May 04, 2010
My May 2 "Fellowship Serves" Story
What an incredible day Sunday, May 2nd was in my life and the life of Fellowship Dallas. In my 25 years of involvement with this church I’ve never been so blessed to be part of our fellowship as I was that day when we all went out honoring God and blessing our community (or, better, our neighbors) in such tangible and meaningful ways. Gary reminded us in the commissioning service beforehand that Jesus gave us in Mark 12:30-31 the greatest commandment of all: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. For at least a few hours in Vickery Meadow, God fulfilled this "Great Commandment" through the 1400 or so people who took part in our "Fellowship Serves" day.
After we got everyone on the buses, I drove around the area before going to my work site at Town North Bible Church. I saw orange and yellow (T-shirt wearing) embodiments of Jesus everywhere I looked. It was a vivid picture of 2 Corinthians 2:14-16(a) and 5:20.
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us [Fellowship Dallas, especially on May 2] in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere [in Vickery Meadow, Town North Bible Church, etc.] the fragrance of the knowledge of him [and the beauty of the sight of him wearing yellow and orange T-shirts]. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life… . We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
I served with my small group at Town North putting a new coat of paint on their exterior doors. Then I went back to Tasby Middle School for the festival and graduation of the latest Refugee Empowerment Pathway students. What a beautifully diverse sight all of that was. Then I joined the team at the Biltmore Apartments as they were finishing the installation of playground equipment. It was there that I had "my moment". Young Hispanic and Arab boys pitched in to help us build their playground. The pride and joy on their faces was a tremendous blessing that has stuck with me. It makes me want to go back and get to know them and their families. See how it works? We go out and bless others in the name of Jesus and we end up getting blessed and wanting to bless them even more. That's the kingdom being extended. What a wonderful thing to be part of and, obviously, I don't need to wait for next year's "Fellowship Serves" day to experience it again.
Thank you to everybody who served so beautifully and effectively, for being a sweet fragrance of life and a bright—yellow and orange—light of life and hope in Jesus. We loved God well on Sunday, May 2nd and we certainly loved our neighbors as ourselves. I know for sure that it can now be said of Fellowship Dallas that, if we weren’t here, we truly would be missed by our neighbors. And don't fail to realize that who they would really miss is Jesus who they are seeing in us. Let’s keep making that more and more of a reality.
It is important that we all recount and celebrate our experiences of that day. I invite you to share your stories and moments here on this blog.
For the Kingdom,
Tommy
