst in a way we just hadn't before.  My children, who before I had to drag to church kicking and screaming, started asking me on Thursday how much longer until Sunday, Mom, can we go to church?  My husband worked like a dog cutting trees in strangers' yards after the April 27, 2011 tornadoes with teams of men from Central.  All five of us have worked together on Mission Athens projects.  And, for the first time in my life, I am going to teach an adult Bible class starting next month.

We have all grown, all five of us.  We have begun to experience Jesus in our own ways.  We are not perfect yet, and we will never be.  We have learned to accept the beautiful truth that Jesus does not call us to be perfect, just to perfectly love Him.

I am not promising you that you would have the same experience if you came to Central.  You may or may not.  It is certainly not a perfect place, how could it be?  We are all imperfect people who worship there.

You see, I have often said Central is like a refugee camp for people from churches all around town.  Some of us are here because we never felt good enough at other congregations.  Some are here because we sinned and our church families couldn't forgive us, not really.  Some are here because we want to be a part of a body of believers that is living the Gospel in action, not just saying the words on Sundays.  Some are here because we fell in love with someone who grew up in that "not so good" church down the street, and we are trying to find a place our new family can grow together. 

You know who some of the coolest people at Central are, though?  They are the ones who found Jesus for the first time in this place.  They are not bogged down by all this bickering, squabbling, and silliness.  They are the ones whose eyes glaze over when we start talking about all of it.  They are the ones we think about and smile, because we have something in common with them....

All of us are here because we want Jesus. 

Do you want him, too?  Do you feel like you are on the outside, looking in?  Curious?

Come and join us on Sunday, August, 26 at 9 am for our Friends and Family Day.  Stay for Sunday School.  We are having a pot luck meal immediately following, and we would love to have you join us.  We really mean that.

If you are curious, we will be talking about the 40-year history of Central, where we have been and where we are going.  I have only been a part of the church for two of the forty years, and I can't believe how much my life has changed.  I would love to share this wonderful experience with all of you.

We are not a perfect church. 

We do serve a perfect Savior.  We are passionate about serving Him in real, meaningful ways. 

We don't really care if other people talk about us, especially if they have never even walked through our doors.

We know He may seem like a mystery, but we are discovering His truths together. 

Come, discover Him with us.

Mission Athens Fifth Avenue Block Party

"And Jesus said, 'Let the little children come unto me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"  Matthew 19:14

A few months ago, the Mission Athens team began exploring ways we could have a greater impact on those in the most need in our community.  We invited the director of all of the city's federal housing projects to come to one of our Mission Athens meetings.  During our conversation with him, we learned that Fifth Avenue Apartments housed the largest concentration of women and children living in federal housing in the city of Athens .

During our Central Youth Ministry and Mission Athens combined Spring service project, Spring Into Action, we visited a few of the housing projects around town and worked to beautify their campuses with landscaping, planting flowers and bulbs, and meeting our neighbors.  After that project, we began to think of ways we could continue to build relationships in these areas.

We began planning our Summer Block Party immediately following the Spring Into Action project.  We had originally planned the event for June 10 as advertised on this blog, but we had to push it back due to rain.  At the time, we were disappointed, but now I see God's hand is in it all.

You see, we hosted our Block Party on Sunday, and it could not have been a more fantastic event.   I can't wait to share with you all they ways God blessed us on Sunday.  First of all, following weeks of severe drought, Athens has been blessed with large amounts of rain over the past few weeks.  We are so thankful for the rain; however, we truly prayed we would not have to reschedule our event again.  On Sunday, there was a huge black cloud right over 5th Avenue Park all afternoon.  The wind was blowing, and we were sure we were going to get a rain storm.  However, just before our party started, the cloud blew away, and this is what we saw.

All that dark cloud did for us was cool things off just a bit, and we enjoyed a warm summer afternoon with a gentle breeze.  While it was still a hot summer day in Alabama, it was much more pleasant that many of the 100+ degree days we have endured, and we are so thankful for the heavenly sunlight we enjoyed following that black cloud scare.  Thank you, God!

As we began setting up the tables, food and crafts, our small team quickly realized it takes a lot of hands to pull off an event such as this.  Our Central Church of Christ church family turned out in large numbers, picked up a job and went to work.  It was so awesome to see the body of Christ working together, each using his or her own talents, to serve our community.  Everyone, from the smallest child to the oldest members, pitched in to help make the event such a success.  Here are just a few of the ways our members helped.

Our Grill Master Roy lead a team of men who immediately started grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and did not stop until all 300 were cooked perfectly.  Another of our members had helped us purchase the food earlier in the week at a discount, so everything was organized and ready to go for us Sunday afternoon.  Once again, God blessed us in this, as we had no idea how much to purchase or prepare, but we had the perfect amount of food.  Everyone who attended had plenty to eat, yet we did not have leftovers.  Thank you, God!

I like to call these ladies our Buffet Line Dream Team.  They jumped right in, put in a system for moving people through the line, and I stood back and watched in amazement.  These ladies know what they are doing, and I was blown away by their logistics and strategy.  Clearly no where near as talented with organization of food lines, I humbly stepped away, smiled and cheered them on.  Because they were so extremely capable, I was able to take pictures, talk with our neighbors who attended, and truly enjoy the experience, trusting that all the details were being excellently covered.  Thank you, God, for Central's awesome Ladies!

Even though I am the mother of 3 young children, I truly hate craft projects.  Crafts are just not my thing.  My children, like most, LOVE them.  We knew going into this event that a Bible craft would be a great way to engage the children from Fifth Avenue who attended our event, but I was at an extreme loss and almost started sweating at the thought of having to come up with something.  I have no idea what to do with Popsicle sticks and paper plates--I'm just not crafty.  Thank you God, for Central's amazing Sunday School teachers!  These ladies had Bible verses on the sidewalks with sidewalk chalk, they had balloons, bracelets, and angel wings made from, you guessed it, paper plates.  I stand amazed, and praise God for their talents!

Our Central Youth Group was instrumental in helping us invite Fifth Avenue residents, and they did a great job engaging them in a fun afternoon of football.  We had so many 7-12 year old boys attend, and nothing makes a boy this age happier than playing ball with some friendly teenagers.  I tried to count our visitors, but  the game was so boisterous, I couldn't tell which were our youth and which were our visitors, which was exactly our dream.  Thank you, God, for young people who love to share You with our community.

Finally, I was most thankful for our Children's Ministry on Sunday.  We had so many children from Central attend the cookout, and they were so friendly and playful with the children who attended.  Since the whole point of the event was to build relationships with the kids of Fifth Avenue, we absolutely could not have done it without our children being there, smiling and engaging these kids in play.  I love this picture, because you don't see a "mission trip" here, all you see are two precious little girls racing to the top of the slide.  Thank you, God, for the sweet hearts of children!

As great as it was to see Central's church family come together to create a fun environment, it was much more awesome to see God glorified throughout the day in so many ways.  We were so happy to have so many of our neighbors from Fifth Avenue attend.  All throughout the afternoon, more and more people kept coming over and joining us.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the afternoon of fellowship.





We learned a lot on Sunday afternoon about the needs that are right down the street here in Athens, Alabama.  It was such a positive afternoon in so many ways, yet I would be remiss if I didn't share with you some of the stories that broke my heart.  There was a man there, who I was so happy to spend some time with, who shared with me that he had just gotten to Athens from Arizona.  He has fallen on hard times, has no real friends in this new city, and was beginning to wonder if anyone here cared enough to help him.  He said he knew he needed to go to church, but he was so angry about his circumstances and the lack of anyone even noticing him, that he was about to give up on God.  "Your church has shown me that God's love is still real," he said.  "I am going to go to church on Sunday."  I pray that he does, and that we can help him get back into a relationship with God.

Finally, so many of the children we noticed were really enjoying the food.  I want to share with you the story of one of these precious children, as I think it really is representative of what so many of them go through.  My friend Beth and I had the pleasure of meeting a sweet little 5-year-old girl who is excited about starting kindergarten in the fall.  She talked a mile a minute, as most young girls, do, but her stories would break your heart.  She treasured all her crafts, painstakingly picking up every small thing to take home, but not taking anything that wasn't hers.  We walked her back to her apartment so she could leave her "prizes" there, and then she decided she wanted to come back with us to the cookout.  As we walked, she pointed out the landmarks along the way.

"That's where so-and-so lives.  She doesn't have a Mama or a Daddy." 

"That apartment was totally trashed last week.  The lady who lived there is in jail now." 

"I don't know what happened over there, but the police came the other night and took that guy away."

"My Mama is sick, and we have been taking turns taking care of her.  Can we bring her some food?  We don't have a lot of food in our house, only lunch meat." 

"That's where my friend lives.  I think she is boring, but I want her to come to the party, too, and her Mama wouldn't let her come.  Can you come with me to ask her to come with us now?"

"Sure," we said, as we walked over to pick up her friend.

Upon meeting this sweet little girl, I asked her if she had eaten yet, as it was almost 7 pm. She replied, "I had breakfast."  I said, "Oh, I love having breakfast for supper."  She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I had breakfast for breakfast."

Oh.....

These sweet little girls impressed me so much with their independence and loving hearts.  When we returned to the cookout, they met up with their other friend, and I watched the three of them for a while.  They took the new friend to the buffet line, fixed her plate with all the food, only taking one of each item.  They chose water to drink, and they sat with their friend while she ate instead of running to play and leaving her behind.  After they were finished, they asked if they could take food to their families, and we helped them carry plates back to their apartments.

I didn't want to leave.  After all the months of being nervous and planning and praying, the afternoon had gone so much better than I could have ever dreamed.  I had a hard time sleeping that night.  I was excited, humbled, heart broken, fulfilled, happy, sad, overwhelmed and full of faith, all at the same time.  You see, Sunday was just the beginning of the story, I pray. 

Our Mission Athens team is prayerfully considering how we can build a sustained physical presence in this community, right here near Fifth Avenue Apartments.  We believe this spot in our city needs the love of Jesus, and we want to help these children and neighbors know that there are people here who love and care about them.  Please pray with us that we will find the right path, and that our community will support us in these efforts.  As we saw on Sunday, when we all work together, we can accomplish truly great things for Him.

I will close with one last picture.  I think the smiles on the faces of the hot but happy Mission Athens teammates show you how thankful we all were that our Mission Athens Block Party was such a success.  Thank you, God!

Mission Athens Block Party June 10

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

Please make plans to join us for our Mission Athens Block Party Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 5th Avenue Apartments in Athens, AL, from 4-6 pm.  We will have hamburgers and hot dogs, games, inflatables, and lots of fun planned for the residents and guests at this community event.

As you read in the last post, "Around the World, Across the Street," the Mission Athens team is making a commitment to create a sustained, visible presence in Athens.  Specifically, we are targeting the 5th Avenue/North Jefferson Street part of town as a starting point.  We have been working towards this goal all year, and it is exciting to see it coming to life.

Our Spring Into Action service project was a great start to this ongoing effort.  This cookout is the second event in what we plan to become a series of offerings in this community.  We have also worked on several home makeovers in this area of town over the past several months, and many of the people who live in this area have been helped through our weekly Dollar Club projects.

We believe that the time has come to Love God, Love Each Other, and Serve the World in a new way, in areas right here at home that represent challenges and opportunities to us as Christians.  Please make plans to attend this event, and if you would like to be more involved in cooking, helping with games, etc., please contact a Mission Athens team member.  Also, please pray for our ongoing efforts as we are entering a new chapter in our Mission Athens ministry.

Around the World, Across the Street

"He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'"  Mark 16:15

It's pretty exciting to hear stories about mission trips.  I love the Sundays at Central when we have mission reports from Ghana and India, two countries where we have invested in a sustained, visible presence.  It's always fun to see pictures on Facebook and read the updates from the missionaries whose "lives are changed forever" by the experience they have had sharing the Gospel with total strangers half a world away.  I especially love the pictures of the little children in the Vacation Bible Schools that typically are hosted by mission teams.  There's nothing like those big smiles, great big hugs, and happy faces that just melt your heart.

Typically, foreign mission work involves building and improving structures such as homes, schools, and churches.  Many times, people from many different churches and congregations work together to support foreign mission work.  Often, there are medical teams who go and help people get the health care and medicines they need.  Many times, job training and life skill classes are offered free of charge.  Almost always, there are community meals hosted by the mission team and social gatherings to fellowship with the brothers and sisters in the local area.  And, those Vacation Bible Schools are a great way to get kids excited about learning about Jesus. 

I love this photo of our minister, Bill Perkins, and his new friend he met on his recent trip to Ghana.

The culmination of most mission trips almost always includes a large number of people gathering around a body of water to pray, repent, and be baptized into Christ.  I love the pictures of the faces of people just as they come up from the water, fresh with the tears of grace, alive with the smiles of redemption.

I have never traveled to Ghana, India, Mexico or Ecuador, but I have prayed fervently for my dear friends who have.  I love to hear their stories.  I also pray that if it is God's will, that I will be able to go on one of these trips one day when my children are a little older.  I would love to go together as a family and experience the joy of being an instrument of God's peace together with my husband and children.  I can't wait for that experience.

In the meantime, am I excused from "going unto all the world" because I have young children and a busy job?  I don't think so.  I can "go unto all the world" across the street to my neighbors who don't attend church regularly.  I can also "go unto all the wold" across town to help the children in a local school where 80% of the children are on a free or reduced lunch schedule.  How about we "go unto all the world" in the local federal housing project, where there are dozens of kids living in poverty who need someone to inspire them to to work hard in school, love Jesus, and each other?

Mission Athens is all about "going unto all the world" right here in Athens, AL.  It is astonishing to sit and ponder how many people we may meet in our daily lives who desperately need us as Christians to build and improve structures such as homes, schools and churches.  These same people need help finding safe and affordable health care.  The are yearning for someone to help them with job and life skills, parenting classes, etc.  They would enjoy community meals and fellowship, and what kid wouldn't have fun at a good Vacation Bible School?

It is so easy for us to get excited, to write checks, to pray for our friends who are traveling across the globe to share the love of Jesus.  It is much harder to get excited, to write checks, and to pray for our friends who are ministering to the "least of these" right here at home.  You see, often our judgement clouds our mercy, and we cannot see the soul for the sinner. 

When we are helping people here at home, we are faced with questions like, "How did this person get themselves into this mess?"  "Do they not have a family to help them?" "Shouldn't the government pay for their bills? I already pay taxes to support the needy." "Why don't they just get a job?" "I don't know how I feel about us working with people from THAT church.  What will people say about us in the newspaper this time?"

I don't think I have ever heard anyone ask these same questions about families living in Ghana, India, Mexico or Ecuador.  I'm not saying these questions aren't valid.  They are, and that is why we do  background screening and often say no to people who we believe may be abusing our offers of help.  But, for every one that is a "bad apple," there are ten who are desperate for someone, anyone, to care enough to lend a helping hand.  They hear so-called Christians brag about how God has blessed them, yet these same people look away instead of jumping in to feed these children, love these widows, pray for these sick.  And, do you think a family on the brink of disaster cares a bit about petty theological differences between churches?  Think again. 

Just this week, we have met two young mothers who cannot pay their bills or feed their kids.  As my family gets excited about the summer, these families are facing big summer problems like how to replace the meals provided by school and how to afford childcare if and when they finally find a decent job.  We have also met a mentally disabled woman whose house was robbed, and she lost all that she had.  She has no family who will help her, and is living with her boss who took her in because she is such a hard worker at the fast food restaurant.  A few weeks ago, we helped an elderly woman get emergency medical care that she desperately needed. 

These souls sound an awful lot like the souls we meet in Ghana, India, and around the world.  People who are piecing together meals, shelter, clothing, and security for their families.  People who need medical care.  Sinners who have souls.  Souls that need to be loved.  Souls that need to be saved.

This is one of my favorite Mission Athens photos as we delivered food boxes to our friends who needed a little extra help last Christmas. 

Can you see the similarities in these two pictures?  A hug, a smile, a helping hand.  It is wonderful when we can share these gifts with strangers around the world.  It is also wonderful when we share them with our neighbors right here at home.

So, my friends, my challenge to myself and to all of you is to get excited about Mission Athens.  Go unto all the world by going across the street.  Share the gospel.  Live a missions-oriented life every day.  Pray for the Mission Athens team, that we would not grow weary or become overwhelmed by the tremendous needs all around us, but that we would have the same zeal and passion we see from mission teams returning from their trips around the world. 

Pray that God would open our eyes to opportunities to create a sustained, visible presence in the parts of town where His love is not so obvious.  Pray that we can find ways to work together with other churches to reach the lost.  Pray that we would share our abundant blessings of time, concern, patience, kindness, smiles, hugs, food, and money with people right here in our town who need these gifts of love.  Pray that we would have a sense of urgency, that we can ignite a fire of compassion within our local community, to care as much for these "least of these" all around us as we would for our own families.  Pray that God would change our lives as we are working to change the lives of those in need. 

Pray that our eyes, minds, and hearts will be opened and full of grace and that we would be quicker to jump in than to judge. 

Pray that we could take our own pictures right here in Athens as we gather together around a body of water.  Pray that our hearts would be moved as we watch new souls being baptized into Christ, while we wipe the tears of grace from our own faces, fresh and renewed once again with the hope of redemption.

Spring Into Action

"He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”   Jeremiah 17:8

This weekend, people all around the world are celebrating Earth Day by planting trees and flowers and talking about ways we can improve our environment.  Most cities and towns will have some type of community event, inviting everyone out to talk about how we can be better stewards of our natural resources.

As Christians, we know that God is the creator of all things in heaven and on Earth, and we believe that not only should we be good stewards of the earth He has given us, but also sowers of seeds in His kingdom, reaching out to those less fortunate and inviting them to share the love of the Lord.

On Friday and Saturday, the Mission Athens team joined forces with the Central Youth Ministry for "Spring Into Action" weekend.  During this event, our members worked side by side with our teens to plant flowers, spread mulch, and beautify two different areas in our community, Fifth Avenue Apartments and Houston Court apartments. 

A few months ago, the City of Athens Federal Housing Coordinator, Mr. Pippens, came and spoke with our Mission Athens team about ways we can best serve residents in the federal housing areas.  The idea for this project during our Spring Into Action weekend was born at that meeting, and many volunteers worked tirelessly to make the weekend a success.

Members at Central Church of Christ donated shrubs, bulbs, plants, and mulch as well as contributing other donations to help our youth have the materials they needed for the project.  Additionally, our youth team planned activities and games for the residents to enjoy as we invited members of these communities to come out and get to know us throughout the weekend.

It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun, as we got to know some of our neighbors and rolled up our sleeves together to improve our community. 

What a beautiful sight to behold--God's children ages 8 to 80 working together side by side in His kingdom to make our little corner of His earth, Athens, Alabama, just a little bit more beautiful.  We thank God for the opportunity He has given us to serve our community, and a huge THANK YOU to all the volunteers who worked so hard to plant seeds of His love in our little town!

Seeing the Unseen

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed." Luke 4:18

On Sunday, April 1, the Mission Athens team hosted a guest speaker at Central Church of Christ from the nearby Lincoln Village Ministry in Huntsville, AL.  Darren Raby is an old friend of the family at Central, having worked as Central's youth minister several years ago.

These days, Darren and his family are devoted to Lincoln Village Ministry.  During his message Sunday night, Darren shared the story of how this ministry has evolved over the past 20 years, sharing both the highs and lows of this journey.  Even when faced with obstacles, adversity, and challenges, the ministry continues to grow and thrive, proof that God's presence is with those who are working tirelessly to help the poor, the orphans, the downtrodden, and those "unseen" members of our communities who many choose to ignore.  You can learn more about the Lincoln Village Ministry by visiting their website at http://www.lincolnvillageministry.com/.

As the Mission Athens team continues to work to shine a light upon and serve those less fortunate in our community of Athens, AL, it is truly inspirational to hear stories like those of the Lincoln Village Ministry.  Over the past 2-3 years, Mission Athens has grown, changed, done many things right and made some mistakes along the way, too.  We are learning, searching, seeking and praying that we will continue to do the Lord's work in our community.  The Bible implores us as Christians to love the unlovable, to see the unseen, and to elevate the "least of these" by helping them, serving them, and loving them just as Jesus did time and again throughout His life.

Throughout the past few years, our team has helped lots of children, lots of elderly widows, and lots of people who are battling life-threatening illnesses.  In most of these cases, it is easy to rally support and assistance.  However, we have also helped convicted criminals, people who struggle with addictions, people who have failed relationships, and people who have made a lifetime of really bad choices.  These are the types of people most folks cross the street to avoid.  But, the cold, hard truth is that each of these people has a soul.  Each of these people deserve to be washed in the blood of Jesus, who died for them just as He died for us.

If we, God's children, don't help these unseen, forgotten, poverty-stricken people, who will?  Our dilemma is not agreeing to help, it is opening our eyes to see the opportunities all around us.  Our battle is not against the will to help--most Christians have lots of good will to help, to write a check, to support a cause.  Our battle is against indifference.  The indifference that causes each of us to blindly overlook the dozens of people we meet each day who need Jesus.

Our daily lives are consumed with our jobs, our kids, our friends, our families, our Facebook, and our sports teams.  Because we only see our small, little worlds, we literally walk right past people at the grocery store, at our kids' schools, and on the street who are desperate for someone to SEE them.  We have become a group of people with good intentions who are too wrapped up in our own little lives to SEE the moments God is giving us to reach out our hands and share His love with these precious souls.

The battle is against indifference.

We don't know what exactly the future holds for Mission Athens, but we have faith that God will guide us in this venture.  Our prayer is that our efforts will grow in our community, touching more lives and bringing more people to Jesus.  We also pray that passion and commitment will grow, and that we will zealously seek out opportunities to share God's love. 

At the end of his message, Darren shared the attached video that challenges all of us to see the unseen as God sees them....His precious children who desperately need us to take action and help them. The video says it all.

Exceedingly, Abundantly Beyond Our Expectations

"Now all glory to God, who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to His power working in us."  Ephesians 3:20

All throughout the Bible, God gives us examples of helping the poor and feeding the hungry.  In the book of Exodus, God fed his chosen people manna from heaven when they were wandering in the desert.  In the New Testament, Jesus fed the multitudes with just a few loaves of bread and fish.  At a wedding celebration, Jesus turned water into wine.  All throughout the Bible, there are examples of God and Jesus feeding and nurturing their followers both physically and spiritually.

On Sunday, March 4, the Mission Athens team organized a congregational night of service benefiting the Full Tummy Project.  The Full Tummy Project is a local organization that provides bags of food to elementary school children on Fridays to help them have enough to eat on the weekends.  The program is simple, anonymous, and discreet while at the same time sustaining kids who live in poverty in our community.

Seventeen million Americans live in food insecure households, and as the economy continues to struggle, so do many local families.  School children benefit from breakfast and lunch meals that are served at school, but on the weekends, many of these kids do not have enough to eat.  By simply placing a small bag of pop-top ravioli, cereal, peanut butter crackers, Pop Tarts, fruit cups and juice in their backpacks on Fridays, we can make a significant difference in their ability to grow and thrive.

About a month ago, the Mission Athens team set a goal of creating 500 bags of food during our night of service to provide enough food for the Full Tummy Project to make it through the month of March, which includes extra bags of food for Spring Break.  We solicited donations from the congregation and placed bins in the hallway as well as accepted monetary gifts for the program.  A few weeks ago, we began to worry if we had over committed and would be able to have enough for 500 bags...we prayed fervently that God would provide.

But then, the week before the event, the donations poured in, and once again, the family of faith at Central Church of Christ blew us away.  We collected food donations from co-workers as well as our church members, and we also were blessed with over $1,300 in cash donations to purchase food for the event.

On Friday, we began organizing the donations for the night of service, but we were interrupted by severe weather that once again hit our community.  On Saturday, as the clouds parted and the sun shone on a clear day, we headed out to shop for food for Athens' hungry kids.

On Sunday, volunteers came together and worked tirelessly unpacking all the items and sorting them into bins for our assembly lines that we set up in the church.  Then, at 5 pm, not a parking spot was available as so many of our brothers and sisters showed up and rolled up their sleeves to pack and pray over the bags of food for our neighbors in need.

Among the volunteers that night, we were blessed to see a sweet couple who sustained major damage to their home during Friday's tornado.  They are currently living in a local hotel, and when I asked them what they were doing there, they simply said, "Where else would we be?  We want to help these kids."  What an inspiration to see them sacrificing their time to help others even after they themselves had just weathered such a significant loss.

We had volunteers from the ages of 2 to 82 packing bags.  One of our deacons set up a room for our preschoolers to help out and pack bags, too.  These precious little children packed more than 30 bags for their friends who need food.

We prayed and we packed, and in about 20 minutes, all those helping hands accomplished exceedingly, abundantly beyond our expectations!  God showed up at Central Church of Christ Sunday night and showed us that He is able to provide far more than we could ever hope for.  We were so excited to add together the totals from our four assembly lines and announce to the group that we had packed.......

1,239 bags of food!

Thanks to God's blessings of our generous church family, the Full Tummy Project will not only have enough bags for the month of March, but we will have enough for the remainder of the school year.  What a beautiful sight to behold!



Mission Athens Night of Service March 4, 2012

"Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."  Matthew 4:4

Several months ago, I read the book "When Helping Hurts."  This book is truly a must read for anyone who is serious about mission work and wants to live a mission-focused life helping those who live in poverty.  Over and over in the Gospel, Jesus commands Christians to extend our hands to the poor, but many modern-day Christians scratch our heads because we simply don't know how.  Other than handing money to a homeless person on the street, how can we truly help the poor?

The authors of "When Helping Hurts" go to great lengths to demonstrate that povery is not just about being broke.  Poverty is about "broken-ness."  Broken trust, broken relationships, broken finances, broken dreams and broken lives.  If we truly want to help those living in poverty and bring them to Jesus, we can't just show up and hand out money.  We must first identify what is broken in our own lives and talk about how Jesus helped us heal.  Helping those living in poverty means we first have to come to terms with our own broken-ness and relate how Jesus changed our lives.  By sharing our stories, then we may be able to share the love of Jesus with those in need around us.  Sure, it helps if we take care of their pressing physical needs first, and that's what Mission Athens is all about, but we also have to take care of spiritual needs.  There may be no better way to do that than to share our testimony of times in our lives when God took care of us in a similar circumstance.

One of the points in the book that hit home with me the most was this one.  Through our Mission Athens work, I have had many "AHA" moments that have truly changed my life for the better, and I know that others on our Mission Athens team feel the same way.  That feeling of God working in our lives is one of the reasons I started this blog, to share those stories with all of you and share the lessons we are all learning together.

I have been able to relate to being cold, to not having enough money to pay the bills, to burying a loved one, to praying over a sick child, and to needing help getting a little further down the road.  Throughout my life, I have had moments when I have been down on my luck, frustrated, broke, sad, lonely, and stuck in the darkness of grief.  But, this week as we prepare for our second night of congregational service at Central, I was struck with a plain, simple truth: 

I have never been hungry.

Usually, I start these blog posts relating an experience that I have had and how I tied that experience in some way to the Mission Athens case we were working on that week.  I have been able to relate my own broken life to the broken lives we are trying to help, and I have been able to see how God has played a huge role in making me whole again with the hopes that He will do that for our Mission Athens cases.  But not this week.

I have never been hungry.

Some of my friends who are reading this blog may laugh and say, "You are always hungry!"  It is true--I do love to eat.  But waking up and thinking about what's for breakfast, what's for lunch, and where can we go out to eat for dinner are not the same things as being hungry.

My entire life, I have been blessed with plenty of food.  I can never remember a time when we did not have a stocked pantry or refrigerator or when we did not have not just one, but several options for each meal.  All week, I have been racking my brain, trying to remember a time when I was hungry so I could write about it in this blog and relate in some small way to the plans that we have for our night of service.  But the cold, hard fact is:

I have never been hungry.

The only time I remember being stressed out about food doesn't really count, because I am blessed with a loving family.  When my husband and I got married, our family told us we were too young, and we didn't have enough money.  They were right on both counts, but we got married anyway, planning as most young people do to live on love.  That didn't really work out, and we were trying so hard to make our small budget work.  I remember my first trip to the grocery store as a married woman just like it was yesterday.  I planned our meals and went to Foodland.  When the clerk said the total was $50, I almost fainted, but I paid her, and I planned to stretch that food as far as it would go.

Stuart and I came home from a trip to see my parents only to find that our power had gone out and all the food from that shopping trip had spoiled.  I sat down and started crying.  What were we going to do?  I called my sweet grandmother, and my grandparents fed us for a week until we could make it to our next paycheck.

See?  I have never been hungry.

Unfortunately, there are 17 million children in the United States today who live in food insecure households.  As the unemployment numbers continue to rise, more and more moms and dads do not have enough money to buy enough food for their families.  Grocery prices have risen at a steep rate over the past few years, and there simply is not enough money to make ends meet in many families.  That means that more and more children are relying on their free and reduced breakfasts and lunches at school to sustain them. 

But, what about the weekends?

Many children go home to little or no food on the weekends.  They know the feeling of being hungry--they live with it each and every day.  It may be the first thing they think about when they wake up and the last thing they think about before they go to bed.

I have never been hungry, but they are hungry every day.

On Sunday, March 4, Central Church of Christ will host a Night of Service.  During that evening, we will assemble bags of food for these kids to take home on the weekends as part of a local initiative called The Full Tummy Project.  You can learn more about Full Tummy by visiting their website at http://www.fulltummyproject.org/.

The Full Tummy Project currently supports several elementary schools in the Athens, AL community by placing bags of food in kids' backpacks each Friday afternoon so that they have something to eat over the weekend.  The children are selected for the program by their schools' teachers and administrators, and the bags are placed in backpacks when the children are at recess, so it is all very discreet for the kids involved.

We are asking everyone to participate in donating items for these bags. I am hosting a donation drive at my workplace, and I encourage all of you to do the same thing sometime this month.  Let's pray that we can collect as much food as possible and make a big difference for these hungry kids.

Please bring your food donations to Central Church of Christ on Sunday morning, March 4.  The Mission Athens team will work that afternoon to get all the donations organized.  Then, that evening, the entire congregation will work together to "Pack and Pray" over each Full Tummy bag.

Because we need each bag to be consistent, it is very important to follow this list of food very specifically.  Thank you in advance for your help in making this night of service a great one!  We can't wait to see what a difference we all can make when we work together.

Here is the list of items that are needed:

REMEMBER: Items MUST be in single serve packaging, easy to open, and ready to eat without any preparation. We are unaware of conditions at home (microwave availability and/or adult supervision). Please send only 100% Juice boxes.
 Breakfast ideas
Individual boxes of cereal
Cereal/breakfast bars
Ready to eat oatmeal with fruit cups (usually found on aisle with applesauce)
Pop Tarts
: Lunch Ideas
Vienna Sausages
Peanut butter/cheese crackers
: Dinner Ideas
Chef Boyardee Pop-Top meals such as ravioli, spaghetti, chicken and rice, etc.
Spaghetti-Os (pop-top only)
Ready to eat soups (pop-top only, not condensed)
Beannee Weenees
Ready to eat rice cups
: Snack Ideas
Fruit cups/ applesauce cups
Raisins or any other individually packaged dried fruit
Trail mix or nuts
Granola bars
Fruit chews
Single serve packs of crackers (ie. Goldfish, wheat thins, teddy grahams, etc) :

Extremely Close

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.  Your rod and staff, they comfort me."  Psalms 23:4

He was born on a Monday, and he died on a Tuesday, and he only lived 52 years, 2 months and 23 days in between those two days.  The older I get, the shorter his life seems to me.  It has been 11 years, 9 months and 9 days since the Worst Day of My Life, and in some ways it seems like it was yesterday, and in some ways it feels so far away.

My father had his first heart attack when I was just 16 years old.  I was in church.  My mother had stayed home with him that morning because we all thought he had a stomach bug.  I remember I was wearing a green dress with a black bow that was actually my sister's and I had snuck it out of her closet without her knowing it, and I was sitting with my friend Victor during preaching when we heard the church phone ring.  Whenever the church phone rings during Sunday morning service, it is always bad news, and I remember feeling a shiver as I wondered who that dreaded call was about.  When Mr. Threet came and got me from the pew, I was stunned.  He pulled me into the hallway and told me to meet my parents at the hospital.  My brother and sister were both already gone to college, and that morning had been so exciting for me because my mother let me drive to Florence to church by myself, a very big deal to a 16-year-old.  I cried the whole way from church to the hospital, praying Daddy would live and that I wouldn't have a wreck and that my sister wouldn't kill me when she got to the hospital and saw me wearing her green dress.

God gave us 8 more years with him after that first heart attack.  In those 8 years, we spent a lot of time in hospitals.  My brother and I spent one night sleeping together on a waiting room sofa in the UAB ICU waiting area, terrified as the ambulances screamed through the night.  Even though I was 17 and he was 22, we were so scared that it didn't feel at all awkward to be wrapped up in each other's arms on that couch.  We prayed, and we prayed, and we prayed.  And he lived through that open heart surgery.  He lived 7 more years after that.

Even after a heart attack, and even after a quadrouple bypass surgery, our Daddy beat the odds.  He was a living, breathing, walking, talking, laughing, answered prayer.  He lived, oh, how he lived!  He lived each and every day loving all of us, making friends, spreading joy and laughter, leading his community, loving his wife, pulling off hilarious practical jokes on his friends, plowing the ground, loving the Lord.  He got mad, he got sad, he cried, he prayed, he ate, he tried to lose weight, he got new puppies, he hated people who were fake, he got in arguments, he talked on the phone all the time, he drove a truck, he smelled like sunshine and strength and sweat, and he was our hero.  He was larger than life.

Then, shortly after having some extensive dental work, he caught a virus in his heart.  That same heart that had been attacked, that same heart that had been bypassed, that same heart that held so much love and laughter--why did that heart have to get a virus?  Why not the heart of a meaner man?  Why this good, pure, loving heart?  The doctors told us in that hospital waiting room that his heart was now too weak.  There was a high chance he would not survive a year.  They prepared us for the worst, and they talked about the chances of success with a heart transplant, which was still a new procedure back then, and they didn't think it would work.

We prayed, and we prayed, and we prayed, and we prayed.  I quit my job and moved home to spend more time with Daddy and plan my wedding with my Mom.  I was 22 years old, and I was terrified he wouldn't be there to walk me down the aisle.  I prayed every night that he would live.  And he did.

He lived!  He walked me down the aisle.  He beat the odds--once again, his lion heart rallied and kept on beating!  We felt like champions, we prayer warriors, he lived!

And then, one Easter weekend when I was 24 and a newlywed, we all came home to be together.  My brother and his wife, my sister and her husband, my new husband and me, my Mama and Daddy, and two precious nieces who had joined our clan.  We were all together under one roof--a rare and wonderful weekend of the entire family around one table.  But all weekend, he wasn't himself.  He was quiet, he didn't laugh much, he didn't eat much, and late one night, I found him sitting in his chair in the den, tears streaming down his cheeks as he listened to gospel music on TV.  This sight shook me up--a child never gets used to seeing their Daddy cry.  I walked into the room, and he asked me if he died, if my brother and sister and I would speak at his funeral.  Of course we would, but he wasn't going to die--he always lived!  I got mad, as all-knowing 24-year-olds do, and I told him not to even say such things.  On Sunday when I was loading the car to leave, I was still mad at him.  I told him I loved him, but he knew and I knew that I was annoyed. 

My sister, who was expecting her son at the time, stayed with my parents that week with her baby girl.  On Tuesday, Daddy told her to come and jump in the truck with him.  She left her baby daughter with our Mama, and she and Daddy went to a neighbor's house.  As they got out of the truck, Daddy started telling a joke to the neighbor, and then he died.  Just like that.  The ambulance came, but they never revived him.  They took him to the hospital and began to work to try to bring him back, but to no avail

My phone rang just after supper.  I was wearing a grey shirt and black pants.  I had just finished cleaning up our little kitchen in our newlywed house from the supper I had burned, and I was sitting on the couch watching a Biography of Princess Diana.  Stuart was in the driveway changing the oil in our cars and I am sure wishing he had a bride who could cook.  My brother-in-law was the voice on the other end of the line, and he said, "Honey, let me speak to Stuart."  I knew it was something terrible.  I gave the phone to Stuart, who turned away so I wouldn't see his tears.  All I knew was that Daddy was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, and my poor pregnant sister had been standing beside him when he dropped to the ground at her feet.

We quickly packed our bags and threw them in the car.  Stuart drove so fast, but it was over a 2-hour drive home.  We prayed, and we prayed, and we prayed, but this time it was different.  We both knew it in our hearts.  And then, when we were about 45 minutes from home, a very beautiful star fell right out of the sky right in front of us.  And we knew his bright light was gone from our lives forever.

True to his request, my brother, my pregnant sister, and I all spoke at his funeral.  I know that God got us through that day.  We lived in a town of 1,500 people, and well over 3,000 came to his visitation and funeral.  He was a great man, a man who was loved by all who knew him, a man who lived his life well.

Since then, my brother, sister and I have had 6 more children between us.  We have laughed, we have cried, we have loved, we have fought, we have grown closer together, we have been broken-hearted.  We are so proud of his legacy, and we love seeing him in these magical 8 grandkids, who each have a little piece of him living in their hearts, even though they didn't know him.

He would have loved Mission Athens.  It would be right up his alley.  When he died, several people came by the house to give my mother money.  He had given so many people loans that she had never known about.  One man who none of us knew brought his chainsaw to give my mother.  He said he didn't have the money to repay the loan, but he thought my Mom could maybe use the chainsaw.  We were so touched by all the things people did to comfort us.

Those days following his death are so poignant in my memory.  The horror of going to the funeral home and picking out a casket, the feeling of extreme exhaustion that comes from night after night of tears and no sleep, the huge amounts of food that none of us felt like eating, the sad dogs who missed him so much, the endless line of hugs and stories at the funeral home, the blisters on our feet from uncomfortable shoes, the throbbing headache, the raw, bleeding heartache, the smell of him on his sheets, the tragic discovery that a well-meaning friend had washed his clothes and sheets and his smell was gone, his handkerchief and pocket change I carried in my purse, all his sticky notes with doodles all around the house, sitting in his messy truck and crying huge sobs of pain.  It was a wonderful, beautiful, painful, awful, nightmare, but it was real, and it was true--it was life in its rawest form.

God does not promise us an easy road.  He does not promise us that He will answer every prayer.  God simply tells us to follow Him.  I spent about 2 years following my father's death being really angry with God.  I didn't pray except to tell Him I was mad.  I had crippling anxiety attacks when I was in large crowds because I would see my father's face in the crowd and for a brief moment think he had come back.  My heart grew very cold, and I didn't attend church very often.  My mother had a completely different response--she drew so close to God.  She told me He was the only thing keeping her going.  I was in awe of her faith and still am, but then God sent me an angel to remind me He was always with me.

On a Monday, my baby boy was born.  I kept my Daddy's picture in my hospital room.  I stared into his eyes and introduced him to my son.  I felt his love for me in a whole new way when I held my own child in my arms.  I knew then that I had to live.  I couldn't let resentment and bitterness rob me of my life.  I vowed that day to be grateful for the time I had with him, for the gift of being his child.  I made a promise to myself that I would try to love my babies as much as he had loved me and to teach them to use their lives to spread joy as he had.  I made peace with God.  Shortly after that birth, I found a wonderful new church home, where my husband and I started our family and grew closer to each other and to God together.

For the past two weeks, I have been thinking a lot about death and about how painful it is.  Last week, the Mission Athens team along with a dear friend in our church helped a family with funeral expenses for their teenaged daughter who was tragically killed in an accident.  I can only imagine their aching pain after this terrible loss.  It gives me comfort to know that God hears our prayers for this family--won't you pray for them, too? 

Last weekend, following this painful Mission Athens case, I went with friends to see the movie "Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close," which chronicles a little boy's grief following his father's death in the World Trade Center on 9/11.  It was very hard for me to watch, as it brought back so many painful, raw memories. 

Then, yesterday would have been my father's 64th birthday.  Now that I am 36, I am just 16 years away from being the age my Daddy was when he died.  I don't know if I will die at 52, but I think about it all the time.  Am I using each day to make a difference?  Am I spreading God's love?  Am I loving my husband and children enough to last them a lifetime?  Am I a person of grace and mercy or a person of judgement and bitterness?  Am I using all the gifts God has given me to bring glory to Him?  Am I a good and faithful servant?

The sharp knife of a short life makes me ask these questions.  For those of you who are still reading this blog and who have not experienced a death in your immediate family, thanks be to God!  For those of you who have, you know exactly what I mean.  Death, especially a sudden, tragic death of someone who was too young to be gone so soon, changes all of us who survive it forever.

I have come to see my father's death as a tool that God used to bring me closer to Him.  I still can't make sense of it, and I have stopped asking "why."  Instead, I am so thankful God gave him to me for 8 years past that Sunday when a scared 16-year-old in a green dress drove crying to the hospital.  I don't know why some people have to lose a parent at too young an age.  I don't know why some people have to bury their children.  I don't know why others live for years with horrible diseases.  I don't understand, and it makes my heart ache and my head hurt when I hear about all the tragedy in this world.

I simply know that because He lives, I can face tomorrow.  I know that without Him, life is truly tragic.  He is the fount of every blessing, the well of living water, the beginning and the end.  He gives me hope that I will see my father again.  He gives me the strength to put one foot in front of the other on days when my heart is weary, and I am burdened with a load of cares too big for me to handle.  He is the way, the truth and the light, and He has given us this life with all the joy, all the pain, all the passion, all the laughter, all the heartache and all the craziness.  It is all part of His plan for us. 

He wants us to bear each other's burdens, and we all know that death is coming for all of us.  It is a certainty, it is inescapable.  There is a comfort that comes from surviving death--I know now that I can truly "do all things through Christ who strengthens me," even survive The Worst Day of My Life and bury my father.  I can move on and move up and keep going and keep growing.  It is all part of this beautiful gift of life.

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven;

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a tiem to pluck up that which has been planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-9



Spreading The Word

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  John 1:1

When did you get your first Bible?  I remember having a small, white copy of the New Testament that I carried to Sunday school as a small child.  I also remember coloring in it and getting a hard pinch from my Mama during preaching, but that is a story for another blog post about naughty little girls who grow up just fine, thank you very much!

There are two Bibles that I have received that were very special to me.  The first was given to me by a beloved preacher who presented it to me just after my baptism when I was 15.  It was pink, and he had it engraved with my name in silver.  On the inside cover, he wrote me a note, and he included this verse from Psalms, which has always been a favorite ever since, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word."  Psalms 119:9.  The second Bible was given to my husband and I by my father-in-law just after we were married.  It is the first item we had that was engraved with our names as "Mr. and Mrs."  Both were thoughtful gifts from godly men, and I treasure them to this day.

In 2012, the Mission Athens team would like to give the gift of the gospel to all those we touch.  Whether we help with a past due utility bill, makeover a house, give food or clothes, we would like to also give the gift of Jesus.

We have kicked off our 2012 Mission Athens Bible Drive this week.  We are asking all our friends to donate new or gently used Bibles that are not engraved with names beginning now through the end of February.  We prefer to have the NIV, New American Standard or The Message translations as these are easier to read and understand.  Collection bins have been placed in the front hallway at Central Church of Christ.

Thank you in advance for helping us give The Word as part of our work this year.  We hope these Bibles will become treasured by all who receive them, and that God will work in each and every life we touch through Mission Athens in 2012.