By Forrest White, Director of Mission Ministries
Delivering God’s Message
On August 3, I was blessed to experience the beauty of three ministry partners – First United Methodist, the Society of St. Andrew and Volunteers in Service to the Elderly (VISTE) – working together behind the scenes to feed God’s children in need.
As you may know, I live in Tampa. On that Monday, I drove from Tampa to Lakeland to Wauchula to Orlando to Mount Dora to Lakeland to Tampa to Lakeland and back to Tampa.
My role? Picking up fresh produce in Wauchula and Mount Dora and moving it to Orlando, Lakeland and Tampa.
VISTE supplied the refrigerated truck. SoSA paid for the gas and secured the produce through its connections with Marjon Specialty Foods in Plant City and Hardee Fresh in Wauchula.
St. Luke’s UMC in Orlando, Heaven Destiny Church in Tampa and VISTE in Lakeland took care of the food distribution, so people young and old in each of those cities got fresh produce to feed their bodies and a sweet reminder to feed their souls – that even in the worst of times God has not forgotten them, God is with them, and God forever loves them.
Our loving God is at work all around us, at times through partnerships like this, but always inviting us to join in that work.
And, sometimes, God works through us in ways we can’t even imagine until we’re in the midst of them.
On that 15-hour Monday, I spent some time walking around St. Luke’s UMC after unloading their portion of the produce.
But I wasn’t thinking about the day at hand and the long road still ahead.
I thought mostly about the past and my first visit to the church.
About 10 years ago I made the final round of interviews for the Director of High School Ministries position at St. Luke's. (Spoiler alert: I didn't get offered the job. Even now I can't help but feel like my favorite water park ever, Wet ‘n Wild, wouldn't have closed if I'd been there to keep it in business.) Making it that far in the process meant a trip from Virginia to Orlando. As part of the visit, I had a tryout, i.e. I got to deliver a message to the high school students.
I had about 20 years of youth ministry experience by then, so I opted for my go-to talk that night, which consisted of breaking down the world's message - that each of us is easily replaced - against God's message - that each of us is irreplaceable.
After I finished there was a time for questions. I remember one kid asking me how much I could bench press. Ha ha. After the questions, there was a brief greeting time.I will never forget what happened then.
A young man, probably about 17, came up to me, with tears in his eyes, looked at me, hugged me and simply said, "Thank you."
It was a powerful moment. I get emotional just thinking about it. Right then I knew. Job offer or not, I knew. Our mysterious and awesome God had brought me to that place in that time.
This guy, flawed as I am, got to give God's message on His behalf to a hurting young man who badly needed to hear it, and I will be forever grateful, forever humbled.
I would love to know how that young man is doing these days. Wherever he may be, whatever he may be doing, I hope he has never forgotten God's message, that he is irreplaceable ... So, too, are you!
Part of life’s beauty as a disciple is this … We never know when God might work through us, maybe even to share His message. ~ Forrest
***For information on Mission opportunities or to sign up, please contact Forrest White, Director of Mission Ministries
