No. I will not help you.

Bay Life usually gives out backpacks this time of year.  Our packs join the thousands of others who make their way to events held by various non profit organizations.  We feel good.  We have done our part.  But, honestly...I am tired of just feeling good.  I want to know my contributions are going farther than my fleeting feel good moods.  I want to impact our community.  I want to know that what I am doing is truly making a difference.  I want to go to a church where when people hear our name, they know what we're about.  I want Bay Life to live out Acts 1:8.  I want to know where and who are our Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria are (we seem to have the ends of the earth thing figured out...yeh Village of Hope, Uganda).

So who are they?  The truth is that in order to truly make a lasting impact on our community, we must get better at saying NO.  We must allow our yes to be a resounding YES!

So here I go:  our Jerusalem is Brandon.  Specifically the hungry of Brandon.  Did you know that 78% of the students at McClaine Middle School are on free or reduced lunch?
Did you know that the little organization called the Women's Resource Center helped over 7,000 people last year and ECHO saw over 12,000?  Do you think there are more than a few hungry people in our community?  So in our Jerusalem....we will feed the hungry.
We seem to be good at this:  Feed the Bay, I Am Hope Cafe, Cold Weather Shelter, and the Garden.  Let's do more of that.  Let's be known for feeding people.  And not just feeding them, but using this platform to share the message of freedom. What makes them hungry in the first place and how can we change that?  Let's teach people how to garden and cook and shop for their families.  Let's take the time to share a meal with a homeless person and not just fill a plate and be on our merry way.  This requires saying no to other great causes.  Let's say no, so that we can say yes to the hungry.

Our Judea is the 250,000 children caught in the foster care system.  Let's open our hearts and homes to the modern day orphan.  Let's become babysitters and mentors and court advocates.  Let's quit saying we care for the widows and orphans in their distress and let's start caring.  So guess what?  I am not going to give back packs to the YMCA.  I am going to give scientific calculators to the forgotten teenagers in the group homes.  Why?  Because we have to settle on something.  Our Judea (for Bay Life) is the modern day orphan.

Our  Samaria is a people group who lives among us, but is from another culture.  Who do you think this could be?  Most of us pass by them on our way to work every day.  They have become a part of the scenery around here.  I am talking about the Migrant Community.  We don't have to pay $3,000 to have a cross cultural missions experience.  Did you know that we can spend $75.00 and serve an entire week in Wimauma with people who live in a different world and who are desperate for help?

Let's be bold.  This is what we are about.  Feeding the hungry, protecting the orphan, and championing the powerless.  

The world is full of good causes.  Let's pick a few and make them ours.

One Basket For Many

There were enough Easter Baskets to fill a Suburban and the back half of a mini van!  228 Easter Baskets to be exact.  The women of Bay Life once again provided a wonderful treat for the children of Beth El, Good Samaritan, and the Redlands Christian Migrant Association.  

While in Sunday School, our little Lifers created custom gift tags for each and every one!

Sarah Ashe, the principal at Good Samaritan, thanked us for our delivery and reminded us that each basket would most likely be shared with multiple siblings.  

What a joy it is to share.  To give up a little bit so that others can have enough.

Collecting In Honduras

Recently returned from Honduras.  One image is branded into my brain.  It was early...6:00 am.  The sun had just come up and I was on my to the airport.  The town was relatively quiet.  Most were still enjoying their final moments of sleep...but not him.  Along the side of the road was a little boy...could not have been older than 8.  Slung across his shoulder was a raggedy old feed sack.  The kind that was made to hold fifty pounds of something like rice or beans.  The bag was already full.  The little boy looked determined.  He was up before the town.  He was filling his sack with...plastic bottles.   The kind we discard every day after a sip of water.  They go for pennies in Honduras.  The young boy was working at 6:00 am.  I concluded that he was trying to get to the bottles before someone else beat him to them.
I am often asked if it is necessary for Lifers to travel overseas for mission work.  Isn't there enough poor right here in our own back yard?  My answer is simple:  Yes and Yes.
We base our mission philosophy on Acts 1:8.  We aim to go to our own town, to our state, and to the outer most parts of the earth.  The verse does not indicate that these areas should be reached one at a time...no the verse implies that they should be reached SIMULTANEOUSLY.
Do we have poor seven year old boys in Brandon?  Absolutely!  But, have you ever seen one collecting bottles at 6 in the morning so that he could eat?
I simply couldn't take my eyes off of that little boy and as a Lifer, nor should you.

Who Knew?

Did you know that every Tuesday morning the church kitchen is humming with activity?  Did you know that every week 16 different cooks work in harmony to whip up a tasty meal? Did you know that 55 different people enjoy these meals?  Did you know that 16 drivers faithfully deliver these meals?
The Bay Life Chapter of Meals on Wheels is alive and well!
How encouraging it is to see so many Lifers serving our community week in and week out.
Apart from the recipients of the meals, who knew that such a faithful band of servants were providing for our elderly neighbors in such a tangible way?
"To love your neighbor as you love yourself".  It is happening all around us.  Now you know.

Balloons Make a Place Happy!

On a recent Sunday afternoon, 20 Bay Life families met up at Hawthorne Assisted Living with dozens of helium balloons and Valentine cards in tow. Children and residents alike delighted in the burst of color. The handmade cards were created during Sunday School over the course of a month.  How rewarding it was for the children to hand deliver their works of art!
Great day?  Absolutely!  Good way to introduce children to the value of service? Absolutely!
But, there was something else at work that day. Children were not just serving.  Children were ministering.  A seven year old took the hand of an elderly woman and prayed for her.  Prayed for her by name.  How beautiful it is when the Body of Christ remembers that we are more than an accumulation of service "projects".  Something much grander is at work.  That little seven year reminded us all of the purpose of service.  Balloons and Cards are nice, but prayer has the ability to take the recipient  beyond charity and into restoration.

Growing Worship

I had the pleasure of working with Sean the majority of the morning. He is a thirty-something autistic man who resides at New Horizons Group Home. He, along with 3 other residents, showed up on Saturday to work in the Community Garden.  He methodically filled holes with dirt, moved landscaping block, and piled up discarded tree branches. As we quietly worked side by side I was overcome with joy.  My soul was singing.  Here we were, working together to serve our community.  Together we were providing something fresh for the needy among us.  The garden has proven to be this magical place where work and accomplishment can be found regardless of age or ability or status.  More than vegetables are growing in the backyard of Bay Life.  Worship is flourishing out there.

Looking for a soul song?  Contact Eleanor Saunders at esaunders@baylife.org to see how you can grow too.

BLESS the team

Bay Lifers Enjoying Soulful Sewing (BLESS).  A team of 12 creative Lifers have formed a sewing team with the sole purpose of benefiting our mission partners.  In just 3 short meetings, they have turned out over 40 memory verse holders for campus missionaries, quilts for the homeless and are now in talks with ECHO to produce upcycled bags for resale!

How amazing it is when we step out and say "God, here is what I got.  Use it however you want!"
Way to go Lifers!  Keep those sewing machines humming.

Want to be involved?  Contact Terrie Buntin at: terrie.buntin@gmail.com