Chad, Sierra, Joshua, and I along with a team of 4 other adults from our church went on a mini-mission trip Sunday. We drove a brief 2 hours to serve breakfast at a church called Freedom Fellowship. I have been waiting for years to visit this church, so I was very excited about the day!
It was a wonderful and very inspiring experience. All I could think as we served at Freedom Fellowship is that what we were experiencing was Church as Jesus intended.
The first order of business was to unload the "mega momma mobile," which was packed full of food donations. Joshua was proud to help.
Our main job was to prepare and serve breakfast. Since Chad LOVES to cook breakfast, it was the perfect assignment for him. He was thrilled to cook up sausage for kids!
Freedom Fellowship, the church we served at reaches out to kids in many specific and very special ways.
One way they reach out is to drive to the kids' homes and pick them up!
At a couple of homes they had to wake the kids up, and then went back a short time later to drive them to church!
What a beautiful example of reaching out to kids.
This verse comes to mind, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Matthew 19:14
Need a ride to church - no problem!
Your alarm did not go off - no problem!
You are hungry - no problem!
Because most of the kids (and adults) they serve come hungry, they are always fed breakfast before church.
As Patty told me, "How do you tell a child that Jesus loves them and will take care for them, when their tummies are hungry?"
They also send a small bag of food home with the kids. (The donations sent by our church family will help to fill these bags and provide breakfast for the next several weeks. Freedom Fellowship was so grateful for all of your donations, BCC.)
Another thing we did was unpack a couple of bags of next-to-new clothing and place them on a table in the main hallway.
In need of a shirt - no problem.
It was such a beautiful picture of the Gospel.
It made me think of these words,
"Dear brothers, what's the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren't proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone? If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, and you say to him, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty," and then don't give him clothes or food, what good does that do? So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn't show itself by good works is no faith at all--it is dead and useless."
James 2:14-17
Being at Freedom Fellowship, felt pure.
The message was the same.
It always is.
Yet there was something beautifully real and truly refreshing about admitting there are needs within a congregation, and then meeting them as a part of the natural extension of the church.
From my brief glimpse, it seemed that meeting needs came first - "programming" second. I loved that!
There was a bit of goofing around, of course!
One of the things I enjoy about being with my boys is that they are always ready to laugh and play.
Joshua cracked us all up several times during the adventure.
At one point, the lights flickered. Chad figured Joshua had been playing with the light switch. He called, "Joshua? Did you do that?"
Joshua very seriously told his daddy, "No! I NOT do that! Lights must be magic!"
And sweet Sierra has such a beautiful servant's heart!
She woke up at 5:40 in order to go with us!
She sat in a teeny tiny spot in the back of the van surrounded by food on the 2 hour drive down to Freedom Fellowship.
She happily served wherever she saw a need.
She never once complained.
***We did serve with 4 other adults. I totally enjoyed and appreciated each of them! This was in NO WAY the "Dietrich Show," but because I did not ask their permission to write about or photograph them - I did not specifically mention them.
It was a great trip! I can hardly wait to return!
