We all talk about trying to reach people in new ways. I know I talk about it all the time! Still, when our former pastor reached out to me about a community newsletter, I wouldn’t buy-in. I made every excuse in the world. Even though, I LOVE to write! I write a blog, I write books, I wrote a column for a decade…sometimes I think I write in my sleep. It is a gift from God and yet I was pulling back from the opportunity.
Then one day, a publishing house led by amazing women of faith, sent me a copy of a magazine they had produced. They sent it to me because they wanted me to share it with the 90k+ readers of my blog. Instead, they got a phone call asking how we could make this idea of my pastor’s mesh into what I was holding in my hand and loving everything on every page.
With that call, Voices of Havelock was off and running. Imagine a full color magazine that shares with the community at large, how God is at work all around them…each and every day. We all need good news, don’t we? The idea combines the good news and information. This causes people who don’t connect with a church, to pick up the magazine for the great information. Along the way, they get a little or a lot of faith through the stories of their neighbors.
We could knock on doors. We could stand in the Walmart parking lot with a megaphone. Instead, we are loving them and letting them see our love, through the words and pictures of their friends and neighbors. I could kick myself for not fully embracing her idea when she brought it to me the first time. Then I pause and think maybe that was God saying, ‘hold on…I’ve got an even better way to do this!”
The lesson for all of us is to imagine the possibilities of what discipleship can look like in 2023! Imagine, get excited and get going!
I have included the link to the premier edition of this faith-based community magazine that was the brainchild of Retired Reverend Dr. Donna Thompson. The next edition will be out in November. Glory to God for the amazing ways he uses even the most stubborn of hearts for His glory!
— Kim
You can reach out to Kim Smith, Sound District Lay Leader, by email at k.smith@nccumc.org