Missions Conference 2010 was a huge hit! We had at least twice as many people attend the Friday night missions fair this year as we have had in any of the past years. The total number of attenders was over 250! It was a family friendly event and there was something for the whole family. The missionaries did a great job of having hands on booths and crafts for the kids. And the parents enjoyed them too.
Saturday morning went very well. We were able to serve 20 Burmese refugee families in Aurora and inveite them to Grace Bible Curch for lunch. We were able to share the gospel with them through a translator that did a double translation (into two different dialects). It was a fantastic time of fellowship and we had 50 refugees join us for lunch and close to 85 volunteers come out to serve!
Our theme of "God's Power for a Global Harvest" is something that we as a church want to continue to think about throughout the year and Missions Conference was a gret jumpstart into 2010!
"We should continue to remember the poor, the very thing [we are] eager to do." (from Galatians 2:10).
We were thrilled to send a team of Village Bible Church members to partner with a ministry called "Here's Life Inner City - Chicago". The plan was to help pack Thanksgiving meals, and then deliver them to families in need who had indicated their desire to receive one.
About half of our group worked particularly with families of prison inmates who were struggling financially in-part due to the incarceration of their loved one. It was very special to be able to reach out with both the meals and the gospel to these families who were left behind in such difficult circumstances.
We were also blown away that God opened the door for the other half of our group to share our faith in a Chicago public school. The families met us in the cafeteria for an hour-long service put on by a local area pastor. Sixty five meals were distributed after we had a chance to give testimonies, and one couple even sang two songs after sharing their stories about how Jesus changed their lives.
In all about 2500 meals were shared throughout the south-side neighborhoods of Chicago surrounding Roseland where the Agape Community center is located. We will definitely be going back next year. We hope that you will consider joining us then!
Our missions conference this year was the first “peak” of what we hope will be several several summits in the missions ministry of Village Bible Church this year. The missions committee decided that this would be a great time to put all of our mission talk into action with our 1st ever Missions Conference cross-cultural project (right in our backyard – Aurora) partnering with World Relief. The refugee’s that we reached out to are much more than a “project” to us... They are new friends whom we hope to be able to build friendships with throughout the year! Thanks to so many who made the Saturday ministry a total success. Sunday was dynamite as well. Dr. Jim Pluddemann gave a resounding affirmation of the vision of our church to spread the glory of God to ends of the earth. What a joy it was to have the Kehn’s, Fornelli’s, Sutherlands, and Jinette Griefenberger with us. Our vibrant worship of our mighty God is something we can NOT keep to ourselves(Psalm 67). We have been blessed mightily by God... To be a blessing to others. Thanks to all & glory to God!
