Last year, more than 50 of the First Family spent the week at an orphanage in Guiamaca, Honduras ministering to children, laying concrete, painting walls, doing dentistry, and much, much more.
Heart for the World Week is the combination of a mission trip and retreat. This year, we head to Williamsburg, Kentucky to labor together with our brothers and sisters at Friends for Families Ministries. We will be serving, serving, and serving each day as we work on homes, lead children in a Vacation Bible School, distribute food to families, and share the gospel with the community.Each night, our H4W 2010 team will gather after supper for a time of worship. We will sing together, share together, pray together, and seek God together.
The most important word in the phrase “Heart for the World” is “Heart.” We go to Williamsburg this year not just with a desire to change a corner of the world, we go also with a desire for God to do the work of changing our own hearts. We pray that others will come to know the Lord through our witness, but we also pray that our hearts might be burdened more to the point that we have God’s Heart for the World.
Having God’s heart means loving what God loves, hating what God hates, thinking as God thinks, speaking as God would have us speak, and loving others as God wants us to love them. In short, having God’s heart means doing all things as unto Christ.
God does not look on the outward appearance, but on the heart (1 Samuel ). David prayed for God to create a clean heart in him (Psalm 51). The Psalmist stored up God’s Word in his heart (Psalm 119). David also desired for God to search his heart (Psalm 139). We are to trust the Lord with our whole hearts (Proverbs 3). A joyful heart is like good medicine (Proverbs 17:22). Jesus says that the pure in heart are blessed (Matthew 5:8). We know that what we treasure shows the proclivity of our hearts (Matthew 6:21). The mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart (Matthew 12:34). Believers are to “flee youthful passions and purse righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22). The Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). We are to love one another earnestly from a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22).
Too often those of us who call ourselves Christians are actually perfunctory in our performance, disobedient in our duty, and callous in our commitment. How easy it is to go through the motions while our hearts are completely disengaged. Some church goers do it every Sunday.
As we go to Williamsburg wearing our H4W T-shirts, may Heart for the World not just be a neat name for another trip, but a vivid description of the work that God does among us—giving us His Heart for the World.
Pray for us! Below is the list of the H4W team. May the words of Psalm 67 be our cry—“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that you way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!”
Check out this blog daily to see pictures and read reports of what God is doing among us.
It’s great to pastor a people who want God’s Heart for the World!
Pastor Todd
2010 H4W Team
Perry Vaughn Joyce Vaughn Brian Carter
Sharon Carter Emily Carter Eliza Carter
Benjamin Carter Jerald Ellington Mary Ellington
Brenda McElroy Alli McElroy Roger Stewart
Carol Stewart Cathy Hancock Larry WrightTodd Brady Jack Brady Jason Williams
Steve Moore Cassie Moore Buddy Griggs
Josh Cornett Fred Smith Tommy Tucker
Bryan Stewart Kevin Estes Julie Estes
Jaden Estes Micah Estes Rachel Nelson
Elizabeth Lester Keith Nelson Ed Kennerley
Nicki Caturano Anthony Caturano Ramona Milles
Collin Milles Garrett Milles Mason Milles
Daniel Milles Marc Spann Shirley Barlow
Bill Hatcher Greg English Connor English
Mariea English Mason English Lloyd Housman
Betty Housman Michael Henderson Rusty Banks
Jimmy Brooks Brenda Cantwell Megan Cantwell
Craig Hook Andrew Stricklin Chris Mason
Eliza Clark Michaela Henderson
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