Category: mission

Catch the dream – you’re invited!

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Her dream began in a village in Uganda. A dance major in college, she saw the ability to communicate without words through dance and the arts. That seed of a dream took root, and after college, she studied dance ministry at Hillsong College in Australia. She returned with a massive dream where, like the one-for-one model, affluent area arts/community centers would help to support those less fortunate in the US and around the world. “She” is my daughter, Lauren, and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

Lauren moved to Harlem and worked as a dance teacher in an elementary school for 7 years. During that time, the nonprofit Greenhouse Arts Center was born. Their mission: “to offer a welcoming place of hope where creativity thrives and the arts are a vehicle for the community to grow together and make a difference locally and globally, connecting with other cultures and raising future leaders.”

Greenhouse is and has been making an enormous difference in the lives of students in Harlem. And they are at a crossroads. Even though Greenhouse operates on a shoestring budget, finances are extremely limited. The teachers at Greenhouse are amazing artists who would be paid a lot more somewhere else, but they are committed to the vision and dream. They have seen first hand the impact they are making in their students and community.

Greenhouse needs your help now. To help meet their financial need, they are hosting their first benefit concert next weekend (11/12 in NYC, 11/13 in NJ). If you are local to either event, please click below to purchase a ticket. The events will feature dance, singing, basket raffles, and refreshments. Buy your ticket today – they will not be sold at the door. If you are busy or not local, you can contribute via the link below (you’ll receive a link to view the show afterward).

Beside an evening of great entertainment, with your donation, you can be guaranteed of a few things:

  • You will be making a difference in the life of a child.
  • Your money will be well spent: all the proceeds go to student programming.
  • Your donation is tax-deductible.
  • You are contributing to the growth of a future world-changing enterprise.
  • You’ll feel good having done something very good!

Here’s the link to donate

Here’s the link to buy tickets

Here’s a 6 minute video about Greenhouse (grab a tissue!)

#DreamCreateThrive

So Will I

Posted on by Susan Panzica

I’m dating myself here, but when I was a kid, I had picture books with clear plastic pages that lifted up to reveal another picture underneath – a picture that might depict a skeleton or cells or the blueprint of something for which the exterior image was on the plastic page. Remember those?

Well, tonight I experienced something like that in real life.

I attended a Hillsong United concert in Madison Square Garden, NYC. The arena was filled to capacity. My gaze swept over the crowds. Along the mid-level were gaping exits to the concourse. And I had a flashback to my visit to the Coliseum in Rome. It was as if a page lifted, and I saw the crumbling ruins.

And my imagination took me 2000 years back in history when our Christian forebears were thrown to the lions in front of cheering crowds. My chest tightened and tears wet my cheeks. Throughout the night, I thought of those saints of old – the ones thrown to the lions, others burned alive, those who fled Jerusalem’s persecution to bring the gospel to the rest of the known world. Their faith and courage both inspired me and convicted me.

Today, I have friends in Nepal who are facing incredible persecution. In September 2018, new legislation outlawed sharing their faith. Aimed at Christians, these dear believers are witnessing increasing persecution at their gatherings. I receive cryptic private emails filled with miracles of God’s protection as they continue to share their stories, yet their lives are in danger every day. Their faith and courage inspires me daily and convicts me as well.

Too often, I take my freedom for granted. Tonight in the middle of New York City, 20,000 mouths sang praises to God, 40,000 hands were raised in worship, all without a thought of danger of any kind. I’m so grateful we live in a country where we can enjoy the freedom of faith our American forebears fought for.

And yet, with this freedom comes complacency. Forget about being willing to die for my faith. Or worse, letting a loved one die if I refused to deny Jesus.  How about just being willing to boldly share the gospel and risk offending someone or experiencing ridicule? How often do I keep silent to keep the peace? I don’t believe that we need to necessarily share our faith with everyone. Like pearls before swine, some aren’t able to recognize its value (Matt.7:6). But I know that there are times that I remained silent when I shouldn’t have. My desire to be obedient is beautifully captured in the song we sang tonight, So Will I. (link and lyrics excerpt below)

Let’s be inspired by the courage of the saints of old and those in places around the world where persecution is prevalent. And let’s appreciate the abundant freedoms we have.

“For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

 ‘He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.’

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” 1 Peter 2:19-23

So Will I  – by Hillsong Worship

If creation still obeys You so will I
If the stars were made to worship so will I
If the mountains bow in reverence so will I
If the oceans roar Your greatness so will I
For if everything exists to lift You high so will I
If the wind goes where You send it so will I
If the rocks cry out in silence so will I

If You gladly chose surrender so will I
I can see Your heart, Eight billion different ways
Every precious one, A child You died to save
If You gave Your life to love them so will I

 

More on how to discern when to speak and when to keep silent:   http://susanpanzica.com/to-speak-or-not-to-speak/

 

The Multiplication Factor

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Ps 68-19

 

At this point in my empty-nester life, I thought I’d be winding down from work and from ministry, but I find myself busier than ever. What began as a passing interest has multiplied into a ministry that has had a global reach.

I’m not quite sure how it happened or exactly when it started. More like snippets of awareness than a thunderbolt awakening. Three years ago, human trafficking wasn’t a household word. As I came across more and more articles about the issue, my heart broke for those caught in modern day slavery. I started a Word document where I copied and pasted the links to various anti-human trafficking organizations — faith-based, secular, government. I had no idea why I was doing this or what I would do with the document or if it would ever be finished. The list just kept growing.

Then one day, in response to a friend’s facebook post on the slavery issue, I reached out.  It was a small act that would quickly reap big consequences. Over the past three years, we’ve grown in numbers and partnered with many other groups, making an impact far beyond anything I could have imagined. Our little band of abolitionists, Justice Network is still going strong.

I discovered that one little step in faith is the beginning of a journey where God provides the increase.

2000 years ago, when a huge, hungry crowd waited to hear Jesus speak, He fed them all by sharing a young boy’s lunch, giving thanks, and multiplying two fish and five loaves. I find it interesting that after everyone ate as much as they wanted, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of broken leftovers, one basket for each disciple to hold in his hands – a physical manifestation of the great miracle of multiplication.

Just as a young boy offered his fish and loaves, God will multiply that which we freely surrender for the benefit of others.

I believe that God allowed our ministry to multiply as it did as a testimony of what He can do with what is surrendered to Him. And remembering what He has done encourages me to keep on stepping forward in faith.

This truth is not limited to ministries. Whenever we step out in faith, when we surrender to God and relinquish our fears and need for control, we will see God work in ways beyond what our own limited abilities can do. He may be just waiting for us to step out of His way!

Of course, our motives must be pure and not for personal gain. Surrender means we trust God to work without interference from our own agendas or desire to manipulate a situation. It means that we really trust that God is bigger than whatever circumstance is before us.

Dear sister, hold out your hands – palms up. Open your fingers, and close your eyes. What are you carrying? Is it a burden? Release it, trusting that He is more than able to carry it, and you too. Trust that He can not only carry it; He can multiply it to overflowing.

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” Ps. 68:19

Susan_signature

You’re Never Too Old

Posted on by Susan Panzica


“You’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis


Seeing  that quote as a footnote in a friend’s email made me smile. For the past few months, I’d been feeling pretty creaky. And not just in my cartilage-depleted knees. With a milestone birthday approaching, I was really feeling my age. Or was I?

Milestone birthdays have a way of doing that – making you feel old. But when I stopped to evaluate the big picture, I had a realization. I might look old, but I sure don’t feel old.  I’m doing more now than I’ve ever done.

Six years ago, when my kids started college, I started writing. I joined a writers’ group, went to a few conferences, and put myself to the task of learning the craft and business of writing. With a few published articles under my belt, I’m self-publishing a children’s story this month, and working on two proposals for traditionally published books.

Two years ago, I co-founded Justice Network, a human trafficking awareness organization. After hearing more about the issue, having a life-changing nightmare, and feeling convicted to do something, I reached out to a friend, and our collaboration of two grew into a small but mighty group that has had a global impact.  

No one is more surprised than me at these turns of events. I fully planned to relax and have a laid back empty-nester season of life, but God had other plans.

I’m not unique. There’s a whole garden of late-bloomers. <<Click To Tweet

At 65 years old, Harlan David (Colonel) Sanders faced a failing business due to the construction of Interstate 75 which diverted traffic away from the service station where he sold his not-yet-famous chicken. Not to be deterred, he took his recipe on the road, walking long miles, being rejected 1009 times before finally succeeding in the franchise we know and love as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Peter Roget proved it’s never too late to create a new invention, such as the Thesaurus. Suffering from OCD since childhood, he often made random lists to calm himself. At 73, he started the project of creating a list of synonymous words. Roget’s Thesaurus has never been out of print since its initial appearance in 1852.

Grandma Moses switched to painting from embroidery at age 75 due to painful arthritis. After her paintings were discovered in a drugstore window, a NY gallery show led to worldwide fame. She created over 3600 paintings, continuing her art until close to her death at age 101.

On June 28, 2015, Stanislaw Kowalski became the world’s oldest athlete, competing in track and field events at 105 years of age, and necessitating the creation of a new age division for World Masters Athletics.

You don’t have to be a well-known achiever to live with distinction. <<Click to Tweet

My hero in the faith, Ida Anderson, was a dear friend and someone most people would overlook. But I could create a list as long as Roget’s of her many virtues and the unnoticed kindnesses she did for people. When she got too old and infirmed to go out, she started a prayer ministry. Wanting to be an active servant of the Lord, she requested that before people drop off clothing donations to charity, they bring them to her so she could wash them.

In the final letter of his life, the apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy, “As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.  And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to His appearing.” 2 Tim. 4:6-8

That prize is for all of us, no matter how old we are. To finish our race well and eagerly look forward to His appearing, we must continue with what He calls us to at every stage of life.

Where Feet May Fail

Posted on by Susan Panzica

.

The first of the sun’s rays had yet to break the long exhausting night. What should have been an hour boat ride now stretched into a 6 hour nightmare.

Jesus had instructed His disciples to board the boat and meet Him on the other side of the lake. All night, a strong wind blowing against them caused the delay. From the mountaintop, Jesus saw them straining at the oars and walked out on the water to them.
Thinking they were looking at a ghost added terror to their exhaustion. But Jesus comforted them immediately, “Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid.”*
And impulsive Peter replied, “Lord, if it is really You, then call me to meet You on the water.”*
Why, I wonder, did Peter say this?

Why didn’t he say, like I would, “Lord, if it’s You, please come TO ME – here where I am – in the safety of the boat – in the midst of the storm. Come to me here, Lord.”
How often in difficult circumstances do I seek the Lord to meet me where I am, rather than risk stepping out in faith to where He’s calling me?
Why can’t I be like Peter and say instead, “Lord, bring me to where You are, where You want me to be.”
   
When we take the risk and step out in faith, we can do more than walk on water.
Last year, I took a risk and called a friend to see what small thing we might do to help victims of human trafficking. I had no idea that God had bigger things in mind. Justice Network is the product of two Jersey moms who took a step out of their boat.  
My daughter asked God where He wanted her to be, and she found herself studying dance ministry at Hillsong Intl. Leadership College in Sydney Australia. It was the experience of a lifetime for her. (Click here for a video of the dance she choreographed to Oceans by Hillsong.)
Stepping out of the safety of the boat doesn’t always mean big things are in your future. We don’t know what will happen.  And we don’t need to know. God knows.
We just need to take one step. 

Then follow that with one more step.
The Bible says that the Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. It’s not like a stadium floodlight that makes the night as bright as day. It’s more like a flashlight in the dark allowing us to see one step at a time.
Perhaps if we could see more, we’d run the other way. But God takes hold of our hand providing peace and the strength to continue forward with trust that He knows the way, and someday we may know too.
How is God calling you to come to Him? Are you willing to take just one step of obedience? 



*Matt. 14:22-53, Mark 6:45-53, John 6:16-24

Occupy YOUR Street

Posted on by Susan Panzica
The salesclerk asked a simple question – one I answered easily every year. But this year, I hesitated.
“Would you like to add on ‘Thanks for Sharing’?” Smile. Slight head tilt. Credit card please?
Every year at this time – for a $25 enrollment fee that goes to charity – Macy’s offers their customers an opportunity to earn 10% back on their purchases through the end of the year. Since I usually spend at least $250 at Macy’s during this time, it always made financial sense to enroll.
But because of my growing awareness of human trafficking, slave labor, injustice in the world, and poverty, my spending patterns have changed. I no longer spend as much money in Macys, but shop for gifts in catalogs by World Vision, IJM, Fair Trade vendors, etc.
And so I stood there mute, not moving a muscle while my brain raced away.  
As the clock ticked and the awkward silence grew, I knew I had to say something. So I said the truth – that this year the question is not as easy to answer as previous years because things have changed.
I chose to explain to the salesclerk WHY I was hesitating. I told her about Advent Conspiracy, Justice Network, Charity:Water, and how God is directing me to make my spending be intentional in both fighting poverty and injustice and building relationships with family and friends.  
She stood there dumbfounded at first, but then she shared with me that her mother watches the 700 Club and often asks for prayer. “Is that similar?” she asked. And then I was able to enter into a deep conversation with her. I gave her my business card inviting her to read my blog. She asked about my church, and I was able to tell her not only about church but more importantly about God and what Christmas is really about for me and my family, and could be for her too.
I am, by nature, an introvert. My natural inclination is just to say “No thank you” or “Sure sign me up” and leave it at that. But that night, God impressed upon me to speak up, and He gave me the words to share. (Col. 4:6)
When I came home and told my daughter Lauren about the conversation, she said, “Way to go, Mom. That’s what Pastor Carl would call – ‘occupying your street’.” Her pastor, Carl Lenz of Hillsong NYC, used the Occupy Wall Street movement as an illustration to apply the phrase to our Christian lives. He exhorted us to make an impact for Christ in the immediate world around us – our street, our workplace, our family, our friends, our church, even our local Macy*s cosmetics counter. 

Occupy All Streets 1

Lauren’s favorite quote among the many she recorded from his message, “Shock people with the dream in your heart, and impact them with your dedication to what’s in your hand right now.”
What was in my hand that day? My credit card.
Well I’m not dedicated to my credit card, but God used it just the same. I may never see that salesclerk again, but I will look for her on my next visit to Macy’s.
And I decided to go ahead and purchase the $25 Thanks for Giving program. Whether it makes financial sense or not, the money goes to charity so it makes perfect sense. 
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. …
And he called his servants… and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” Luke 19:10,13
In what way can you occupy YOUR street in the months to come?

Something That Matters – Part One

Posted on by Susan Panzica
This afternoon, my daughter takes off for Hillsong International Leadership College in Sydney, Australia. One giant step closer to realizing her dream.

It seems like yesterday but 20 years ago, Lauren took her first dance lesson starting a lifelong love of dance and all things “arts”. Middle school spirit team introduced her to worship dance.

In high school, she started teaching others what she had learned. Mission trips expanded her understanding of the world and increased her compassion for those in need.

This month, she graduated college earning two degrees – a BFA in dance performance and a BA in dance education. And now she’s off to study Leadership in Dance Ministry at Hillsong in Sydney.

Why?
Why study more?
Why so far away?
Everyone asks these things [especially her dad wondering why she wants to go to the other side of the world for a year – and possibly meet some nice young Aussie gentleman – horrors!]

She smiles when she responds. Actually she more than smiles. She glows.

She has a dream, has had it for years. It sprung up from seeds planted and has grown and developed in unimaginable ways.

Her mission trips have taken her to remote undeveloped areas of the world. And she wondered what she can bring these people whose basic needs of water and food are barely met. Don’t you need to feed them before you can share the gospel? Yes. But she discovered something else. Through her dance and the arts, she was able to communicate love, and everyone needs love. Dance and art transcend language barriers. They connect different cultures.

Here is Lauren last year teaching preschoolers in northern Uganda, a region slowly healing after the world’s longest civil war: http://tinyurl.com/74dye2r 

Lauren’s dream, in a nutshell, is creating an Arts Center – a place for students to hang out, learn dance, art, acting, all varied ways of expression. But there’s more…

In 2006, a young man named Blake Mycoskie founded a shoe company with a new premise: “With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for one.” Blake traveled to Argentina, saw the disease and the dire need for shoes for the children there, and founded a company that would provide a quality product and also meet that need.

Lauren wants a “One for one” program for her future Arts Center with a “sister school” in Africa. Every student here will support a student in Africa. Lauren has the vision. Her studies this year will provide the leadership training she’ll need to bring it to fruition.

Our family asks for your prayers as Lauren takes this next step of her life journey. You can follow her throughout at the year at:
Blog: laurenpanzica.wordpress.com
Twitter: twitter.com/laurenpanzica
YouTube: www.youtube.com/LaurenElizabethDance

I’m traveling to Australia with Lauren, spending a few days helping her get established.

My next post is a review of Blake Mycoskie’s book Start Something That Matters. As part of the review, I will be giving away 2 copies. It tells the story of TOMS shoes and inspires us all to purse something that matters. Keep tuned!!

While You Were Waiting…

Posted on by Susan Panzica

I’ve read it a hundred times. OK maybe not a hundred, but a lot.

The Book of Acts, one of my favorite books in the Bible, full of drama, history, theology.

Chapter 17, one of my favorite chapters, where Paul delivers a powerful message in Athens.

Our adult Sunday School class is studying it. Paul fled to Athens because those Thessalonian rabble-rousers started to agitate the Bereans. Silas and Timothy stayed behind in Berea until Paul’s other travelmates came back for them.

And there it was:
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. Acts 17:16-17

While Paul was waiting…. The 4 little words screamed for my attention.

How many times had I read the inspired sermon that follows these verses and missed the fact that Paul was alone as he wandered around the city, waiting for his fellow workers to join him to begin ministry in this new locale.

“God’s Waiting Room.” I’ve heard the term, even said the term myself. It’s that period of time spent waiting for our life to begin anew.

“When this happens, then I will…”
“When I get a job, get married, have a baby, then I will …”
“When the chemo is over, then I will…”
“When I discover my gifts, then I will…”

Years ago, I heard Elisabeth Elliot share, “We should wait on the Lord the way a waiter waits on tables.” How does a waiter wait? Serving. How may I help you? What can I do for you?

That’s what Paul did. “Paul was waiting . . . So he …” He was distressed with what he saw (idols everywhere) and “so he reasoned with” whoever was around. He didn’t lament that his companions weren’t with him. He didn’t wait until his team was in place. He saw and he served right where he was.

In my husband’s chiropractic office, we have what some call a Waiting Room. We don’t; we call it a Reception Area. There’s a tv monitor that has streams facts about our amazing bodies. The reading materials are about health or about the Lord. Our intention in that room is that while the patients are waiting, they are being prepared to meet the doctor or meet their Maker (not in the fatal sense of the phrase!)

The “waiting room” can be a place of worry or anxiety, a place of uncertainty not knowing what the future holds. It can be a place of preparation for that future. Or like Paul, it can be a place to (cliché alert) “bloom where you’re planted.”

In the allegory book, Hinds Feet On High Places, the character Much-Afraid is on a journey to her Shepherd. At a lonely severe rugged spot, she meets a tiny flower nestled among the rocks. It’s name: Acceptance-With-Joy. The Shepherd later tells her, “When you wear the weed of impatience in your heart instead of the flower Acceptance-With-Joy, you will always find your enemies get an advantage over you.” Her enemies are our enemies: Resentment, Craven Fear, Bitterness, Pride.

On Sunday, our dear friend Irene was in the Sunday School class. She spent most of last year alone in her apartment, exhausted from the chemo she regularly received. Now that her strength is slowly returning, she eagerly makes the long drive to church each Sunday. I asked her about her time spent waiting. Her answer: “It was so difficult, but I got so close to the Lord during that time, I wouldn’t change it for anything.” Irene faithfully leads our prayer ministry and fills the role of “prayer warrior” more than anyone I know, yet the Lord used that time of weakness and waiting to strengthen her in ways beyond her imagination.

But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. (Is. 40:31 Amp V.)

Are you in “God’s Waiting Room?”

Do you wait as the Amplified Verse says – with expectation, looking for the Lord, hoping in Him? There lies the key to renewed strength and power, run and not being weary, walk and not becoming tired.

Dear Lord, I pray for those who are waiting. That they may sense Your indwelling power. That they will be strengthened to serve You right where they are. And that in the serving they would become more like You.

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

Posted on by Susan Panzica
A dear friend, Lynn Mosher, over at Heading Home has been doing a wonderful series, How To Behave Like a Christian, based on Romans 12:9-21. She graciously asked me (and other bloggers) to guest post. So today and next week, I’ll be sharing over there. Please check out today’s post on “sharing with God’s people who are in need” based on Romans 12:13a, and leave Lynn a comment.
“distributing to the needs of the saints,” Rom 12:13a NKJV

My 2 children have traveled the world on various short term mission trips for the last 9 years. This year’s trips have had perhaps the most profound impact of all their trips. After seeing a school in Uganda without a blackboard, my daughter’s team decided rather than simply purchase one, they’d try to raise awareness in their community of friends. The goal was to raise $100. They raised over $1000. Another girl, after seeing the bleeding feet of barefoot children, is working with Tom’s shoe company to donate shoes to children in Haiti. My son wants start a ministry to raise support for impoverished children to attend school. These youth have been called to “distribute to the needs of the saints.”

Since their trips, I have found myself “accidentally meditating.” A lyric from a favorite worship song, Hosanna, is just stuck in my head. “Break my heart for what breaks Yours…” Over 60 years ago, Dr. Bob Pierce prayed similar words: “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” In 1947, as a war correspondent and evangelist, he traveled to China with Youth for Christ, and his heart was broken by the needs of one little girl. Pledging a monthly sponsorship for her, Dr. Bob Pierce began World Vision to help children orphaned in the Korean War. In the decades that followed, World Vision has fulfilled the calling of Romans 12:13a “Share with God’s people who are in need” by providing global relief using clean water as an entry point into communities, following with other activities that create change and ultimately bring transformation through the gospel.

Last Christmas, our family participated in the Advent Conspiracy and substituted gifts for each other with the purchase clean water, sewing machines, a stocked fishing pond and a flock of sheep for those in need overseas. And closer to home, we take part in our church’s homeless ministry that meets the needs of men from a local Christian shelter.

All these ministries seek to meet the needs of those in need. But there are many NON-Christians who also care for the poor, who sacrifice life and limb to live in impoverished nations, who serve in the Peace Corps, the military, the inner cities, Indian reservations, homeless shelters, safe houses for abused…

As my meditation continued on what breaks God’s heart, I began to realize some other things, some personal things that break His heart. I silently but loudly heard His question to me: You can love people around the world, but can you love the person sitting next to you?

What breaks God’s heart? Not just children dying in Africa. I realized that it breaks God’s heart when my attitudes and actions represent the enemy more than they represent Him. While we need to care for the “least of these,” we ought not to do it out of obligation and then have Him say, “I never knew you.” (Matt.25) It grieves God when His people act like they don’t know Him. He’s not as grieved by sinners who act like sinners as He is by Christians who act like sinners. If we meet the physical needs of the poor, but are judgmental, critical, envious, prideful, angry, or filled with false Pharisee holiness, we are not obeying His call to holy living.

If we truly want to love our neighbor as ourselves, that includes loving the unlovely. “If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Any sinner does that. … In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” (Matt. 5:48 MSG)

As Christians, we must “share with God’s people who are in need.” And we must do so with the assurance that as we do, we are ministering to Jesus Himself. “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to Me!’ Matt. 25:35-40 NLT

My prayer today is found in the surrounding lyrics of “Hosanna”:

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to
Eternity

May it be your prayer too!

Get Wrecked

Posted on by Susan Panzica
Normally, I’d never suggest getting wrecked in any way. But yesterday the youth shared about their mission trips with us, and after sharing about his time in Haiti, Alex’s closing comment was “God wrecked me for the ordinary.” WOW – now that’s statement worthy of repeating repeatedly! I even used it for my facebook status. 

The youth were anything but ordinary as they shared their experiences on the mission field and since their return.  James and Dave were in Ireland developing relationships with the Irish youth and establishing drop-in centers where they will continue to serve as safe hangout places throughout the year. One highlight for James was an Irish teen that remembered him from last year and sought him out to further grow their relationship. It was a confirmation, not only that God wanted James to be there, but that the work that began last year bore fruit and would continue to increase.


Chanel was a team member on the trip to the Bahamas that AJ led. At 13 years old, she “knew it was time for me to go.” Oh, that we adults would have such assurances from the Lord, and that we would act on them.

Bahamas seems like an idyllic spot for a missions trip, doesn’t it? But the team there (all junior high-ers) did back-breaking heavy-duty construction work for Camp Bahamas, a camp for inner city children from Nassau. On Eleuthera, there is no fresh water supply, so the young teens had to descend into a huge “pit,” a giant cistern to capture rainwater, and use jackhammers to level out the bottom to prepare it for cement. It was 15 degrees hotter down there than the 100+ degrees on the surface. Idyllic? Not so much. They also did hard landscape construction work. Then, in the afternoons, they ran a VBS for the local children.


AJ is planning to write a post himself regarding his experiences, but let me just share his closing remark – “I’m trying to structure my day so that at the end of the day, I’m not embarrassed to talk to God.” Again, the Lord mightily used a youth to minister to us “wise” adults.


You’ll be hearing lots more in a later post regarding Lauren’s trip. So much to share! But for now, this was her closing comment regarding the Christians and the church in Uganda – “Instead of trying to move God, they let God move them.”

O Lord, please keep me from trying to persuade You to my feeble desires. Help me to sense Your leading and be obedient to it. Please move me that I might align with You. Move my spirit to complete dependence upon You.

In one of the slide show pictures, I spotted a child in a t-shirt that read JUST DID IT. As I listened to the testimonies, I thought that it was so appropriate. Nike says “Just Do It.” These teens DID it! I wanna do it too! Do you? Do you want to get wrecked for the ordinary?