The Children of the Nations Ripple Continues

I still have a smile on my face! Yesterday was such a joyful experience as I attended the Party with a Purpose Food Assembly with Children of the Nations (www.cotni.org) at Iglesia Covenant Church. This is a small Hispanic Church which meets at Highland Covenant in Bellevue, WA.

They are one of our kingdom partnerships with which we have developed quite a friendship. The people of Iglesia are such a gift with their overflowing love for one another and their delight at having fun and their natural way of living in community with one another.

We walked in and they had started early. They were just finishing putting together 2,000 meals when supernaturally God multiplied their money. They ended up with enough money to donate and assemble 5,220 meals! This was such a gift to them they were in awe of how God provided for them.

This is significant because they were very discouraged one year ago. They had been through a nasty split with a pastor who had some bad theology and they were a broken people. But, God hadn't deserted them. I came to preach and the Lord poured out words of encouragement through me even though I didn't know anything about their current situation. I remember one of the Words God gave me was that they were to be done being discouraged, that God was bringing forth a new way and a new day.

It has happened. They have a new pastor, a woman, who was one of them. She came from Mexico just as the interim pastor was leaving. Iglesia is reaching out to their community through bringing meals to tent city, and now by hosting the food assembly.

Our Tanzenian friends Kedman and Pendo came to lead some energetic African music which only made the food assemblying much more fun as everyone sang and danced to the music. When we were done assemblying, we all came together in a circle as one person after another went to the middle and offered their favorite dance! Our little friend Annika ended up doing quite a duet with Kedman--a picture I will cherish for many days to come.

One of the sweetest and most impactful things to come out of yesterday was that Annika, who is 10 years old, has decided that she wants to have a Birthday Party with a Purpose.

She wants to make meals for hungry children in Africa, rather than receive a boatload of presents for herself.

This is Missio Lux at our best. We spent our money to serve the poor, but did it in a way that created community~with our kingdom friendships. We came together from different places: different ages, ethnicities, countries, continents, economic status', but when we were together, none of it mattered: it only mattered that we were enjoying God's heart beating in us as we moved closer to knowing him, closer to one another and closer to touching the heart of the world.