Sure wish this was MY church but it is a church that we are associated with.  The Baptist church in the next town over (our pastors are good friends.....they both just went to Honduras to visit a missionary we support together..along with a few other folks) is steppin' it up for Jesus.  This is awesome.  Our little church is moving toward doing stuff like this, too, but it is great to see that we will be joining some momentum in this direction!  I will reprint the article below.

The First Baptist Church is canceling morning worship service on Sunday, Sept. 21, so the congregation can engage in service to the community. (now that's puttin' your money where your mouth is!!!)

The First Baptist Church family will gather at the church at 9 am on Sunday for a brief opening and prayer of commissioning.  At 9:20 am, the church will send 100 people into the community to serve the city  and a variety of human services organizations. (our church doesn't have 100 attendees but we could still make an impact)

With a theme of "Don't Just Go To Church, Be The Church", the First Baptist family will clean litter, remove graffiti, paint curbs on Main Street, clean the Lake, serve the Women & Childrens Shelter, and pack food care packages for people in the area, to name some of the 16 projects that will be done this Sunday morning.

The pastor of the church, said in a news release, "As part of our 200th anniversary celebration this year, we as a church want to again engage our city and meet the needs that are all around us.  It is our hope that as the celebration continues we proactively ask ourselves, 'What's next?'  Developing an external focus will be the center of what the church will be doing as we begin our third centry of ministry as a church in this town."  (this is totally Missional Church thinking...remember my previous blog?)  "The church in America has lost its voice and its place in our society," he added.  "We want to reverse that thinking by reconnecting with our city, our neighbors, and with our community organizations that already are meeting a variety of needs.  People need to again see the church moving boldly into the community, and not simply waiting for the community walk through the church doors.  Our city needs its churches and we simply want to recapture our place in the city."

Okay, people...if some little church in the back woods can do Missional Church, so can yours!!!!!!!!!!!!!