Saturday, March 13, 2021, Royal Oaks Estates, Dallas Texas
One time, in response to His disciples squabbling over ‘who’s the greatest,’ Jesus gives his disciples, and us, a short teaching. Mark records, “Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them; and their people in high position exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you; rather, whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant; and whoever wants to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).
What is the point here? Several can be made. First, in so many ways the world, and often we ourselves, attempt to make ourselves ‘great’ by our stuff, our jobs, our abilities, talents, money, you name it. Secondly, the main point here is this. If you desire to look like Jesus, one of the key ways we can do this is by becoming a servant to others. Those words encapsulate in so many ways, the experience of Impact Cares at Royal Oaks Estates.
It was a day, many in fact, of people serving people. There were residents serving their neighbors by helping stain their new decks. Neighbors were helping Impact Cares by bringing food from a local restaurant where they worked. Neighbors were helping their kids by simply allowing the Impact team to park in their driveway to be able to help host Camp Impact for the kids.
We want to give a big ‘Shout-Out’ to the El Shaddai Iglesia Christiana Church! From the beginning, Pastor Hernandez was more than a servant, opening up his parking lot and facilities for the volunteers to use as needed. This group of servants came on the project day and pitched in not only building, staining, painting, cleaning but also translating, sharing with people and praying for and with many. The Sunday following the project, this group of servant, led by a servant leader, went above and beyond, rolling out the proverbial ‘red carpet.’ The service was held outdoors and wouldn’t you know it, it starts to sprinkle. While standing for the reading of the Word, our seats were lifted up for the rain to run off and then dried before we sat down again – all in the space of a few minutes! The Pastor had the service translated and even a few songs in English for the Impact Team. Not only did these folks look like Jesus but we felt the Presence of the Lord and drew in the sweet fragrance of Christ (1 Cor. 2:14)!
During the course of our time at Royal Oaks, we were privileged to have people serving in many and varied ways. By allowing us to park in their driveways, to translating for the Impact team, to bringing wonderful food to share, to neighbors helping neighbors. We saw and experienced team members praying with a number of residents to accept Christ to a host of unnamed volunteers who carried tools, painted, prayed and participated.
Impact Cares exists to ‘put on display’ the love of God for those living in various communities. This is accomplished by Impact team members, volunteers, kids, food service and even dumpster service to local churches. To come back to where we started, if you want to look more like Jesus, find someone to serve and in many ways you will be walking in the footsteps of the Master!