Imagine a place sinking from drugs.
Children feeling lost.
Churches empty.
Hearts broken.
That's what we came in to in Oracle, Az.
A beautiful broken community.
This week I was blessed to be able to partner alongside First Baptist Church of Oracle.
And help lead a group of youth from Livermore,Ca.
Sunday morning in worship there were about 20 people in the congregation joined with our 43 students. The students led worship and shared their hearts with this church filled with an older generation. They sat down to lunch together.
While the people of the church shared their vision for the town you could see something not only being sparked in the students but also in the people of the town.
When the students came they had imagined all of the people that they would lead to Christ.
The children that would show up for VBS.
The funny thing is that's not what God had planned.
God wanted to see this community restored.
The students worked all week in graveyards, cleaning parks, landscaping at local schools, and playing basketball.
God's plans for this week were about the partnership that they could create with in the community.
The people that they would teach to trust the church again.
The friends that they would make on the basketball court.
And restoring this community to a beautiful place.
The more I do missions the more I realize that God is in control.
We can send itineraries.
We can talk through every last detail but that doesn't matter.
God has the plans drawn out for us ready to reveal them at just the right time.
A heart shining through from the net on a basketball court that we prayer over.
The cross at the top of the cemetery where we talked about what legacy we would leave behind.
Our deceased bat friend we made while cleaning out the church.
We also befriended several lizards who had passed about 20 years ago.
The students from Livermore,Ca.
No comments:
Post a Comment