We are all so excited for our event this coming Tuesday evening, Worship for Orphans. Our vision/goal/purpose for the evening is twofold: 1.) to raise awareness of the orphan crisis in our world, and 2.) help equip families to know how they can take action.
There will be an opportunity that night to give money to a couple organizations that directly support and care for orphans but collecting money is not the purpose of the event, nor the focus. We know that God deeply cares for each and every child who is an orphan and he has told us to care for them. Isaiah 1:17 "Defend the cause of the fatherless." So, on this night as the Body of Christ comes together to worship Him in song, we also want to worship Him by asking how He wants each of us to follow Him in this area.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
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Monday, September 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Worship For Water
Tonight we had our first event: Worship for Water.
It was a beautiful summer evening in the Amphitheater. The ultimate goal of the evening was to glorify God. We hoped to do that by worshiping Him through song and through raising awareness of those extremely important to Him, the poor. Tonight we highlighted one of the biggest issues for the poor which is lack of access to safe and clean drinking water. Did you know that as many as five million people die every year of water-related illnesses?
During the middle of our time together Malia spoke and shared her heart about this specific issue including a call to action. Amongst many other things she shared the following quote from Richard Stearns book, The Hole in our Gospel:
"The world we live in is under siege-three billion are desperately poor, one billion hungry, millions are trafficked in human slavery, ten million children die needlessly each year, wars and conflicts are wreaking havoc, pandemic diseases are spreading, ethnic hatred is flaming, and terrorism is growing. Most of our brothers and sisters in Christ in the developing world live in grinding poverty. And in the midst of this stands the Church of Jesus Christ in America, with resources, knowledge, and tools unequaled in the history of Christendom. I believe that we stand on the brink of a defining moment. We have a choice to make.
When historians look back in one hundred years, what will they write about this nation of 340,000 churches? What will they say of the Church's response to the great challenges of our time - AIDS, poverty, hunger, terrorism, war? Will they say that these authentic Christians rose up courageously and responded to the tide of human suffering, that they rushed to the front lines to comfort the afflicted and to douse the flames of hatred? Will they write of an unprecedented outpouring of generosity to meet the urgent needs of the world's poor? Will they speak of the moral leadership and compelling vision of our leaders? Will they write that this, the beginning of the twenty-first century, was the Church's finest hour?
Or will they look back and see a Church too comfortable, insulated from the pain of the rest of the world, empty of compassion, and devoid of deeds? Will they write about a people who stood by and watched while a hundred million died of AIDS and fifty million children were orphaned, of Christians who lived in luxury and self-indulgence while millions died for lack of food and water? Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics? In short, will we be remembered as the Church with a gaping hole in its gospel?"
Tonight a group of Christians from the Salem/Keizer community made a choice. Over 150 people gathered to worship their mighty God through song and together they gave 1,170 dollars to help the poorest of the Haitians have access to clean water. 500 of those dollars will complete the money amount needed by the Haitian Rotary to have two wells built that will provide over 1000 people with fresh clean water. The remaining 670 dollars will also be given to the Haitians. (We will update you soon exactly where that money is going.)
Could a movement of uniting to worship God through our sacrificial giving to the poor have begun in our community? I hope so! Praise Jesus.
"All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do."
Galatians 2:10
It was a beautiful summer evening in the Amphitheater. The ultimate goal of the evening was to glorify God. We hoped to do that by worshiping Him through song and through raising awareness of those extremely important to Him, the poor. Tonight we highlighted one of the biggest issues for the poor which is lack of access to safe and clean drinking water. Did you know that as many as five million people die every year of water-related illnesses?
During the middle of our time together Malia spoke and shared her heart about this specific issue including a call to action. Amongst many other things she shared the following quote from Richard Stearns book, The Hole in our Gospel:
"The world we live in is under siege-three billion are desperately poor, one billion hungry, millions are trafficked in human slavery, ten million children die needlessly each year, wars and conflicts are wreaking havoc, pandemic diseases are spreading, ethnic hatred is flaming, and terrorism is growing. Most of our brothers and sisters in Christ in the developing world live in grinding poverty. And in the midst of this stands the Church of Jesus Christ in America, with resources, knowledge, and tools unequaled in the history of Christendom. I believe that we stand on the brink of a defining moment. We have a choice to make.
When historians look back in one hundred years, what will they write about this nation of 340,000 churches? What will they say of the Church's response to the great challenges of our time - AIDS, poverty, hunger, terrorism, war? Will they say that these authentic Christians rose up courageously and responded to the tide of human suffering, that they rushed to the front lines to comfort the afflicted and to douse the flames of hatred? Will they write of an unprecedented outpouring of generosity to meet the urgent needs of the world's poor? Will they speak of the moral leadership and compelling vision of our leaders? Will they write that this, the beginning of the twenty-first century, was the Church's finest hour?
Or will they look back and see a Church too comfortable, insulated from the pain of the rest of the world, empty of compassion, and devoid of deeds? Will they write about a people who stood by and watched while a hundred million died of AIDS and fifty million children were orphaned, of Christians who lived in luxury and self-indulgence while millions died for lack of food and water? Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics? In short, will we be remembered as the Church with a gaping hole in its gospel?"
Tonight a group of Christians from the Salem/Keizer community made a choice. Over 150 people gathered to worship their mighty God through song and together they gave 1,170 dollars to help the poorest of the Haitians have access to clean water. 500 of those dollars will complete the money amount needed by the Haitian Rotary to have two wells built that will provide over 1000 people with fresh clean water. The remaining 670 dollars will also be given to the Haitians. (We will update you soon exactly where that money is going.)
Could a movement of uniting to worship God through our sacrificial giving to the poor have begun in our community? I hope so! Praise Jesus.
"All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do."
Galatians 2:10
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
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