'Nobody has ever done what you do'

Adopt-A-Block is a radical weekly outreach that is changing lives in Dothan, Ala. I say it's radical, because it takes a commitment to live life with others. We know that in today's society, especially in the U.S., finding people committed to doing God's work is hard to find. Unfortunately, commitment isn't everyone's favorite word.

The idea came from the L.A. Dream Center in Los Angeles , Calif. There, Pastor Matthew Barnett and the staff and volunteers at the Dream Center are transforming thousands of lives through the Gospel of Jesus Christ by serving the people. They serve the homeless, poor, prostitutes, and all of the people our society counts as losers and those they don't want to associate with.

Jesus showed us a totally different way throughout the four Gospels in the New Testament. Those are the types of people Jesus hung out with as He said in Mark 2:17, "Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Then we read in 1 Timothy 1:15, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

Every Saturday at Love In Action, we go into the neighborhood where the LIA Ministry Center is located to serve the people. We pray with them and help them in various ways. Yesterday (Saturday, April 15, 2012) was another amazing day of outreach with Adopt-A-Block.

The morning began with one of our teams leading an elderly man to Jesus. He questioned if he would go to Heaven when he died. Now, he has no doubts. Praise God!

Across the street from him we sat on a porch with two more elderly men. They are both Christians, but not in good health. However, that doesn't stop them from praising Jesus, especially Mr. John. What a blessing he is. Though he has to stay hooked up to an oxygen tank, he still finds the breath to sing praises to Jesus. Yesterday, he sang one song after another. It was beautiful.

The other elderly gentleman thanks us over and over again each week. Yesterday, he told us twice that, "Nobody's ever done what you do in our neighborhood. Thank you." What an incredibly humbling statement. That man has lived in that neighborhood for years and years, but he said nobody has ever served the people like Love In Action.

That's not bragging on LIA, that's thanking God for working through us to touch lives. It's also a sad statement for the churches throughout that neighborhood. Churches will never have the impact on their communities that God intends for them to have if they don't get outside of the walls and serve the people.

Later in the morning we made our way to Mrs. Smiley's house, a sweet 80-year-old widow. She waits for us each week. Her daughter told us Mrs. Smiley won't go anywhere on Saturday until our visit. She is such a blessing.

Our wonderful volunteers did some work around Mrs. Smiley's house. We cleaned out and fixed the gutter on her front porch, repaired a leaking water pipe, and planted some beautiful flowers in some empty flower pots around her front porch.

All-in-all, I'd say it was an awesome day. An elderly man gets saved, we sang God's praises with another elderly man, and we blessed a precious elderly widow. That's not to mention all of the others we prayed with, and the 30-plus we served lunch to.

God is so awesome and we give Him all of the praise, honor and glory. Thanks to each of you for your prayers and financial support, and thanks to those who come to the LIA Ministry Center to volunteer your time. Together, we are all making a difference for the Kingdom of God.