Hurricane Harvey last week. Hurricane Irma this week with Hurricane Jose promising more “excitement” next week. And just this morning comes word of a 8.1 earthquake in Mexico.
“What in the world is going on!” many have wondered and some have said with a glance over their shoulder in search of the first Horseman of the Apocalypse.
Whether these events are the long-awaited “birth pangs” that herald in the times of the end or just an exceptionally rough time in the history of our planet, God alone knows. But there is something we can know about these disasters: God is at work on the fields of disaster and is inviting the Church to join Him there. We just need to view crisis through His optic, as this 3-minute video reveals, Crisis: What Do You See?
As C.S. Lewis said, pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world, to draw people closer to Himself and into His purposes. Yes, in all the things we don’t know, there is one thing of which we can be sure: God is powerfully at work these days in Houston, the Caribbean, Florida, and Mexico.
THE CHURCH IN HOUSTON POINTS THE WAY
These are times when the church can shine especially brightly, just as the Church in Houston is doing since Hurricane Harvey dumped 50+ inches of rain in their city. No one is serving in this crisis more lovingly or sacrificially than the church! They are housing people in their buildings, sending teams to drag out moldy carpet, gutting houses, sitting with heartbroken home-owners whose every possession is molding in a damp mess on the curb.
This is the time for the Church to shine!
How can you and your church shine?
PRAY
- PRAY that God will restore the spent energy of many believers in Houston – and now also in Florida.
- PRAY that believers will share not just the strength of their muscles but also their hope, a commodity in short supply for people who feel they have lost everything.
- PRAY that churches in our Fellowship will rise together, and serve as only the Church can – meeting physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
GO
Join a team or send a team from your church. We have three locations right now receiving team members:
- Bayou City Fellowship (Houston) – contact Scott from Akron Grace, email: Neoi@roadrunner.com
- The Brook Church (Houston) – contact Kevin from Ashland Grace, email: kdsmith404@yahoo.com
- Florida – still developing at this writing, but contact Barb from Encompass at bwooler@encompassworld.org
GIVE
- Sending teams, tools, equipment, building supplies, cost money. We would welcome your partnership in tax-deductible contribution through Encompass at encompassworldpartners.org/hurricane
