My last post was about poverty in the context of the US economy.  I’m a firm believer that we must impact our local communities because God has entrusted us with a geographic responsibility to those around us.   However, to truly impact our local communities, I also believe that one must see the condition of our world in real life.   If you’ve never been on a missions trip, you need to plan one this year.

I’ve been privileged to travel all over the world including Asia, Central and South America, and a lot of the Caribbean on missions trips.  Without fail, I return home with a broader worldview and a greater appreciation for what I have.  When you see the hillsides of shacks lining the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, or the tent cities of thousands of citizens who lost their homes to the Olympics in Beijing, it makes you realize we don’t have it as bad as we think sometimes.   When I visited El Salvador, I saw sweatshop workers who made $10.00/month for their entire family.  Or, how about the kids in Haiti making dirt cookies because they have no food and their fresh water rivers are lined with garbage.

The truth that hits me the most is even our poor live as kings compared to the rest of the world. It is important that we have balance between local and foreign missions.  If you are just helping your local community, and never reaching the world, you are not fulfilling your full potential.   Our local communities are the training ground to go and help foreign missions in some fashion.  I realize everyone cannot go, but most of us can take a trip a year.  If you are in the medical profession, you can help on a medical missions to Haiti or other third-world countries.  If you are a teacher, you can help stamp out illiteracy which leads to poverty in third-world countries by taking a teaching trip.  If you are a young person who has never traveled outside the US, take a youth missions trip and build homes and churches.  There are countless ways to get involved in missions.  Find one that fits your interests and your skill set and give it all you’ve got.

Our mission as Christians is not solely humanitarian, but it has to be coupled with the Gospel.  Jesus was a humanitarian, but his ultimate mission was to be a Savior to the souls of those he ministered to.  Whether you’re a builder, teacher, doctor, dentist, or student, above all you are a minister of Jesus Christ.  And with that, we can do our part to minister to those who were nearest to Jesus heart, the poor here, and around the world.  God bless you!

It’s be a few weeks since I posted.  My life has been a whirlwind this month with our annual missions conference, funerals, shooting weddings, early school photos, designing websites for local politicians, and much more.   Today, however, I must break the silence for Blog Action Day.   The purpose of BAD is to change the conversation from the typical topics and highlight how we can help stamp out poverty in our world.  Bloggers from across the globe have joined in to spread the word and get people thinking about those less fortunate.

Jesus was a humanitarian.  His very core of teaching was to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in jail, take care of widows and orphans, etc.  Those touched by poverty touched the heart of Jesus.  He spoke often about the poor in the Bible.  He said if you will act in kindness toward the least of these, you have acted in kindness toward me.  The progression of ministry is that you first meet the physical need and then the spiritual need.

One of the projects I have been working feverishly on the past month is the Angelfood project at our church.  Basically, Angelfood feeds up to 500,000 families across America by purchasing bulk food and distributing it for an incredibly discounted price.  It was started by a pastor wanting to help some of his less fortunate neighbors with groceries.  It’s now a ministry that distributes nationwide.  It is not just for those in financial distress, but also for those who want to be wise with their money.

We became a host site this month, and I didn’t expect the response as we received.  I utilized Zoho Creator and built a simple application to take online orders.  Orders began pouring in from the AngelfoodMinistries.com website.  We announced it to our congregation and got an overwhelming response.  We are on target for 500 orders in November.

The beauty of this program has not just been the response, but more importantly the requests from the community.  With this local exposure, we have had single mothers and families contact us who have no food in their pantry and they don’t know how they are going to survive.  Many have lost their jobs in our tough South Florida economy and can’t make ends meet.  This ministry has opened the door to situations we would have never been aware of.  These are people touched by poverty right in our own back yards.  I’m a firm believer in supporting world humanitarian organizations.  However, as the local church, we are the humanitarians of our community. Angelfood Ministries has opened the door to even greater ministry in our local community.

With Angelfood, we have had multiple people donate boxes of food to charity.  I have received emails from people saying they can’t afford to purchase a box of food so I give them a donation box.  One lady said, “You don’t even know my family, how can you be so kind to us?”   By meeting her physical need, we’ve now opened the door of trust and I was able to share the love of God with her.   Angelfood distributes one time per month.  In the meantime we have cleaned out our food pantry ministering to those in near poverty situations right in our community.

The economy in the US is hitting everyone hard.  According to the official census numbers, one out of every eight Americans is living below the poverty threshhold.   These are people that we see every day.  These are kids that are going without food and necessities.  One of the problems in the innercity Miami community we do outreach is clean water.  People can’t afford utilities, so they bathe themselves and their children anywhere they can.  One little girl told me she has to take a shower using the condensation collection off the nieghbors AC unit.  These are real problems within our reach.

Again, I understand we must reach the world.  It’s important you support international organizations financially.  However, if that is all we do and put a checkmark on our consciences, we fail our mission at home right where we live.  There are people you can impact right where you are.  You don’t have to go to Africa or India or Manaus, Brazil, you can walk across the street or drive across town.   When you do that, you are as much of a missionary as the man or woman who is ministering in a foreign country.

The call is to the church to be answer for the community, not expect the government or welfare system or even other agencies to take care of our citizens.  If someone walks in your church, do you have a benevolence plan?  Do you have a clothes closet or a food pantry?   Do you have gas cards or grocery cards from donations that you can give to people in need?    Or, do you pass them off to another organization to take care of their need?   Even greater, does your church

offer education or intervention for homeless or destitute families?  Can your church teach people how to budget money and have good stewardship?  These are questions that need to be answered so that we can address poverty right in our own nation.  It’s what Jesus did and would do today.  We are His hands and feet.  God bless you.

For more information about Angelfood ministries visit: www.angelfoodministries.com