Loving God, Loving People to the Ends of the Earth

"Loving God, loving people to the ends of the earth." That is the mission and vision of our church. How do we do this? As we grow in our knowledge of Him and spend time with Him, He changes us through the Holy Spirit's power. Then, we are able to expand our love for Him (actually He expands our love for Him in our hearts) and that overflows to others - "we love Him because He first loved us".

I am reminded of Gary Chapman's book The Five Love Languages. They are touch, words of affirmation, acts of service, gifts, and quality time. We practiced all 5 of these recently as we went down to Trenholm Court, a local low-income project community. On Saturday, a group of young adults in Montgomery, some from my church and some from other churches, went there together to play basketball, soccer, give out candy, clothes, pray with, encourage, and spend time with the youth there. Just think about the love languages mentioned. If we can practice these, especially with the children in our communities, neighborhoods, streets and in other countries everywhere we go to those who probably wouldn't otherwise receive love, we would show the love of God to others to the ends of the earth.