January 15, 2010
Hi Suncrest,
First…I got great news last night. It has been confirmed that our friend Jamalyn and her team in Haiti are OK.
Of course, much destruction and grief remains. Your generosity to our Christmas Eve offering has us “prepared in advance” to make a generous financial gift to help the relief efforts there. Still, I know a lot of would like to respond personally also. So, this Sunday you will have the chance to add to your regular generosity with a gift specifically for relief in Haiti. We are talking to a number of organizations right now and are confident we will direct all of this generosity to one that is doing incredible human good and offering their compassion in the name of Christ.
With all that has me focused on Haiti this week, last Sunday seems like so long ago now. But I got reminded yesterday of just how “next step” oriented our church is. I found out we had LOTS of people respond to this challenge to GIVE FIRST. Many wanted offering envelopes and I know some are loving both the ease and the commitment of automated giving (as someone told me tongue-in-cheek, “welcome to 2004”). I also had some conversations where people weren’t ready to commit on the spot, but were heading home to have this conversation with their spouse.
All I want for you…all I want for anyone…is that we would keep growing and taking steps to TRUST God. A hard decision at first? Sure. The blessings? Amazing.
I love you, Suncrest. Thanks for your prayers for my friend this week and for taking every message seriously as we grow together.
Greg
PS…My Blog this week is mostly about Haiti. You can check it out if you want by clicking here. There is another great “Beyond Sunday” reflection on the Cultivate Blog. I found out this was Larry’s first time to write and he drew the teaching for this past Sunday! I think he takes an authentic look at the topic… click here for that.