http://servuclean.com/category/janitorial-service/office-cleaners/page/2/ Happy New Year church family! It has been an incredibly busy start to the Fall/ Winter seasons here at Wildwood Church. Let’s recap what we have been up to, but first a consideration: while we all keep packed schedules with one thing or another, I want to challenge you and I to consider whether the busyness that we keep are things that have long-lasting, eternal impact for the glory of God.
At the beginning of August we kicked off Operation Christmas Child. Thank you so much church for your hard work in giving, sorting, packing, and sending 1,005 boxes filled with the gospel! We now know that our shoeboxes have gone to the country of Mexico where they will find their way into the hands of children, families, and communities hungry for the Bread of Life that is Jesus. We capped off the shoebox season by heading out to Aurora, IL on December 11th where we helped with final processing of shoeboxes bound for the country of Columbia. By 2pm that afternoon, we were a part of processing almost 19,000 boxes! The joy is indescribable when you serve the Lord alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ. Mark your calendar to go back with us next year!
I am excited to announce that you will not have to wait long to take part in this God-honoring, eternity-impacting project! That’s right, we are kicking off right now, January 2022, for shoeboxes. I will be giving you more information on that very soon, so stay tuned!
In October we held our annual Trunk-Or-Treat event at Heritage Park in Hampton. There were over 1,000 people from the area with whom our church was able to engage, show the love of Christ, and begin to form long-lasting, impactful relationships. Praise the Lord for the great success He gave us in that!
"Thank you so much church for your hard work in giving, sorting, packing, and sending 1,005 boxes filled with the gospel!"
November saw Wildwood sending a short-term mission team to Ensenada, Mexico to take the good news of Jesus Christ to those in spiritual darkness through training nationals, water filters, service, missionary encouragement, and more. One takeaway from this trip is that whenever you set out to do something that honors the Lord, He will faithfully direct your steps and make the path straight.
While we knew that we would be able to teach pastors and church leaders how to share the gospel through giving clean water through Mercy Waters’ filters, we had no idea what God wanted to do otherwise. The Sunday morning of the week-long trip, God providentially directed our steps to meet Angelo, a guest pastor/speaker at the church we attended. After the service, we were able to share with him how to share the gospel with the water filters, to which he immediately responded that he knew the perfect place where we could take them. The next day Angelo took us to meet a local community pastor named Mel who lived far outside of Ensenada in the rural desert. We visited three homes where four young ladies and one man wanted to receive Jesus as their Savior! God is good, what else can we say? Local pastors Angelo and Mel will be able to continue to disciple these families long after we are gone from there. Praise God for his goodness, provision, and providence.
In closing, the challenge at the outset was to consider whether the busyness in our schedules that we keep is of eternal value. Do not be deceived, church. We are not in peacetime, but rather wartime. There is a spiritual war that is raging every moment for the souls of men, women, and children all over the world as well as right here in our own backyard.
A wartime mindset causes us to radically consider how we use everything we have at our disposal, including our time. In light of eternity, a lot of the things we occupied ourselves with in this life will not matter. I pray for us as a church that God would continue opening our eyes to the reality around us; that so many are still dead in their trespasses and sins as we once were. We are not called to our own glory, but to allow God to work through us for HIS glory. I love you church and it is a privilege, blessing, and pleasure to fight this war with you. Let’s get this done and go home.
