A Move In Obedience
I’m continually in awe when individuals at the Waterford campus move in obedience toward something God is calling them to! This happens a lot and one of the ones that sticks out happened a few months ago during the How Love Works series.
Over the course of this series, we invited everyone at Summit to think globally about God’s mission and seek justice for the most vulnerable in this world. In Matthew 19, Jesus rebukes the disciples for turning away the children who were brought to see Him, saying, “Let the little children come to me... for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” His words changed everything, and they are a call to us today just as they were to the disciples. Children have value because they are created and loved by God. Their lives are not insignificant. They matter.
As an application out of the second week of the series, we encouraged everyone to take steps toward sponsoring, fostering, or adopting a child. That day, at the Sponsor. Foster. Adopt. Expo, four college students felt God calling them to sponsor a child in Africa through our partner, Children of the Nations (COTN). Individually they could not afford to sponsor the child, but collectively they knew they could impact the life of a child. So they decided to team up and sponsor one together. They looked at the pictures as a group in the Lobby and ultimately decided to sponsor an eleven-year-old boy, Solomon. Solomon lives in Sierra Leone, he's in the 7th grade, he lives with his parents, and he loves school.
I still remember walking by the group that day and them stopping me to show me the picture of Solomon; I could just sense the joy they felt from taking that step of obedience! And having been to Africa with COTN myself, I also knew the impact their obedience would have. I knew that Solomon's future is now radically changed because four college students in Orlando decided to obey - Wow! Isn’t that amazing? That’s the kingdom we’ve been invited to be a part of – that's just how our amazing God works!
I hope that they can be a part of one of the teams Summit sends to Africa and meet Solomon in person. And I hope their story of obedience inspires you to take steps toward obeying God in your own life. We can trust that whatever He calls us to, is not in vain.
“Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58b)”
I’m so grateful to be a part of this community and excited for what God has in store for the future as we continue to seek Him together!
Sam Arocho is the Waterford Campus Minister. He loves getting to encourage people into taking their next step in obedience toward what God is calling them into. If you want to toss around some ideas for what is next for you, or want more information on how you can be a a part of what God is up to in Africa, email Sam at sarocho@summitconnect.org.