Influence

I was talking to a new friend, Hussam, yesterday about the importance of the gospel impacting a community at multiple levels. Take today, for instance.

Hussam and Nick, two 21 year old interns, taught a total of six English classes today at a nearby Jr. High school. It was a hoot. I’m not sure when Hussam, who is Jordanian, started writing his name on the whiteboard in Arabic, but as soon as he did, every single kid in the room (over 50 of them in most cases!) wanted to know what his named looked like in Arabic (which is written from right to left…something I learned today).

While the kids and Tina taught in the morning, Ismael and I navigated through the maze of local government offices in order to get a permit to set up a pole tent or large tarp on a public area for an event we’ll be doing with Marcelo Melison on July 12. It was an opportunity to share with several municipal officials what we’ve been doing through our non-profit…everything from wheelchair distribution to English and basketball classes.

Now, as a local church you can tell yourself that the most important space in the universe is the space between the four walls of your meeting place, and bury your proverbial head in the sand.  Or you can see the whole world as your meeting place, and persuasively and pervasively influence at multiple levels of society. The school. The police force. The local government. The home owners association. The hospital. The marketplace.

After today, there are at least 250 Jr. Hi kids who want their name written in Arabic. And a Jordanian who wants to tell them how to have their name written in the Book of Life.