Brothers and sisters,
I just wanted to follow-up with you all about our fellowship event with World Relief Durham (WRD) last Wednesday night. What a wonderful time it was! Twenty-seven church members came out to spend time with us learning about World Relief Durham and the work they do. The food was good. The fellowship was great. And the meeting itself was informative and inspirational.
For those that were not able to join us, Adam Clark, the Executive Director of WRD, talked with us about exactly how ministries like Hope House factor into how they help refugees. He mentioned that Hope House and other houses in the Welcome House Network enable WRD to say, “Yes,” to refugees because WRD knows those refugees will have a safe place to stay once they reach America. He talked about the way that Hope House has inspired other churches in the area to look into creating their own temporary housing for refugees. He talked about the ways that each individual can get involved on behalf of refugees—through donations, through advocacy, and through prayer.
Then, John, one of the first people to stay in Hope House, stood up and told our church about the positive impact Hope House had on his life. He talked about how deeply loved he and his family felt by this church. He said that every year he and his family go over the blessings in their lives and every year they mention Hope Valley Baptist Church and, in particular, Bill Bigger. John also told us about his plans to become a nurse and his dream of working with refugees. He also informed us that he loves North Carolina, but that our weather has taken some getting used to!
At the end, Garry Crites, their new Church and Community Engagement Manager, had set up a table with mate-rials for all of us to take home that further explained the work WRD does. One of the things he had was a bookmark with “40 Days of Scripture & Prayer.” Basically, it was 40 passages to read and pray over on behalf of refugees. I’ll leave you with one of those passages, “When a foreigner re-sides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34, NIV).
Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben