Blessed to be a Blessing

Jesus told the people to sit on the ground. Jesus took the seven loaves of bread and the fish. Then Jesus gave thanks to God for the food. Jesus divided the food and gave it to the followers. The followers gave the food to the people. All the people ate and were full. After this, the followers filled seven baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. There were about 4,000 men there that ate. There were also women and children that ate.

 

-- Matthew 15:35-38 (ERV)

                     
 

Jesus gave directions, gave thanks, and gave food so the disciples could give what the people needed to be filled and satisfied. These are wonderful blessings that Jesus gives. When we look to him and seek to really serve him, he blesses us with power and ability above our normal human capacity. This zone of blessing and ministry can also be ours if we will offer Jesus ourselves and remove the things we allow to get in the way of our faith in him. Bless you as you go through your day today quietly being the hands and feet of Christ.

Did you ever stop to think about what a worshipful experience it is to sit and watch the weather channel? Our God is an awesome God indeed!

Love Granbury May Project Report

What a great time we had this morning during our May Love Granbury service project.

This month we were asked by Mission Granbury to assist one of their clients in getting his property cleaned up around his house. It seems the elderly gentleman has fallen on some pretty tough times the last year or so. In fact, he just got released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago after suffering a mild stroke. His property had become so littered with trash and debris that the Hood County Health Department was getting ready to condemn his home...which would effectively evict the man from his home, making him homeless.

So this morning, the Church stepped up and showed up to be the hands and feet of Christ. On Friday afternoon, we had a 30 yard capacity trash dumpster delivered to the man's home, paid for by Mission Granbury and the Love Granbury ministry at Lakeside Baptist. In a little less than 2 hours this morning, our crew had completely filled the 30 yard dumpster.

While we didn't finish the project today, we made great progress! The man was so excited and happy! He just kept saying over and over again, "thank you so much for all you're doing." On Tuesday, the filled trash dumpster will be picked up and an empty one delivered. We are planning on returning to the man's home next Saturday, May 30th to finish the job.

If you'd like to join us and help out, we will be meeting at Lakeside Baptist at 10:00am next Saturday morning. What an incredible privilege to serve others as Ambassadors of Christ!

Kindness Explosion 09 Wrap Up

"This was so much fun…I want to do this every week" was what one participant of Kindness Explosion 09 had to say during the closing testimony time on Saturday afternoon. That pretty well summed up what most people said was by far the best Kindness Explosion yet. Twenty churches, hundreds of Believers from all different denominations, all coming together for the purpose of worshiping God and loving the community in His name.

Friday night's Kick-off service really set the tone for the weekend as Lincoln Wiseman and his band led in worship. The Rev. Tim Adams, who drove all afternoon through torrential downpours from San Antonio, delivered an inspiring message about the Good News that we have been entrusted to share and the power that it has to not only change individual lives both spiritually and physically, but to renew and transform entire neighborhoods and communities as well. Especially when the Body of Christ comes together to join our hearts, our hands, and our resources!

Then on Saturday morning, under cloudy and threatening skies, the Church went out to blanket the entire community with the love of Christ. What an incredible day it turned out to be in spite of the weather…which by the way, turned out to be not so bad. Well over 1,800 hot dogs, over a 1,000 bottles of water, hundreds of soft drinks, nearly 100 dozen homemade cookies and brownies, dozens and dozens of cars washed, dozens of bags of trash and litter picked up, countless smiles, and so many other acts of humble service done in the name and kindness of Christ…all with no strings attached!

Then after the Kindness Explosion ended at 2:00 pm, the Church came back to Granbury Baptist for an "agape feast" of food donated by numerous local eating establishments. Already the stories about the day were beginning to pour out as we gathered around the tables to eat. After lunch, everyone gathered in the sanctuary to hear the reports of how God worked throughout the day. Over the next few days, I'll be sharing some of those stories with you on this blog, so stay tuned!

I just want to thank all the congregations that took part in this year's Kindness Explosion and I hope you truly received a blessing for taking part. If you were a part of Kindness Explosion, be sure and spread the word about your KE experience to your brothers and sisters in your congregation and start encouraging them even now to plan on being a part of Kindness Explosion 10. Speaking of, be sure to go ahead and mark your calendars now with the dates for Kindness Explosion 10. Kindness Explosion 10 will take place on Friday, April 16^th and Saturday, April 17^th, 2010.

The Church has left the building!

 

Gas, Groceries and God’s Love

"Looks like you guys picked the wrong day to be out here," was the first remark we heard this morning a little after 9:00 AM as we gathered for our January Love Granbury service project. The temperature was a crisp 25 degrees and the wind chill was down around 15 degrees as we arrived at the Brookshires Gas Station on Morgan Street to pump gas and the Brookshires Supermarket to bag groceries and do carry out and cart return.

 

And even though it was pretty chilly, the look on people's faces when confronted with the unconditional love of God was more than enough to keep us warm. The people's reactions were varied…ranging from "I can't believe you guys are out here today," to "Why would you do this on such a cold day?" One of the students in our group had a great response when asked why we would be doing this on such a cold day. He simply replied, "hey, anybody can pump somebody's gas when it's sunny and seventy-five, but it really means something when it's cloudy and twenty five."

 

It never ceases to amaze me how God's love can be shown and shared through something like pumping someone's gas or bagging their groceries and carrying them to their car.

KE09 First Organizational Meeting

We are going to be having our first organizational meeting for KE09 on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 11:30 AM. We will be meeting at the Hood County Justice Center, located at 1200 W. Pearl Street (right next to the Granbury City Park) in the Hood County Court at Law jury meeting room. Just come in to the Justice Center and we will have signs and directions for where you need to go to find us. Also, we will have a light lunch provided for you at the meeting at no cost to you.

We are so excited about this year's Kindness Explosion. Every one of the congregations who participated last year have already indicated that they are going to join us again this year, and we know of at least several new congregations joining us this year! That's one of the most exciting things about Kindness Explosion - seeing God bring His church...His Body - together in unity and in love to reach out in His name to the greater Granbury/Hood County area.

We look forward to seeing each of you on Tuesday, January 27th at 11:30 AM.

Love Granbury Announces Host for Kindness Explosion 09!

Love Granbury is excited to announce that Granbury Baptist Church will be our hosts for the third annual Kindness Explosion 09, April 17-18, 2009!

Granbury Baptist is one of the fastest growing churches in Hood County and they have a tremendous passion for reaching out to the community, and we are so excited that they have agreed to host this years event.

The Kindness Explosion is a two day event where local churches of varied denominational backgrounds come together to worship and pray together, and then go out into the community and serve the community as one church - all to the glory of God! We believe that there is no greater witness than the church, as one unified body of Believers, reaching out in genuine love and compassion to the community through humble acts of kindness. We seek to redefine the church in our community by actively planting seeds of God's unconditional love in the hearts of every man, woman and child in this community.

Stay tuned for more details about KE09 coming in the next few weeks!