Stories of God at work!

One of the current practices for each of our staff meetings and Leadership Team meetings is that within each meeting, usually after prayer and scripture, we share stories of God at work. 

This has become a valuable tool in helping our staff and elders see the world through the lens of God's active involvement in our church and our world.  Each time of sharing these stories creates in me a new awareness of the many venues in which we see God at work.  He is at work in lives, events and ministries that prior to the sharing, I knew nothing about.  Telling these stories is a great way to honor God!

Let me share two stories of God at work this week:

Story #1 is the Special Olympic Challenge Day that is taking place at Orchard today.  I snapped these pictures just now....

 

 

This morning I said a prayer at the beginning of this very special event.  Each time the event meets in our gym, I am struck by how God so often uses our building and campus in strategic ways that  to help people who need a time of encouragement.  Watching these folks do athletic events in the gym where we will hold our worship service in the morning, always touches my heart.

 

Story # 2 is the 66 Bibles given to 2nd graders last Sunday morning at both our Cedar Falls and Grundy Center worship services.  These Bibles becomes a symbol of the important role that the God's Word is to play in the lives of these young people and a symbol of our church wanting to stand beside these young people and their parents as they move toward "more fully devoted followers of Christ."  I love this picture of partnership--God's Word, the students, the parents and our church.

 

So, today I just got a text from one volunteer on our Junior High Ski and Shop where 30+ volunteers and 130+ students are traveling to the Minneapolis area for skiing and shopping.  This is simply another tool to help us be positioned in the lives of students and families in order to challenge and encourage them with Christ's gospel.

 

 

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Mission Trips change people!

Meet Jason Wellnitz…is my son-in-law and my guest blogger. He’s written a novel inspired by a trip to Mozambique with Orchard Hill Church and Food for the Hungry. Read about his experience and what he did in response to what he saw.

June 2011, Gorangosa, Mozambique.
Our driver turned the white minibus off the main paved road and down onto a red, rutted dirt path. We bounced and swayed as he navigated the bumpy network of paths, the way that lead somewhere apparent to him, but not to us.

As we slowed to a stop in front of a small house constructed of hand-formed, red clay bricks, the children burst into loud song. There are at least 80 small children next to the house, many of them holding their even smaller siblings on their hips.

This is Calvette’s Sunday school. Calvette is a key member of the FH/Mozambique staff, and I met him when I traveled there in June 2011.

The children sang us song after song, overjoyed at the opportunity. Eventually a drunk man wandered by, swearing at the children. They were undeterred, though later we found out, this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

Each Sunday, Calvette and his wife open their home to as many children that will come, giving them a good place to be away from the vices that haunt the communities.
Inspired by Calvette’s efforts, and those of the rest of the talented and dedicated FH/Mozambique staff, my wife and I donated a small amount of money to help Calvette complete an addition to his home that would shelter the Sunday school from both the elements and drunk people.

Wanting to do even more, I recently published a short novel called “River Way Home“. It’s inspired by my time in Mozambique, but it is pure fiction, not based on actual events or people.
I’m donating the proceeds from the first 500 sales of the novel to support FH’s efforts in Mozambique. Please see an excerpt below and if it looks interesting to you, please consider purchasing it from Amazon.com.

Excerpt from River Way Home, Chapter 1: Headwaters -
First, a small bit about myself. This much I’m sure you know but I must start at the start. I don’t know much about the woman who gave birth to me or the man who impregnated her. They are veiled from me. Hidden. Separated. They lived in Mozambique. Mozambique is a long country occupying twelve-hundred miles of coastline where southeast Africa meets the Indian Ocean. On a map it looks like the thick, crude, wooden slingshot of an African boy. It’s the ancient puzzle piece mate of the drifting island of Madagascar.

I was their first-born son and they were very young. They farmed some small sorghum fields and occasionally sold wooden goods at the market. The man who supplied my Y chromosome was deep in the throes of malaria at the time of my birth. He left his wife a four-lettered gift and she died near my first birthday. I have never seen her picture and my infant mind retained no memory of her. I passed through the hands of some extended family members who didn’t care to grasp me and landed eventually in a Christian mission orphanage near Beira, Mozambique. If Mozambique is shaped like a slingshot, Beira is the top of the handle, along the sea. I spent two years in the care of that brave, tenuous orphanage. My memories of that time are a thin patchwork. I was fed. I was kept out of the rains. There was a woman who was kind. But there were many of us and only one truly kind woman, so there were long gaps between her touches.

Now is the time to turn to the story of my real father. He is the one who came and found me in that orphanage.

Eventually you will understand the precise details of how my father ended up being born in Milwaukee. But suffice to say for the confines of this story, there was the brightest flash of light, an immense amount of time passed, and ambitious tribes made their way from Africa to Mesopotamia to Europe. They learned how to coax food from the Earth along the way. My father’s fathers were farmers in every generation except those immediately preceding his own.

For three thousand years they farmed this or that piece of land under this or that system of order. Sometimes they grew grain for lords and kings. Other times they walled off gardens and lived utterly on their own. In prosperous times they prospered. In poor times they were poor. But they worked and moved. They worked and stayed. They moved and worked again.

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Powerful Morning at Christmas in Walnut

Begin with a delicious breakfast at Harvest Vineyard Church on a beautiful December 8, Saturday morning. 

Add to that 400 enthusiastic and cheerful volunteers, 2500 Christmas toys, 50 dozen cookies, 400 families who've come for some help in purchasing toys for their children and grandchildren.   What do you have?  A very powerful morning at Christmas in Walnut.

This morning was amazing and I believe, pleasing to God!  Christmas in Walnut Year 3 was a huge success in every way we could have imagined.  Great gifts, powerful prayers, every family took home a book of the true Christmas Story and again our partnership with the Boys & Girls Club and Harvest Vineyard was built even stronger.

Here are some of the parents standing in line outside the Boys and Girls Club waiting to get inside the Christmas Store.  The average wait to get inside was about 10 minutes.

These are two pictures of the Christmas Craft Workshop which gave children the opportunity to make both Christmas decorations and Christmas gifts.  I love that this project gives everyone an opportunity to be a "giver!"  The children give by making crafts, parents give by purchasing great toys at very reduced prices (the money is then invested in the neighborhood and schools), our volunteers give their service and joy, and our church and community give the gifts.  Everyone is a giver!

These two pictures show the shoppers and their personal shopper who gets to know them (a little) and helps in any way possible as they choose their toys.

We are grateful to God for this opportunity!

 

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Christmas in Walnut Stories

The stories are so powerful and good.  So many people are pulling together to make our Christmas project in Walnut Neighborhood happen and help up to 500 families have gifts for their children under their tree this Christmas.  We have so many opportunities to explain again and again the process of helping financially under-resourced families in a way that builds thheir self-respect.

Stores have given our shoppers huge discounts because of the heart and strategy of the project:  Toys R Us, Kohls, Blain's Farm Fleet, Hobby Lobby, Scheels, Walgreens and others.

Last night our high school students heard a strong talk on God's design for sexuality and then went out with small groups and purchased gifts for these families.  We calculated their investment in the project at $2500.  A huge thank you to the students (and parents who provided some of the funds.)

A family with four older children from another church just came and delivered $450 worth of gifts.  They decided this money was better spent on others than on themselves this Christmas.  What a powerful decision for them to make!

Here are some pictures of the joy we find in helping others.  Our Sunday morning Children's Ministry raised enough funds to purchase 157 books for the families we will be serving this weekend.

Here are some of the small groups returning from shopping last evening.  How cool is this that students are focused upon other students who have less this Christmas.

Please join me in praying that Saturday's Christmas In Walnut will be a huge encouragement to families as they eat breakfast together, attend the Christmas Craft Workshop and the Christmas Store.

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Everyone a full participant!

In this picture, one of our youngest partners is adding her toys to the pile of toys to be distributed at our Christmas Store.  I loved this picture the moment that I saw it.  This little girl helped choose the toys and then helped deliver them to the church.  Wow.  She is actually an important part of our church.  She can be a giver at 2 or 3 years old.  I love this part of the church.  Everyone gets to be a full participant!

I see full participation everywhere in the church and I see it in the scriptures.  Jesus chose 12 very different guys upon which to build His church, and each one had the opportunity to be a full participant in his cause.  When he congratulated the 5 talent servant and the 2 talent servant with exactly the same words, in the Parable of the Talents (Matt 25), they were both full participants.  They gave according to what they had.

I saw it a couple weeks ago, when a group of high school guys, joined some others in serving communion to our church family.  Brad Hillebrand said, "It was so great for the guys.  Mayor Buck Clark went into "youth director mode"  huddling the guys up and said, 'whatever you do, don't spill the juice!"  These young guys did an inspiring job of serving communion.

Tomorrow night the high school small groups will journey to Walmart, Target, Toys R Us and buy toys for Christmas in Walnut with their own funds. If you're out shopping at 8:00 p.m. you might want to stand aside.  Last year the enthusiasm was both chaotic and filled with joy! Again, full participation!

Saturday, some of our youngest members were the entertainment and the program for our Route 55 Christmas program.  I heard it was awesome.  I heard it was like a "holy moment" with people sitting on the edge of their seats.  Again, full participation by throwing in gifts that God has given to each of us.

I hope and pray that the people of Orchard will continue to look for ways to encourage others and engage themselves as full participants.  The scripture that I cannot get out of my head this week is, "To whom much is given, much is required."

I know for sure that I've been given a lot.

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January 2013 will focus upon family!

Last night our Family Task Force met for the 6th month.  The goal of this task force is to help Orchard ministries provide tools and experiences for families to be Christ-centered in their homes and neighborhoods.  Our goal is that every parent would understand that they are the primary spiritual coach for their children.

Our teaching team is excited to focus January 2013 Sunday morning teachings upon helping all of us be stronger and better families.  Watch for more details and plan to learn a lot about being Christ-centered families.

So, on Wednesday mornings, I walk 3 of my grandchildren to Orchard Hill School.   My wife, Linda, is in preparation for our Mom's Morning Out Program and this is my one morning each week to be with the kids.  It's never a simple walk when grandpa is along.  This morning it involved climbing a tree on the way.  Here's some pictures....

I have so much to learn from my grandkids about joy and fun!  They can find fun in so many places that I would think is a simple walk to school.

One practice that I have started to implement is that on my walk home alone, I pray for them, their school, the staff and all of the schools that are in session on this particular morning.  Many of the teachers at Orchard Hill attend our church and I know so many others are active Christ-followers in other churches.

I encourage you to find practices that become disciplines that are regular times of praying!

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It was a celebration!

For some of my friends who lead large churches, the day of the Annual Church Business Meeting is one of the worst days of the year.  It can be a day of uncertainty, strife and division within the local congregation.  It can be a day when politics within the church raises its head.  It can be a day when the mission of the congregation gets lost in the details of the business of the congregation.  It can be discouraging.  Many people experience that within their local congregations.

At Orchard we had our "annual business meeting" on Sunday evening.  We call it the Annual Church Celebration.  It has become one of our very good days as a congregation.  We have moved the focus from doing business to celebrating all that God has and is doing within our local congregation.  We had 225 of our leaders and congregational members together to worship, share and pray for our staff and our church leaders.

It was a blast with outstanding and moving worship.  George and Judy Marshal, who are the pastors of our partner congregation Harvest Vineyard Church, said to me, "That was great worship!"     People told moving stories about their children coming to Jesus, about their college students being saved from destruction, about the Youth Art Team and its huge mural, about the Connect and Care Team who visit shut-ins and others who are struggling.

It was powerful.

We have chosen to do our business by mail in ballot which then allows for our current practice which is to celebrate all that God is doing in and through Orchard.  In the above picture people are choosing from many desserts and appetizers.

Here I am interviewing Angie and Elna Dieken about our merger with Lincoln Center and how they see this transition.

Here Maribeth Boelts and Jo Dorhout are encouraging our staff and preparing to lead our congregation in a prayer of help and encouragement for our staff.

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