10.27 Message From The Link - I Wish You Could Have Been There

First of all, I apologize for not getting an email out last week. I was preparing for a conference put on by CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) in Cincinnati, OH. We officially launched the newly formed NeighborLink Network at this conference. More on NeighborLink Network in a future email. Just know it’s the parent organization of all future NeighborLinks around the country that pop up.

CCDA is an association of like-minded individuals across the country who are passionate about seeing Shalom lived out on Earth. Everyone at the conference is connected to an organization or church actively involved in Kingdom building activities.

I was able to meet a lot of really great people and hear from people all over the country tell about what they are doing. I reflected often on the fact that I wish you could have been there as well. I wish you were there with me so you could also be joining in on the conversation that I think more of us should be having. There were over 2,500 people there sharing their experiences and gaining wisdom from each other.

I came away so charged up about NeighborLink as an organization and the environment we’re creating that allows you and I to connect to those asking for help who can’t get help anywhere else. It truly is a remarkable concept.

Since you weren’t able to go nor have many of you ever heard of CCDA, I hope to share quite a few thoughts with you over the coming weeks as I process them and as God shapes those in my mind.

If I can leave you with two reminders that were clear for me leaving the conference.

1. We cannot fix everything. We cannot save everyone. We can not make the most difficult of things go away. What God has given us, is the ability  to Love everyone. If we truly have accepted the Love of Jesus Christ, then we can Love everyone. For now, maybe we need to just work on loving our neighbor just as they are and join their journey. If we’re willing to commit to that, then we’re creating the environment for God to reveal himself fully through us. If we’re not loving people well, then are we revealing Him to those who need Him?

2. NeighborLink and the programs we create in our churches are only designed to connect people. NeighborLink nor any program that we can create will ever be the solution to a particular issue. Only when we see it as a tool to connect to someone burdened by this world to be a beacon of Light in a dark place will we ever get a glimpse of the Kingdom that God desires us to see.

I encourage you to process these ideas with me in the coming weeks as we think about why we’re connected to NeighborLink in the first place.

It’s about the people.

The Link is Our Weekly Newsletter - 10.27 Edition