Well Done Good and Faithful Servant, Grace Faith Church

Wonderful Job. Well done. Good and Faithful Servant. Grace Faith Church. To God be the Glory, and Thank You!!

I feel like, through the years, we’ve talked a lot about ways we have fallen short, ways we could have done better, ways we HOPE to do better in the future, but this morning, I wanted to highlight a way you have ALL been a part of a GOOD WORK God began and CONTINUES to do …

Facebook Memories supplied me with a montage of pictures from the Summer of 2012 this morning, and as I perused them, I could not help but be thankful for how God used Grace Faith Church to mentor a generation of youth who are now young adults…. (Yes, the kids who were shaking up bottles of soda and spraying them all over their teachers or dropping spaghetti all over themselves during Saturday lunches are now working in jobs that are supposed to help keep the world afloat…scary thought!) So many countless hours spent tutoring, feeding, entertaining, youth tripping, answering ridiculous questions, and just providing a space for these lives to BE, and you were all a part of it! Whether you commuted from New Hyde Park, Fresh Meadows,  New Jersey, Staten Island (oh the tolls!!), whether you walked from your apartment in Chinatown, whether you accumulated a massive amount of parking tickets trying to park in Chinatown or spent countless hours on the LIRR, you were all a part through the years. The older generation funded a program and the salary for a full-time youth worker and countless part-time staff all the while feeding us on a regular basis AND at the same time providing for the rest of the church ministries, staff, and miscellaneous programs! And the younger generation worked their fingers to the bones having their patience and stamina tested early Saturday mornings till late in the evening by these young lives. Countless people who didn't even like kids WORKED with kids for the glory of God. Together, as a body, so much good work was done… and that work was not in vain. Countless of these many young lives are still in and out of our lives in some capacity today as they pursue further education and jobs. Jesse and I bump into them on the street on a regular basis and catch up. We no longer talk SHSAT and video games or plan programs….(well, I guess some still talk video games), but we talk vocation and politics and deeper aspects of faith, love, and life, and just connect casually, and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all your work all those years who have laid this foundation for literally what feels like a generation. The CC ran from 2008 till 2017 officially, but God’s work started before then and continues into eternity.

Thinking back, there were times over the years that I did not feel seen, validated, or appreciated, yet I was probably the one who got the MOST praise out of anyone around! I was the one paid salary and given congregational gifts and affirmation! But you all were the hands and feet who got even less recognition and praise and thanks; AND WHAT’S MORE, without you all, NONE of what was would have been possible. You literally are all so valuable to these lives. And by faith, I believe God, in His goodness, will allow us to see in time, various fruits of the labors, and will reward your hard work.

So be encouraged heart this morning, as God’s beloved children. You were faithful to God so much through the years, and your faithfulness continues wherever we have gone. I am reminded that God often calls God’s people out to bless others, out of the nests that built them and shaped them and into a vast world to be planted and grown in different areas. I pray for opportunities to connect and reflect and rejoice together more in the future. For now, I will say thank you… those words are not enough, but you have all done so much through the years, and I love that so many of the faces I see in these pictures are now adults that with whom we have the opportunity to live life… and perhaps God, in God’s faithfulness, will see fit that these young lives bear fruit in other young lives as they go on into the world and into God’s grace… would not that be demonstrative of God’s Glory and God’s Grace and God’s Faith to God’s Church, Grace Faith Church! Thank You all!

Be Blessed! And Amen!