Servolution Sunday - Sharpen Conference 2010

Teams from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Barrie invaded their community with planned service projects this past Sunday.
One team visited a seniors home and ministered to them with a hymn sing.
Another team visited some patients in the hospital, and did some singing as well.
A team of fifty people cleaned-up a local park.
And a couple of dozen people went door-to-door in the local community, and in just one hour, collected over 600 pounds of donations for the Barrie Food Bank.

How to Make an Eternal Impact... Kid-Style

A little girl decided to sell an old scooter that she had in the garage. A friend from down the street bought it from her for ten dollars.

The girl put the ten dollars into a glass jar. She is collecting money to give to her church's building campaign, called Impact (see previous post).

Her father asked why she was willing to donate the whole ten dollars. "You don't have to give all of it," he said. "Just give a part of it."

"I want to give the whole ten dollars," the little girl said. "The church needs more space for kids, and we need a bigger youth room, too!"

Lord, what do you want to do through me to accomplish your will?

Responding to the Call

Josh is going to Haiti to work with Emmanuel's Wish Foundation to help establish an orphanage to meet the tangible needs of orphans of the Haiti earthquake.

On Sunday, February 14th, Josh shared with the young adults at Emmanuel Baptist Church about how God has led him to respond to the need in Haiti. Josh shared how he feels like he doesn't a have choice but to respond in obedience to God's call on his life to go and serve the least of these in Haiti.

This trip is happening on very short notice, and it's amazing to see how God has not only called Josh to respond, but how He has opened the doors for Josh's mission and even his travel. We heard how no new teams are being allowed to travel into the area, but Josh's travel plans have already been set. Josh will be on the ground for at least three months, doing whatever needs to be done there in order to meet the needs around him. Please see our previous posts about Josh's plans and the need in Haiti.

Please be in prayer for Josh as he travels later this week and as he begins the work in Haiti.

Josh sharing to a group of young adults on Sunday evening.

Josh being commissioned and prayed for by his peers.

"Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth" (1 John 3:18 NIV).

Haiti | Sacrificial Love

This is Josh.

Josh saw the destruction and the suffering caused by the earthquake in Haiti, and decided that he had to respond.

Josh is dropping everything to go to Haiti in order to help establish an emergency orphanage with Emmanuel's Wish Foundation (EWF). He will be leaving February 19th to spend three months in the village of Deskoyte, an impoverished community of about 100 residents approximately four hours drive outside of Port au Prince. The EWF missionaries that are already on the ground have had to change gears quickly as they committed to the care of up to 150 earhquake orphans.

While in Haiti, Josh will:

• help to take care of the children;


• do odd jobs around the property as required;


• visit the injured children in the hospital until they are well enough to be released to the orphanage;


• deliver clothing and emergency supplies while waiting for the container of supplies to arrive;


• anything else that needs to be done to meet the tangible physical, social, and spiritual needs of these children.

Josh has caught the meaning behind the words of James, the brother of Jesus, who said that,

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress" (James 1:27).

Josh's financial needs for the trip have already been met, but if you wish to donate toward EWF's work, you can contact them directly here.

Please be in prayer for Josh, for his travels, and for his work for the Kingdom.

An Outpouring of Love

It's awesome to see God work through His people!

Here are some highlights from the past few days and weeks:

• The Emmanuel church family has donated over $10,000 dollars to FAIR for Haiti Relief. This amount will be matched by the Canadian government, and will be used in a coordinated effort by this fellowship of churches;



• Christians from across Barrie participated in the Barrie Cares: Hope for Haiti concert last Saturday at Mapleview Community Church. Almost $27,000 was raised!



• The Atrium of Emmanuel Baptist Church was used as a donation point for the Emmanuel's Wish Foundation Haiti Relief effort. Truckloads of donated items from the needs list were delivered to Emmanuel's Wish to be transported by container to their emergency orphanage;



• A young man from Emmanuel Baptist Church has stepped forward and is making plans to travel to Haiti very soon to assist with the immediate "hands and feet" work at the emergency orphanage set up by Emmanuel's Wish.

To further assist in these efforts, please contribute directly to Emmanuel's Wish or your charity of choice. Please read more about what your donations to the Fellowship FAIR programme are doing here. Thank you to all who stepped up to sacrificially give their items, money, and time.

Just some of the donated items that will be loaded into a container for the orphanage in Haiti.

Speaking Louder than Words

I had the priviledge the other day to serve with the homeless, and it's amazing to see God show up in unexpected ways.

It happened in a casual conversation between a few of us volunteers and a homeless fellow. The client of the shelter was very engaging, well-spoken, and intelligent... We had a great conversation about life, addiction, and about God.

The interesting thing about the conversation was that there was another volunteer present who actively listened to our entire conversation. While we were talking about faith and the struggles that we share and how we rely on the Lord, this young man showed genuine interest and was engaged with the exchange. This was not the first opportunity to share with this non-Christian co-worker, either.

Our actions validate the good news... This young man is witnessing the love of Christ in action, and not only that, but is hearing about faith in Christ from an unexpected source, a homeless man.

Someone once said, let's just act and see what God blesses. Well, let's show God's love, then.

Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Brown-bagging it

A friend of Servolution recently saw someone at a busy Barrie intersection with a sign asking for help. You might see this in the big city alot, but not so much in Barrie.

Our friend's 11 year-old daughter in the back seat of the minivan asked if there was something that they could do to help the person, but the stoplight turned green and she was forced to move with the traffic and drive away.

At home, this family decided to pack a brown-bag lunch for the person in need, and intentionally returned to the intersection to drop it off.

Mercy. Compassion. Intention.... Servolution.

Is Santa Really REAL?

Here's a letter from a 7 year old girl to Santa because she had doubts about his existence. Don't miss the jolly old elf's response! (Re-posted from The Church of No People).



"Dear Santa, I need to prove that you are real, so if you will sign here that would be great!
Love Rachel
P.S. I love Christmas!"



On Christmas morning, the letter was signed and the cookies were eaten, but Mr. Kringle also wrote this letter:

My Dearest Rachel:

Thank you so much for your letter. It was so nice of you to take the time to write me. Your mom and dad have been very proud of you and your brother this year. Even though you don't always get along, I know that you love each other very much. Sometimes brothers and sisters just get on each other's nerves! You are such a sweet girl. I especially love the way you are always concerned about someone else's feelings, even when they have been unkind to you. It takes a very special person to love that way.

Now as to your question of whether or not I am real. The simple answer is yes, I am. The complete answer requires a bit more complicated explanation. There are many boys and girls of all ages that either believed in me at one time, then stopped believing, or simply have never believed in me. There are even some boys and girls that have never heard of me, if you can believe that! Rachel, what I would like you to understand is that your belief in me makes me real. For as long as your heart tells you that there is a Santa Claus, that is where I will be. For those who say I am not real, I do not exist; for those who believe, I do exist.

I would also like to clear up a little rumor about me that has been going around since before I can remember. It is not true that only good boys and girls get presents from Santa. There are many very good children that get very little; there are others who have been very naughty indeed, yet get lots of toys. The decisions about who gets what toys I must leave to their moms and dads. It is not my place to make these choices.

The truth of the matter is that none of us are truly good except for Jesus. And Christmas is about celebrating God coming to earth in the form of a little baby born in Bethlehem. There may come a day when you no longer believe in me, and I want you to know that that is okay with me. Like I said before, I exist in the hearts of those who choose to believe in me. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, has no such limitations. He is real whether you choose to believe in Him or not, and He loves all of us so very much that He left His perfect home with God so we could someday join Him there. I know I am very special to you, and I appreciate that very much. But I also know you understand that Christmas is not about me; it is about celebrating the birth of Jesus -- the very best gift of all. A very Merry Christmas to you.

Love, Santa Claus

Love the City

On Saturday, a couple of dozen Christ-followers from three local churches descended on the Barrie Kozlov Mall with a very simple goal in mind: Love the City.

People who came to the mall had the doors opened for them, were given free candy canes, and were wished a Merry Christmas.
2,500 Candy Canes were handed out! Each candy cane had a card attached that pointed people to the Love the City website where they can find out more about area churches.

The event organizer, Tim Maassarany, had this to say about people's reactions:

"It's funny how no one expects anything to be free anymore... It was amazing how many people asked if we were collecting donations, or why we were handing out free candy canes. It was hard for some people to accept that they were free, and that was really cool."

Showing people the love of Christ through simple acts of kindness and service will help our light to shine for Him! Stay tuned for more Love the City events that you can get involved with!

Miracle at Walmart

A mom and her nine-year-old boy were living in their van... and then the van was towed away, and they were left homeless, with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

A pastor and some Christ-followers responded to the need. Watch the video:



Here are a couple of quotes from the video that speak for themselves:

You know, the "Call of God" is man's need. It's not waiting for some voice on a mountain top. If you've responded to a need, then you've responded to God's call. And that's it.

(Pastor Matthew Barnett, Dream Center)

I hope you do this in your neighbourhood, because this has been amazing, and you need to experience what we're experiencing.

(Mark Horvath, invisible people)

This is a tangible demonstration of the Kingdom by followers of Christ stepping up in a simple way. What an opportunity to show love to this young mother, and to use this opportunity to introduce her to the Gospel message!

Serving up some Gospel Soup!

You would think that when you serve at an out-of-the-cold programme, God's main purpose for using you is to meet the physical needs of the homeless on a cold, winter night. No doubt, that's really high on God's priority list... just read Matthew 25! Then this happened:

This evening, while a group of volunteers were chatting during some down-time, we got to talking about why we were doing what we were doing. The conversation turned to spiritual matters, to God, to church...

When we pray that God would use us, watch out, because He will! Maybe not in the way you expect, either. This evening, doors opened for the Gospel to be spoken into the lives of other humanitarian volunteers. Relationships began to be built. Relationships built on trust and on a shared purpose.

Serving others to meet their physical needs out of the love of Christ is not the same as humanitarian work. We do it because Jesus loves us so much that the only response is to love him back and to love others, as well. This passage came to mind while giving that reason to the other volunteers:

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

Go and serve somewhere, and watch for how God will show up!

This little light of mine...

A text message from Cuba today gave new meaning to the phrase "Let your light shine."

A small team travelled to Cuba this week to assess the damage to a local evangelical church. In January, a full construction team of volunteers will go there to rebuild the delapidated church building.

The Cuban Church Building

The team has spent the last few days visiting the poor, the sick, and the elderly.

While there, they met a woman who has spent the past three months living in a 10 X 10 ft shack. This space, no bigger than a garden shed, includes her kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. On Saturday, the woman was able to get some electrical wire run to her make-shift home.

But... The woman in the shack had a light socket... but no light bulb.

The team found a spare light bulb at the mission house they are at, and delivered light to the woman's home. "High five's all around," as they celebrated one light bulb.

How much will one small act of delivering a simple light bulb--something we take for granted--change this woman's life?

Remember that old Sunday School song? This little light of mine... I'm gonna' let it shine!

Living Water

Compassion, not Consumption.

Since 2006, Christians have been joining the Advent Conspiracy to "Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All".

One compelling success story is that by targeting global poverty instead of indulging in consumerism each Christmas, over 340 wells have been drilled which have drastically changed the lives of more than 200,000 people for the better!

(Graphic borrowed fromLiving Water International)

Not only are lives being impacted in real, physical, tangible ways... Doors are opening for the sharing of the gospel.

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thristy again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14 NIV).

This is just one way that we can share the love of Christ and store up treasures in Heaven this Christmas.

Love one another.

This story was recently shared with us:

"Two couples of our Small Group came to help us move our daughter & grandson into our home. Their love and help was wonderful and so encouraging.
We were served with amazing love...
We thank God for such Christian love!"

Isn't this an encouraging story? When people see the love of the Christian community, it speaks to our witness. Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

How have you shown love to someone in your church this week? Have you lended a hand, where help was needed? Have you given someone an encouraging phone call? Have you gone out of your way to show Christ's love to someone, whether in your church community or to someone in your neighbourhood, workplace, or school?

Comment here, or email us your story that might inspire others...

Servolution on Campus

Some college students hit the local campus to hand out free boxes of macaroni and cheese to any and every college student they saw. The boxes came complete with a servolution card attached to point the students to the servolution website where they could hear about the love of Christ!

Other students spent the afternoon baking cookies, which they delivered to firefighters at the local firehall.

The student teams met later to purchase some warm socks which they delivered to the Out of the Cold Programme.

Showing the love of Christ to others in tangible ways can be so easy! What ideas do you have for serving others with the love of Christ?

Impacting our World

A recent submission to the servolution website said this:

It was my family whose house was almost totally renovated with the help from a lot of people at church. I am so thankful for all the help we received to help get my house ready to move into. The love that was shown was absolutely amazing just like God's love. Thank you so much for all your help. I really appreciate it and getting to know so many more people from our church community.

This kind of service for others is part of our witness to the world. Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).

Another website submission said this:

The greatest act of kindness was that a special family at Emmanuel helped me send my daughter to Fall retreat where I know that is the greatest place she should be.
Thank-you

...and another:

The person in front of me paid for my Tim Horton's coffee..
I just wanted to say thank you.

After experiencing the love of Christ in such a simple way, this person came to the servolution website and had the opportunity to hear about Christ's love, perhaps for the first time. As a previous story illustrated for us, God is already at work all around us, and we simply need to be receptive and willing to respond with love.

How have you experienced or demonstrated the love of Christ? We'd love to hear your story. Comment here, or anonymously here, or email servolution.

Seeds

This is a true story.

A couple were out for a walk along the city's waterfront, when they came across a young lady who was looking for her keys. They continued walking, keeping a close eye out for the lost keys.

The gentleman then suggested that they offer the young lady a ride home so that she could get her spare keys.

The young lady wasn't sure where her spare keys might be, so it could take some time to find them while they wait for her.

That's fine, they said... But they did need to get to their Bible study on time!
The young lady asked what church the couple went to, and when they told her, she said that she had some friends who had gone to that church to take the Alpha course. She was also interested in attending Alpha, and she had been reading her Bible.

Isn't it interesting how God can use us through a simple act of kindness? God was already at work in this young woman's life. The Christian couple, aware of and receptive to the opportunity to respond to a simple need in a simple way, were in the right place to plant--or perhaps, to water--a seed.