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.