Covenant UMC, Ft. Wayne, IN
Covenant United Methodist Church donates land for LCM Church
in Wachara.
God opens doors for those who desire to serve. A young man from Covenant,
Justin Grogg, felt called to the mission field and found an avenue to serve through the Mission Society. While in training
he was the roommate of another student in the program - Michael Agwanda.
Flash forward several months - a member of Covenant stops in my office
on a cold February, 2006 day - to share with me his passion for serving in Africa in light of the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Interesting moment as I shared with Tim that God had been speaking to my heart as well - to find a way to directly serve and
help somewhere in Africa. We searched and prayed for the right path. A month later, while talking to Justin - now in the mission
field in the mountains of Peru, South America - through the SKYPE network in our church, we shared with him our dream of serving
in Africa. Justin says, "you should call my roommate from the Mission Society, Michael Agwanda, as he has started a work with
orphans there."
We contacted Michael, had him speak in our church and Tim and I joined
with the mission team in August of 2007 to Kenya. During the time that the mission spirit is growing in our church, I challenged
our congregation to simply take the loose change that we inevitably have at the end of a day in our pockets, and instead of
throwing into an ash tray or losing the change in the seats of their lazy boy, to place at least one dollar each day in a
mission bank. If 100 people would give 1 dollar a day through this offering, in one year, we could collect over $36,000 for
missions. My hope was to find 300 people in our church of 600 to take up the "Disciple Dollar" challenge. Well, we haven't
reached that goal, but several thousands of dollars have been collected for missions - that otherwise would have been left
in ash trays.
With our Disciple Dollar offering - in December we were able to provide
the $5,000 needed to purchase the land in Wachuro for Life for Children Ministry to someday build a church. We also contributed
another $1,500 toward the general administrative needs of the LCM ministry as it grows, and another $1,500 toward the expenses
related to drilling a fresh water well in Wachuro.
The Disciple Dollars continue to be collected now on a once a month
basis. I wonder what else God has in mind for those dollars in the process of supporting the ministry in Kenya and other places
around our world and community.
Perhaps your church can take up the Disciple Dollar challenge on behalf
of Life for Children Ministry? Isn't it great to see how God leads and works when we are willing to serve in His name?
Thanks
be to God.
Steve Conner
Senior Pastor, Covenant United Methodist Church
Chaplain, Life For Children Ministry
