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
Comments(3) Login to Post Comments
Terry Klare on May 6, 2010 5:34pm
We were so blessed to be a part of Fellowship Serves last Sunday, my husband and I were part of the group that handed out packets at the apartments. Although we didn't have too many doors opened for us we left the packets with hopes that the families that retrieved them would be touched by the love of Christ. The highlight of the day for me was when a little girl from the apartments came right up to me and gave me a big hug.
Now tell me who was getting the blessing here??
We were not able to stay for the meal at Tasby but I'm sure it was great fun. I hope that as a Body we will do much more of this sort of hands on ministry.
A big thank you to all who organized this whole event and obeyed the voice of the Lord.
Blessings,
1 John 5:14-15
Raelene Headley on May 11, 2010 8:38pm
I had the pleasure of serving popcorn and nachos. Making the popcorn was fun. I enjoyed watching the children come up to the table, hesitant at first to reach for the popcorn, then as a warm hello and a welcome came their way, they jumped right in, with smiles on their faces. We had a 16 year old young man helping us too. For me the most blessed time was during the graduation ceremony. I had only tutored on one Friday night, yet tears streamed down my face and my heart swelled with joy as I watched each graduate pick up their diploma. I was so honored to be a part of "Fellowship Serves". I want to thank everyone who worked so hard to put this together.
Diane Lafving on May 26, 2010 4:11pm
Just wanted to chime in to say how glad I am that we had a project here at the church for people who were not ready to get on a bus. It was delightful to see the Conrad teacher appreciation packets come together. There were several whole families who came dressed for church, so it was perfect to have adults and children working side by side. We definitely got our glitter fix as the kids had a great time gluing and decorating the hand-written cards the adults were making.
Looking forward to meeting some of the teachers when they come to the baccalaureate we are holding here June 1!