3You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. - Galatians 5:13
This is my first stab at blogging about what's important to me...outside of my career. This is where I'm going to capture all of my thoughts around "being the church". Before I get going on what I'm in the middle of right now, I think it's important to provide a little background as to how this all started.
My husband, Judd, and I attend
Crossroads Church. One of the cornerstones of this place is that we are called to GO and be the church (because it's SO MUCH MORE than a building). We firmly believe we are called to be of service, locally, nationally, and across the world. Crossroads promotes this belief in Cincinnati through a multitude of
reach out programs that are doing incredibly fruitful work - all through volunteer man power and support staff from Crossroads. Being the church is promoted nationally by our trip to New Orleans and helping folks who have, all but, been forgotten. It's promoted globally by partnering with the International Justice Mission, which is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violent oppression throughout India and Southeast Asia. It's also done through work in Mamelodi, South Africa where our volunteers have had a hand in building the largest Aids hospice and helped establish medical services that are desperately needed.
Right now, I'm 100% submersed in GO New Orleans 2010. Crossroads has been doing this trip since 2008. The skeleton of the trip has remained the same, but boy have the guts changed.
Our specific team has a heart for NOLA. We are well aware of the amazing destruction wrought by Katrina in 2005. We are also aware that NOLA has been left to fend mostly for herself since the initial shock and the massive initial media coverage has waned. There are still hundreds of thousands of homes that are not repaired or replaced and thousands of families that are living in deplorable conditions, even 5 years later. What started with a few visionary and compassionate young men and a truck (literally 3 men and a truck) in the days after Katrina has grown into an annual service trip. This year, we will bring 400 people over two weeks to do what we hope will be some impactful things for those in need in NOLA. This trip takes a dedicated team of over 25 volunteers well over 9 months to organize and execute. What originally had started as a Habitat/VBS mission has turned into so much more. We will be providing volunteer support in the following ares:
- Habitat for Humanity – Our group supplies over 30% of the yearly volunteers to Habitat NOLA. We believe that rebuilding neighborhoods and helping to provide a place to call home for displaced families is vital.
- Vacation Bible School – Our group provides educational professionals and non-professionals as well as all of the materials needed to love on well over 150 children of our partner church Franklin Avenue Baptist Church which was devastated by Katrina and only last year was able to reopen. We share God’s word and the hope and peace that His word brings with these children and their families.
- Vision – We have partnered with Luxotica and One Sight to provide glasses to those in need. Our team has been trained and will provide vision screenings to those in need in the area around Franklin Avenue, including the kids involved in the Roots of Music program) this will enable the One Sight team to provide the glasses later in the summer.
- Portrait – We have gathered some of our area’s preeminent professional photographers as well as a team of graphic designers and amateur photographers to provide free family portraits for the people affected by Katrina. We have heard time and again that the loss of irreplaceable family snapshots and photo’s is one of the greatest losses felt by those impacted by Katrina. You can see amazing work our photo team is doing from the pic above.
- Prayer and Community Connections – We are committed to sharing the love of God with those in need and to make lasting connections in a community that has been all but forgotten outside of NOLA.
- R&R – Our team strives to experience NOLA. We are working with Roots of Music as well as the Rebirth Brass Band, the Natchez and several local venues to make sure we can enjoy the soul of NOLA while also being a financial blessing to its local economy.
The planning process has been CRAZY AMAZING! I am blessed to work with such an outstanding team of volunteers. It's hard to believe it's almost over (and a little sad). Tomorrow, we are going through a "dry run" of departure day with our GO Group leads and Transportation leads...and then Saturday - We GO!
