4.24 Message From The Link - Well Done & Thank You

If you didn’t get to meet one of the recipients at last week’s service event and hear their appreciation, then well done my NeighborLink friends, well done.

There were sooo many of you out serving last Saturday. I had the privilege of getting to drive around site-to-site seeing all the projects that volunteers were taking on. It’s was a beautiful site. I had my friend Jeff and another new friend Aaron with me and we were blown away by all the different projects going on and how many of the teams were going back a second or third time to assist a recipient.

The unofficial count of volunteers active around Fort Wayne was 450-500 people between at least 6 churches that I knew of. I know there were more than 6 churches represented by the people who chose to get involved on their own. There were young volunteers from our youth groups and even older volunteers that desired to help out to celebrate their health and giving some energy to some others.

I had the opportunity to share a few words at the Fellowship Missionary Church’s launch at 9am and was able to express what the day truly meant in terms of Kingdom expansion.

It’s truly remarkable, and to me a little like I imagine heaven, when we show up with rakes, shovels, bags, chainsaws, hammers, paint, gloves, trucks, trailers, friends, and give up a few hours to participate as a piece to a puzzle. If the Kingdom of Heaven is like a jigsaw puzzle then we’re all of the Lord’s pieces waiting to be put together to create a masterpiece. That picture my be a representation of peace, justice, humility, grace and love. But, the Lord doesn’t arrange the pieces all on His own, He’s actually waiting for us to align ourselves in the right position to be linked to one another in order for that picture to come alive.

I saw a glimpse of that analogy on 4.18. Almost 500 people around the city of Fort Wayne and our friends in other cities, begin moving and aligning with each other including the recipients we met to recreate the picture. We had healthy interacting with the sick. People that were full of life interacting with those that were down. The haves meeting the have not. The full sharing their bounty with the hungry and those without.

Did you see it?

Did you see God working through you for those who served? Did you see Him using your hands and feet making things new? If you were at the Brendonwoods Apts where the refugee families were so grateful for all the volunteers who cleaned and painting in their apartments. If you were the group that went back a 3rd time to work on a blind woman’s bathroom who was taken advantage by a dishonest contractor. If you were one of the countless groups who removed limbs from the yards of individuals who were physically unable to take care of those themselves. Did you see the old become new? The impossible become possible?

I know many of you did projects that were less than glamorous, which might have been uncomfortable, but I trust that you learned something new about yourself and can be reminded through your obedience to God that we must take an inferior posture when we serve another. We become less so they can become more.

If the rest of the summer and year are anything like this past weekend, then the impact in Fort Wayne will be huge. The Church will make a quiet statement to the city that they care. I couldn’t be more excited about this.

Thanks again for all of you who support NeighborLink by selecting projects.

Andrew
Your “Courageous" Director