After graduating with my Plano Leadership class Tuesday night, I was talking with classmate Lori Schwarz who is the Director of Neighborhood Services for the City of Plano. I thanked her for her department’s cooperation with us in the Love Where You Live program that was part of our Mission Together three weeks ago. Her eyes went wide with excitement as she explained that there are any number of older/disabled adults who have trouble keeping up with their houses and yards and benefit from assistance from groups like ours. In fact, that work of partnerships occurs the second Saturday of every month all around Plano. I told Lori that I assumed she might make an exception and allow us to do that on a third or forth Saturday in conjunction with our next Mission Together weekend. She assured me that the answer was YES.
Thanks to the work of Alan Johnson, Leslie Harris, Debbie Ison, and the Rev. Diane Presley, people have asked, “When are we going to do that again?” By that, they are quick to say, they mean months – not a year away. That is exciting. We are embracing the theology that mission is not an event, but a way of life, and that not a committee but a whole church are missionaries, just as Jesus and his disciples were. It is a shift in our way of thinking and it is a shift closer to the kingdom of God as Jesus preached and lived it.
Thank you all for your leadership as missionaries. Stay tuned for the next Saturday and Sunday when we all work together Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community!
