At Redeemer Baptist Church, we are excited that this coming week we will be hosting a team of Illinois Baptists to bless the community of Panama.
We believe that we should be a church that makes the community noticeably better. We are just starting, but we want to so involve ourselves with the community of Panama, that if we were to cease operating we would be missed in the community. We believe that one way we can do this is by giving something to the community with no strings attached.
One thing that we realize is necessary to to this is we have to look for real needs in the community. We shouldn’t just come up with our programs that we think will be attractive and expect people to come and support us simply because we are a church. Rather, we should go to where the need is. As we began preparations for planting Redeemer, I met with Ken Wilson, a church planting catalyst for Illinois Baptists. He had driven around the community with this very idea in mind. “What are the needs of the community?” When we met together, he shared that one of the things he saw was that there were several houses that needed to be power washed. He shared that he could get a team of Illinois Baptists to come and power wash houses as a way to bless the community. I loved the idea from the beginning. It was a way we could give to the community with no strings attached.
Now the time is here. This Sunday a team will be arriving to help us. Our people will be busy feeding them. We have reserved a shower trailer, usually reserved for disaster relief, to use for the team, and they plan to stay on cots in our classrooms. They worship with us this Sunday night, and they will be with us until Wednesday.
I look forward to the opportunities this week will bring. We will get to meet new people and bless our community with the love of Jesus.
I will post a follow-up after the team is gone to share how things go.
Redeemer Baptist Church 