Boxes of Love

Pete and I arrived at the Agape Center just after 8 on Saturday morning. (The Agape Center is the Chicago site of Here's Life Inner City, the urban ministry arm of Campus Crusade for Christ.) Vince had beaten us there and was ready to begin loading trucks. The Agape Center was ready to distribute over 2,100 Boxes of Love, which would then be distributed to 2,100 households through Chicago and the south suburbs. The gym was packed with volunteers from various churches in an assembly line formation. Some packed turkeys, some folded boxes, some loaded stuffing and vegetables, some put a Bible in every box, and finally some put the finishing touch on by sealing the box with packing tape. In one of the classrooms evangelism training was offered and volunteers rotated from the training to the packing line. Outside roughly 15-30 men worked together loading various amounts of boxes into church vans, moving trucks, vans, cars, etc. As I surveyed the men loading trucks, and also the over one hundred volunteers working inside the gym I was reminded how beautiful it is when the body of Christ works together. There were men and women, young and old, Black and white, urban and suburban, some who voted for Obama and some who voted for McCain. There were Baptist churches, Lutheran churches, Pentecostal churches, Bible churches, Independent churches, Storefront churches, and Para-churches. Everyone was working together. Everyone was serving one another. We all were collectively preparing to go out and BE the church.

Pete, Vince, and I loaded vehicles from roughly 8 to 12. We then took a short lunch break at our respective homes (I enjoyed a Deliano's frozen pizza - always good!), before regrouping at Sunshine to prepare to make home visits and drop off the boxes. We spent some time in prayer, discussed our plan of delivery, and then headed out. At each home we determined whether to send 2 or 3 of us in depending on how well we knew the family. By the end of the day we had made 11 stops. At some stops we walked through the gospel with them, in others we discovered that they were believers and asked for how we could better encourage them. We shared, we listened we prayed. After each stop we debriefed the visit thinking through questions we could have asked, ways to follow up, etc. This conversation has continued today. Although no one necessarily prayed to receive Christ, I am confident that seeds were planted, and that families were encouraged.

I know the 3 of us were blessed through the experience. Many shared that the timing of our visit was truly a blessing. One mother shared how God had delivered her from an addiction to crack, another how God was giving her strength to raise her niece (young enough to be her granddaughter) who is now living with her due to difficult family situations. Several shared that they would definitely be interested in an adult Bible study at the center. Please pray for 2 mothers in particular who after hearing the message of the gospel shared that they just weren't ready.

At the end of the day we were all tired, but it was a good tired. It was a great way to spend a Saturday. It was a meaningful experience to share with 2 of my closest brothers in the Lord.

We have 9 more boxes to deliver between now and Thursday. Please pray for these remaining home visits, and for the follow up conversations that will be had as the result of our initial visits.