Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Short Story: Reaching Out in Rocky Point

Christ's Church of the Valley (CCV) likes to run short, 250-word stories in each weekend's bulletin to tie in with the sermon or events happening within the church. The approximate bulletin count is 7,200 every weekend.

REACHING OUT IN ROCKY POINT
It’s estimated that half the population in Mexico is living in poverty, with one-fifth living in extreme poverty. Some families live on less than one dollar a day, a level comparable to the world's poorest countries. Yet it’s often the poorest people who find the greatest joy out of simple acts of kindness.

ONE Mission, a CCV-supported mission outreach organization, recently spent the day reaching out to the most poverty stricken neighborhoods in Rocky Point, Mexico. During this outreach event, ONE Mission along with a coalition of local Rocky Point churches, handed out over eight thousand hotdogs and five thousand pairs of adult and children’s shoes within a few hours. The shoes given out are the very shoes that most of you donated on one single weekend to show a tangible act of service.

“Hundreds of children put shoes on for the very first time in their lives. Families were lined up over two city blocks in order to receive their blessing,” said Jason Law, CCV member and ONE Mission’s founder. “The amazing part of this whole event was that many of the local residents saw what we were doing and wanted to help out. They wanted to help give back to their community. ONE Mission simply equipped the local residents to make an impact themselves. This is the heart and passion of ONE Mission—to enable rather than to do for,” Jason stated.

The most important part of the day wasn’t necessarily filling hungry bellies or handing out shoes to the needy; it was that 5,000 people where able to see the church in action—serving, loving, and showing Christ in a real way.

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