This project is badly needed by our church family, many who can no longer navigate down the steps to the basement for fellowship, meals...and more importantly, to use the non-handicap accessible bathrooms. What we would like is an extension on the main floor out to the east that would accommodate new bathrooms, a fellowship hall, a new worker-friendly kitchen, a couple of offices and a library/family room.
Sometimes this task of building seems overwhelming. After all, we are in a recession, and we have a lot of old people who attend our church and they are on fixed incomes. We're not a church with a lot of rich people. We're definitely a "blue-collar" congregation. I think I was beginning to wallow and wonder if an addition were possible.
And then my dad received a letter from his sister Delma this week. Delma and her husband used to live in Linton. She is now widowed and living in Oklahoma where her son Mike is a pastor at an Assembly of God Church. She has another son, Bob, who is also an Assembly of God pastor but currently he is serving time in a Texas prison...and conducting ministries in jail. If you don't believe me, check out this website: www.chiefministries.com.
Anyway, Delma is telling me that Bob, her son in prison, is now building a new halfway house in Houston. "It will be called Chief's House," she writes. "All papers have been filled and approved. Now they are looking for land."
Her son Mike, who is a pastor in Oklahoma said, "I don't understand how Bob's in prison and can build a halfway house?" My Aunt Delma replied, "With God, all things are possible." She continued in the letter saying, "When Denny and I heard God tell us to build an Assembly of God church in Linton, we didn't have any money. God supplied all of it for four and half years."
Currently, Delma is sending Bibles and writing letters to men who are in prison. She writes that God is providing her with about $600 a month to pay for Bibles.
When I finished reading her letter, I was filled with God's inspiration and can't help but think, "Our church can do it, too."
So thought I would share this with my faithful readers. The photo is of my Aunt Delma and three of her children: daughters Peggy and Shirley and son Mike. The picture was taken in Mike's church. Peggy lives in Mandan and Shirley lives in Jamestown.
3 comments:
I would add a big "Amen" to your aunt's faithful statement, "with God, nothing is impossible". Sometimes the faithful must walk beyond their vision.
If last night's meeting was any indication, God is already working in the hearts of the people in our church. We could even think about this as a huge church-wide service project to our community.
I have two thoughts on the topic. One is reality and one is a miracle. The miracle, I would say, is the supernatural intervention by God to move in accordance to our wishes. This can be accomplished and simplified when reality is such that natural things are put into place to accomplish the goal. For instance God could say “let there be an addition to the church” and it would and could happen. More practical would be to pray that a carpenter and a plumber willing to help build the addition would become members of the church. Pray for funding and get the money before starting the project. In this instance it is helpful to write letters to people with money, often other churches looking to give to a worthy cause. In Delma’s case the money for Bibles comes from people who feel the need to give money to help her out. She set that in motion over the years. In my opinion, God can and does move in miraculous ways but, at times, it happens very subtly. I believe He set the stage with his Word and natural events moving due to that Word cause things to happen. Back to the carpenter and plumber, events move them from place to place. Prayer can move them to your church. The Bible says “ask anything using my name” “Jesus” “and it will be done”. If you don’t already have a carpenter and a plumber in the church and they show up after prayer, I’d say your ready to start your project.
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