Externally Focused

If your church vanished, would your community care?
Would your city leaders notice that you're gone?
Would your local schools be surprised by your absence?
Would the underprivileged and those living in poverty note a difference?

The Externally Focused Network is a ministry that trains churches to impact their communities with good news and good deeds. There's an excellent, although lengthy, article on their website called How Externally Focused Churches Minister to Children. In the following excerpt, Omar Reyes, Community Development Director for NorthWood Church in Keller, Texas, shares some thoughts on outreach to children:


Working with children, especially those in the community who may come and go out of a program, can be frustrating work. “People don’t always get involved because they do not see immediate results. You have to pour your life into kids and realize that you may never see the results,” encourages Omar. He makes this statement not simply from observation, but from his own childhood experiences. Born and raised in Belize, Omar says Canadian missionaries had a huge influence on his life. “They came in 50 years ago and won my parents to Christ. All the way from elementary to college, the missionaries taught me. I was the kid that they reached out to. I was on the other side. I didn’t know how much it formed in me until much later in life.”

After he left Belize, the missionaries never saw him again and may never know what an impact they had on his life. “I would go in Monday and stay all week, like a boarding school. Those missionaries had me cutting wood and baking bread and they poured their life into me. And yet, I grew up rebellious, and most of them don’t know what’s going on with me now.” Omar’s own life is testimony that to work and change a generation means pouring out and leaving the results up to God.

“Abraham should be our example of what it means to pour your life out and change a nation,” he says. The Bible says that Abraham gave his life to something that he could only see from a far off and Hebrews 11: 1, 2 says: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for."

Omar says, “You cannot care for glory if you are going to work with kids. It is not the work that pleases God. It’s because of their faith that God commended Abraham, Moses, David, Samuel and others. Even if we don’t see immediate results in serving children, we have faith that God will bring the results and change a nation and a generation.”

Defying Description

Sometimes words are overrated.
I have no words to adequately describe what you see below.
Just this -- please come to the auction and outbid Matt on these cutesy aprons.

Thank you very much.

Points = Prizes!

Kids Klubbers have been earning points over the past few weeks -- points for attendance, memory verse, behavior, and answering review questions.

They finally got to "cash in" those points for prizes yesterday.

Some of the prizes were donations from Toys for Tots; others came from local churches or individuals.

A few of the prize recipients:

The Wall

I'm afraid I've fallen off the photo-taking / blogging bandwagon in the last week or so. I have been taking photos, but they happen to be mostly of inanimate objects! This beautiful quilt arrived last week. It comes from intern Emily's church in Indiana.

Another auction item -- anyone interested in an antique radio?

I did discover some recent photos taken of some very highly animated objects! Not too long ago, I opened up the Rec Center after school, and these guys had an absolute blast jumping and rolling in our miniature inflatable bounce house.

I was told that they wanted their pictures posted on "The Wall," so I grabbed my camera and began clicking away.

Now their smiling faces grace "The Wall" of the Rec Center, along with updated photos of other children who currently attend Rec Center, Kids Klub, and Tutoring.

Thursday Quiz

It's a Thursday quiz.

What Bible verse best describes Phoenix right now?
a) Genesis 6:17 "For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth..."
b) Genesis 7:17 "The flood continued...."
c) Psalm 29:10 "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood..."
d) All of the above

What town, according to Wikipedia, averages 85% of possible sunshine and receives scant rainfall, the average annual total at Sky Harbor Airport being 8.3 inches?
a) Seattle, Washington
b) Detroit, Michigan
c) Nashville, Tennessee
d) Phoenix, Arizona


Yep, it's true, folks. The desert is having a flood. At least five inches of rain were predicted for areas of the Valley today. That's like 60% of the year's rainfall coming on one day. In case you haven't figured it out by now, the correct answer to both of the questions above is (d).

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In other news, when all of this water evaporates, we're going to have an auction! Items have begun arriving:

These are just a few of the items that have been donated. Visit our auction site to preview more items and find out all the auction details.

The Old Spaghetti Factory

Yesterday evening, we gathered at this spot in the heart of downtown Phoenix:

We started with salad....

munched on some warm French bread,

and then moved on to oodles of noodles.

Doesn't such teamwork just bless your heart?

Aim Right has a lot of Alfredo-ites and not as many Marinara-ites.

See? Alfredo-ites!

More Alfredo-ites!

At last....a brave Marinara-ite!

A teen wrote these words on a thank you note to the donor who generously made the meal possible: Thank you with all the love in the world...God bless.

Indeed!

Volunteers

We couldn't make it without volunteers.

And we're blessed they're volunteers, because we couldn't pay them what they're worth.

An anonymous donor recently sent in a sum designated for a meal for volunteers, staff, and youth. That meal is scheduled for this evening, and through this generous donor, we'll be able to pass along a small thank you to our hard-working volunteers, because they certainly deserve appreciation for their dedication to this cause.

I recently came across this brief, humorous video a church produced on why donuts are the best form of appreciation for volunteers. See if you agree!

We Love Our Volunteers