GO July - By Crystal Rogers

God calls us to serve. It's written all throughout the Bible. "It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others." (Ephesians 2:10 LB)

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45  NIV) "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13 NIV)

What God told Jeremiah is also true for all of us: "Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work." (Jeremiah 1:5a NCV) We weren't made to just sit around and watch others serve us or watch others serve those around us. God made each and every one of us to do a special work, not just our pastors and governing Board members. It includes you, me, our children, our parents, and even our grandparents. If we aren't serving others, then we aren't doing what God called us to do.

Over the past month, it was incredible to see how many people from Mooresville Church of God were out serving in our community! If you didn't get the opportunity to join any of the groups this time, you missed out and you should be first in line next time!

Levi Rennick, one of our summer interns, led a group down to our neighborhood Laundromat to spend some time talking to our neighbors and asking about how we could pray for them. Not only did they have the opportunity to interact with some of our neighbors, they even had some extra time to help scrub the Laundromat – a.k.a. manual labor.

  Meghan Jackson, our other summer intern, led a fantastic group of ladies at Meadow Lakes! These young women pampered the elderly women in the memory ward each week. They painted nails, put makeup on them and did crafts over the four weeks of service. The best part about this event was that these young ladies were challenged to reach outside of their comfort zone and try something new! Each week these young ladies were excited to go back and share God's love with those women at Meadow Lakes. "I believe that it was great for our students to interact with people who are older than themselves that they do not know. I also believe we made an impact with the nurses and the activity leaders at the nursing home just knowing we were coming to be there and helping them by giving them a break as well," Pastor Kim Schuessler.

  

Brittani Bentley organized a group to participate at the Farmer's Market in downtown Mooresville on Tuesday nights for the month of July. This group of volunteers provided free homemade goods to our community. The Farmer's Market provided an opportunity for members of our church to let people know about how they can help others or get help themselves when they need assistance. "As a church, we were able to let people know who we are and where we are located," Pastor Kim.

"It was all about relationships for me. We met so many that needed help or wanted a new church," Brittani Bentley said. This was a great opportunity to invite new families to our church!

  

Vanessa True helped to organize a large group of children and young adults to do a lot of manual labor at two of Mooresville's elementary schools: Neil Armstrong and Newby. Both schools had large piles of mulch that needed to be placed in flower beds and playgrounds. The school crew also helped pick up trash, pull weeds, cut down some dead trees and branches, and paint some curbs to get the schools ready for the start of a new year. Last, but not least, this crew finished their month by doing a prayer walk around the school grounds praying for the students and teachers as they begin a fresh new year.

  

I led a group in organizing dinner and an ice cream social for both the Mooresville Police Department and Fire Department crews. These men and women put their lives on the line for each and every person in our community, some even in our neighboring communities. Providing these men and women dinner and ice cream was the least we could do. Not only did we get to share a meal and ice cream with them, we actually had time to sit down and get to know them. Building these relationships is priceless! Not only did the adults enjoy this time of sharing with the police and fire department staff, but some young children experienced some really cool things like touring the police and fire stations, and even getting to set in the fire truck!