The Upload
Posted on Jan 30, 2015 by
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week!
This past Sunday, Salem held its annual meeting. Over 90 confirmed members came to the meeting to talk about Salem’s past and our future. We reviewed our ministries from the past year and we reviewed our financial status. We talked about what our future might look like, and the Past Presidents Advisory Team shared with us how they will work on developing a new long-range plan in 2015. We talked about expanding our staff in 2015, and how we believe God is calling us to continue the work of Pantry Pack, Children’s Memorial, the Urban Ministry Collaborative, and our leadership development ministry. We approved our 2015 budget and we also talked about and overwhelmingly approved our new Welcome Statement. God is truly calling us to do amazing things!
As I said in my note last week, God’s call is a difficult call to respond to. In many ways, we are like Jonah, running away from God’s call and hoping God will not find us, but we can’t run from God and we can’t hide from God. He is a loving and persistent God who has called us to repent, believe the good news and proclaim it. And after I made this statement I asked the question: So, how will you proclaim the good news? The world is waiting for each of us to proclaim this good news, and the world needs to hear this good news.
Well, during the annual meeting, God challenged us to answer this question not with our words, but with our actions. In the midst of this very important meeting, a “stranger” (Georgia) walked in and sat down. She immediately broke down in tears because she had lost her job, the utility company was about to shut off her power, she had no food for her family, and she had nowhere to turn. She was desperate, and she needed help. And the people of Salem put into action what they had been talking about in the meeting. Within seconds of this woman sharing her story, some folks had already gathered to make sure her utility bill was paid. Others offered money to help her buy some food. Still others invited her to eat lunch with us, and others even found some clothes for her infant granddaughter that was with her. Most importantly, all of us prayed with her. This community didn’t even have to think about what being the light of Christ meant. In that moment, the folks of Salem responded to God’s call, and they did it with absolute joy.
As your pastor, I cannot tell you how proud and thrilled I was at how we so generously responded to this woman as a community, but the true blessing was the blessing we received from Georgia and her family. God’s call for our lives can be difficult and scary at times, but as we learned on Sunday, God’s call is always filled with joy.
Have a blessed week.
Shalom,
Pastor Dave