Yet each time we were asked where we went to church, we would invite folks to church in Estero, but there was no interest in going so far away. Due to the fact we were only hosting a home fellowship in Lehig once a week, this was just not enough to get plugged into for many folks. During the time we were attending the church in Estero, we were encouraged to get plugged in somewhere. It was a dilemma of sorts due to the fact that we knew our involvement there was just temporary. When our purpose and vision was unclear for Lehigh, we decided to listen to the folks telling us to get plugged in. We continued praying but due to circumstances beyond our control we began to doubt God's ministry in Lehigh....... Our doubt lead us to believe we should just get plugged into something that is established (Estero). We did just that the next time someone asked for our help, yet all the while we were doing this, there was no peace. The more time and energy we placed into getting plugged into our current fellowship was taking away from the ministry God had already placed on our hearts for Lehigh.
After a couple months of clarity, we began to feel the Lord calling us back to Lehigh. We shared our excitement and hearts with the folks in our current fellowship. Some were very encouraging and excited with us at what the Lord was doing!
After a lot of prayer, we have come to be apart of a church here in Lehigh that shares our passion to reach the lost. It is an intimate fellowship where everybody knows your name. They strive, through much prayer, to reach out and getting to know the people in this town. There are so many reasons why people will not step foot inside the doors of a church, so this is the reason why they chose to go to them. Sometimes this means going door to door and other times it means hosting events at local parks. The idea is to be available to the people we meet and to let them know how much Jesus loves and cares for them. We have been apart of 2 of their community outreaches. In each one, God clearly made appointments with some people who did not know Him. Others that did know Him embraced what we were doing and were very encouraging to chat with. Something we heard over and over again was the fact that people really are looking for a church but are at a loss when it comes to finding the right fit. It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to meet people where they are at, pray with them or just love on them.
The most awesome part was the fact that I am not the only one thrilled to get to do this. Our kids were richly blessed while getting the privilege to bless others. One thing I saw in them was that you can not raise children with evangelistic or servants hearts unless they are given the role models to see faith in action. No scripts, no do overs, but priceless opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. To leave God's fingerprints in the places unseen. We are all just so privileged to become apart of something bigger than ourselves that God is doing to lead people to Himself. Fruit born due to a labor of love is one that lasts for eternity.
Being a child, my eldest saw a need that us adults didn't see at the last outreach. She asked, "What about the kids? Can we give them something tangible to show them Jesus?" Our pastor was very supportive and told her to think about how we could meet that need. At first, she just wanted to give the kids some candy, but after we talked about it she saw a more eternal need. Giving candy is sweet but eternity with Christ is even sweeter. We looked up how to make salvation bracelets. Her enthusiasm lead to ask if she could do this with her own money. In support of her ideas a few of the ladies at church helped pitch in with supplies as well. Both the girls ended up handing them out and diligently sowing seeds alongside the adults.
Afterward, all the folks without heat exhaustion came on over to the house for some pool time and fellowship! There is nothing better than spending some quality time with our church family!
