Hello Village Family and Friends!
Just over a year ago I entered into fellowship with a group of local pastors from Genesee County. The purpose and the intent was simple: to pray for one another, our churches, and our communities. Along wit praying, we were going to keep our eyes open for ways that we and our churches could partner together for the Gospel. I have made some friendships over the last year that the Lord has used to minister in an extremely deep way. I'm so thankful for these men.
About a week ago, one of the pastors in the group, whose wife works is deep in the nursing world was sharing us some of the thoughts and feelings that she and other nurses he knew had expressed to him. This was reverberated by other pastors connected to the nursing world as well. 2020 and he COVID challenge has presented a great number of difficulties and stresses, but perhaps none so great as on our local hospital nursing staffs. Not only did they never have to, they weren't given the opportunity to ask, "Am I essential?" They simply went to work and persevered through hardship and heartache, despite the risk to themselves and their families. Stories of coming home and being quarantined from family in their own homes became commonplace. In March and April, even in to May the outpouring from local communities was immense! Gift cards, meals, snacks, thank you cards, yard signs; you couldn't go anywhere without seeing the appreciation people had for these local heroes.
But then, as humanity has always done, the job went on and the thanks began to diminish. Feelings of loneliness and of being forgotten began to crowd in and this at a time when numbers from the passed 10 weeks are nearly triple what they were during the first 10 weeks, thankfully with less death. Praise God!
Re-enter the Genesee Valley Pastors Fellowship, and these men for who I am so thankful. The Spirit started stirring us, "If the world is slowly forgetting these local heroes, surely the church had better not! What can we do? Moreover, how can we thank them and how can we share Christ with them?" And in a whirlwind of thought and planning Operation Appreciation was birthed. Over the next two weeks, churches from across the region will be gathering donations of non-perishable snacks (e.g. granola bars, packages of crackers or trail-mix, jerky, etc.) and cards of thanks that will be delivered on or around December 19th to the local hospitals. Along with the cards and snacks will be a link to a website (this website) sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and contact information for the churches involved. It is our hope and prayer that, through the demonstration of Christ's Church coming together, the recipients of such care and thanks would be drawn to salvation through faith in Christ.
This entire operation may seem remove from us, but we have nurses in our church family and we have several who have benefited recently from the selfless care of these healthcare workers! Let's show them our thanks and pray that God saves many through our efforts to glorify his name this Christmas Season! Please contact me if you have any questions!
Grace & Peace,
John
(You can reach Pastor John at jwhite@thevillagemi.com)