Go Beyond

I recently saw a sign outside of a church in our community that caught my attention. The message on the sign announced the Pastor’s current sermon series — “Who is Jesus?” As I continued down the road, I thought about the question on the sign. While the question is relevant, I wondered if non-church-goers would actually attend that church in order to hear the answer to the question. Would they be more likely to stay home and Google the answer or would they actually attend one of the church’s services to hear the answer? My guess is that folks are more likely to stay home and even less likely to Google the answer.

When one of our small groups assisted a single mom in our community with some practical needs, her neighbor saw the activity and walked across the street. He asked one of our volunteers what we were doing. The volunteer explained that the single mom was in the midst of some tough times and did not have the funds to make some necessary house repairs. The man looked toward our Go Beyond project van and asked if the volunteers were members of Kingsland Baptist Church. “Yes,” replied our volunteer, “we are all members and are here to demonstrate God’s love to this woman by meeting some of her needs.” The man scratched his head and replied, “I am not a Christian and have never had a desire to go to any church. I never realized that Christianity was about stuff like this — helping those in need. But, if that is what Christianity is about, then I am certainly interested in learning more about Jesus.” That man’s interest in learning about Jesus was awakened when Jesus turned up in his neighborhood in the guise of two-dozen volunteers.

Sunday, March 7, is Kingsland’s third annual Caring for Katy day. We will close the doors to the church on Sunday and send two-thousand of our members into the community to be Jesus with skin on. Our small groups will bless residents of Katy through fifty-eight service projects. These practical acts of kindness will touch the guys who sell newspapers on street corners, nursing home residents, widows and single moms, families in need, local churches and assistance ministries, and more. We will invest over $100,000.00 in meeting needs on March 7. We are doing all of this because we love God and love people. We believe that many folks in our community are longing for help and hungry for hope. And, we want to help. No strings attached.

A couple hundred Kingsland members were out in the community today, getting a head start on their projects. One group is doing home repairs for a woman with two small children whose husband was recently deployed to Afghanistan. The group serving at her home is installing a new fence, painting the interior of her home, providing a new freezer, and more. This young woman was so overjoyed that she contacted her husband via Skype. She walked around holding the camera on her computer so that her husband could see what was happening. He too, was overcome with joy and gratitude. We are grateful for the opportunity to bless this family and the many others whom we will serve on Sunday. Our hope is that folks in our community will be prompted to glorify God (Matt. 5:16) because Jesus with skin on turned up to help in their neighborhood.