A Weekend to Remember

What a crazy weekend this has been!  On Friday I rented a Uhaul truck and drove Compassion Day construction materials to several different locations in Pittsburgh.  When I was done with that, I made my way over to the Faison Primary School in Homewood to set up for the annual Harvest Party that North Way hosts at the school.  Over 1,000 people signed up to attend!  The Harvest Party ended up being a big hit, even though we were nervous about having enough food, candy, and room for that many people.  It all worked out, and the kids in Homewood had a blast!  Then, on Saturday morning many volunteers from North Way served in different places around the city.  Three Compassion Day projects were held in Homewood.  One group of volunteers picked up trash in the streets around the Faison Primary School and my housing development.  Another group of volunteers (pictured above) helped a LAMP mentee's family to move their belongings into a house.  For the third project, that same group of guys purchased close to $400 worth of drywall materials from Home Depot and loaded all of that material into my basement.  Every Monday night Julie and I open our house to kids from Homewood to come and hang out, and lately we've been averaging about 35 kids in our living room.  A small group from our church heard about our need for more space, so they are finishing our basement for us... hence the need for the drywall materials in our basement.

Most of my role at North Way involves mobilizing the people at our church to get involved with people and causes outside the walls of our church.  This is a difficult thing to do sometimes because we live in such a consumeristic society.  Many Christians think that their church experience is all about them and how they can get their own personal spiritual needs met.  Christians who think of church in that way are missing out on much of what the Christian life is all about.  God calls us to love our neighbors and give ourselves away to others on his behalf.  God has a big heart for people in this world who are struggling, and he calls his church to do something about it.  This was a big weekend for our church because we are continuing to make strides in those areas.  With each relationship that is built, and with each instance where we serve others, we grow closer to becoming more authentic followers of Jesus Christ.