See, we spent the month January teaching about the scourge of domestic sex trafficking of under-age girls, the complicity of many church men in creating that sickening demand in the first place, and then described our partnership with On Eagles’ Wings Ministry.
For this project, the partnership was relatively simple: with the proceeds from our January 27 offering, we would buy an unoccupied home, pay for its renovation & restoration, and then when it was ready for occupancy, give it to OEWM.
At that point, OEWM would begin to house girls who have been delivered from the lifestyle of underage sex trafficking but not its after-effects. The ministry of On Eagles’ Wings would do for the girls many of the same things we would do for the house: renovation and restoration.
We called the project, simply, Home. Our Challenge Goal for January 27 was $125,000 and our Miracle Goal was $150,000.
You can read all about it here.
So after a month of planning, praying, preaching, leading, crying, and asking, we received the offering last Sunday. As money continued to come in through the week, our Business Office kept counting. And counting. And counting.
I think we need to redefine the definition of miracle around here.
Instead of that $150,000 goal, the people of Good Shepherd last week gave . . . .
$389,751
to the Home Campaign. In one week. And all of it will leave the church and head toward the rescue, renovation, and restoration of young girls who have been stolen from their homes and had home stolen from them.
At each service, the announcement of that frankly staggering amount was met with a collective audible gasp.
And then spontaneous standing ovation.
And then, best of all, as if to remind us what this or any Radical Impact Project is ultimately about, Chris Macedo led us in singing, “Not To Us, But To Your Name Be The Glory.”
And you wonder why I like being the pastor of Good Shepherd United Methodist?