by Jim Supp, Campus Pastor @ MBC Loudoun

God was very concerned for all the people in Israel, but took special interest in the poor and the disenfranchised. He commanded in Leviticus 19:9-10 that farmers were not to harvest all the way to the edges of their fields and to leave whatever they dropped for the poor and the alien in their midst. What an incredibly loving God we have that He thinks about those who are so easy to forget.
At the core of ‘iServe: paving the way for the Gospel’ is the hope that we would train ourselves to care for others the way God does – by serving them – in an effort to pave the way for Gospel-centered conversations. What would it be like if our church cared for the people of our county in such a way that we earned the right to be heard regarding the message of Jesus Christ? Another part of the initiative, to be sure, is creating opportunities to train our children to live this way as well. So – on Wednesday October 6, about 15 MBC Loudoun families (spearheaded by Michelle Castillo) headed off to Crooked Run Orchard in Purcellville to glean for apples. (They will be posting a video of our group at crookedrunorchard.com.) In truth, the owner of the trees begged us to come. There were so many apples on the ground they would never be able to use them. As a team we donated over 1000 pounds of apples to the poor and homeless of our county through two different organizations that serve the poor. And there were so many more we could have picked up.
We had fun, we served the people who break the heart of God and we trained our children to not only be grateful for what they have, but to care for those who have little. We had an opportunity to pray with those who serve in these organizations as we delivered the apples in the name of Jesus. We continue to pray for the Loudoun Homeless Shelter and Loudoun Interfaith Relief, that God would move in their organizations and that He would open up opportunities for MBC Loudoun to share the Gospel in even more direct ways. Hope you are all finding ways to serve as you consider ‘iServe: Paving the Way for the Gospel.’
God bless.