Dan Baker

Getting Ready To “GO”

As I sit here for a few minutes preparing for our departure on Monday AM I will be perfectly honest and say that “I cannot wait to get my serve on”. I love working with and helping the less fortunate and what better place to do it than in Los Angeles California at Matthew Barnetts Dream Center.

We will be serving in the Skid Row area where there are numbered 40,000 people living on the streets. We will also be serving in the gang communities on Adopt A Block. It is going to be amazing to see and be a part of a huge version of what we are working on. I am expecting great vision and some awesome testimonies.

Heres a link to see what its all about. I will post more to come.

http://www.dreamcenter.org/about-us/#!prettyPhoto

The “how-to” structure and strategy behind leading your church through a 21 day fast

GO

I was privileged to have been given the opportunity to speak to our Acme Children’s Program during the first week of December and I can say that it was an honor to be able to share a message on a subject that is dear to my heart. The Month of December’s theme was about giving to others and helping the less fortunate and I was slated to speak on our outreach ministry called Adopt A Block.

While preparing my message notes I came up with two points 1. GIVE, 2. OTHERS and I used scriptures from Matthew that pertained to Christ’s ministry about feeding the hungry, caring for the needy, healing the sick, and just being like Christ in our communities and then at the end we invited the kids and their parents to attend our December 17th Adopt A Block Christmas event where we go into the community and hand out cards, homemade cookies, and do a special craft. I could never have anticipated the response from the children that we received; we had over 180 volunteers show up to help out on that special day of which over 20 families of the Acme kids were present. It came down to a simple two letter acrostic GO.

The only work that our Lord asks of us is to go and share the Gospel. The word GO is used 1542 times in the Bible.

As you go into this Christmas giving season please remember to GO and share with those in need. Matthew 25:35 says ” I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me.”

In verse 40 the Word goes on to say “I tell you the truth,when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.”

Blessings and may you GO and be The Difference…

..the hope of the world

As I was sitting in the auditorium of Willow Creek Community Church this past Sunday I was reminded why we as Christians cannot just “sit” and warm a pew. I listened as Dr Bill Hybels recounted a story from the past; you see this past weekend marked the 36th anniversary of Willow Creek and they were reflecting on the lives changed through those years. As he recounted this particular story he was evidently moved emotionally as if it had just happened. As he wiped away tears from his eyes he told the story of two young boys who were fighting in an airport waiting area on a trip early in his ministry. One youth was around 9 years of age and the other was around 7. He was reading his paper when the fight broke out and as the nine year old was beating the younger child he looked around to see where the parents might be. Seeing no one he stepped in just as the older boy grabbed the younger boy who was now on the concrete floor. The boy began to pound the younger ones head into the floor with no restraint, it was at this point that Dr Hybels reached the boys and pulled the older one off and to the side, receiving some hits of his own for doing so. At this moment an airline employee took over so that Dr Bill could catch his flight. While sitting on his flight he began to ask the Lord why he had to witness that, because as it happens Dr Bill has an extreme intolerance to violence.. It was at this moment that the Lord gave him a phrase that to this day it is quoted around the world within the Christian realm..”The local church is the hope of the world”.As I sat there listening to this man of God speak with the same emotion and conviction after 36 years it brought my thoughts to our own ministry. We reach out every day to the hurting, needy, broken, and destitute people of our community. We see lots of “help” for these people; government programs, assistance programs, food programs. This help is so needed, however it doesn’t fix the problems. It would be like taking a pain killer for an abscessed tooth but never doing anything to fix the root problem; the abscess. We pray that we can be used of God to bridge that gap. To be able to come alongside the workers and get to the root of the problem. These issues are many times generational damages that have never been fixed. Through the Grace of our Lord we know that these special broken souls can find a permanent solution; a “real fix”.

After working on the streets with the hurting I can appreciate what Dr Hybels felt as he viewed the injury inflicted by a youth who simply didn’t know better. Being the Church, the people of God must understand that to be the hands and feet of our Lord we have work to do. The word DO would hint to an action and we cannot be in a state of action if we simply sit and warm a pew or chair in a building. Take what you learn in the building and get out and take action. Through that action we as a Church truly can be the hope of the world….