Lord, I Give You My Heart - Pt. II

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Lord, I Give You My Heart - Pt. II

Mike would typically get up, have his morning coffee, and have a devotional time with his Bible. When Kevin got up early, he would get a cup of hot chocolate, grab his beloved Bible, and sit reading near Mike. The Heaths knew that Kevin was mimicking Mike’s behavior just like any child would, but deep in their hearts, they wondered if more was going on. They prayed that Kevin would know, understand, and accept the gospel. They also prayed that when he did, God would allow them to know about it.

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Puerto Rico 2021

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Puerto Rico 2021

SEND Relief (part of North American Mission Board) has a significant presence on the island of Puerto Rico. CATC sent a nine-person team to be a part of the remarkable work that is happening there. Our team served alongside a NAMB supported Puerto Rican church as well as an adoption agency known as Adoptando en Puerto Rico.

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Simple Obedience

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Simple Obedience

Some of us know have felt the frustration of the airlines losing our luggage. Whether on vacation or a business trip, this can be a major setback and leave us annoyed at best. But how many of us know what it’s like when an airline loses your luggage upon landing in an unfamiliar country across the world where you plan to be living for several months?

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Amy & Lucy

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Amy & Lucy

That evening, a person who had graduated from Compassion’s program spoke to the campers about how she was “released from poverty in Jesus' name.” Amy’s heart was touched. For $30 a month, she could support the needs of a child in poverty across the world. Amy just started a job at the local theater, making little more than minimum wage. She decided this was how she would spend her money. After all, it wasn’t hers, it was God’s. And there was Lucy’s picture, calling her name.

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But God, What If?

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But God, What If?

She thought about how often she seeks to keep peace and avoid making presumptions. She felt the Holy Spirit telling her, “You are free. Buy a study Bible for your friend and give it to her.” As she tuned back into the sermon, she remembers JR asking, “Are we going to be obedient to what God has us to do? When the opinion of the one who matters most, matters most to you, then you’re unlocking your prison of everyone else’s approval.” She confessed to God, “Your approval matters most to me and what you asked me to do matters.” She felt the Lord responded with, “Yes, I want you to buy her the Bible, but it’s from me, not from you.”

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Caring Through Technology

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Caring Through Technology

Sarah, the matriarch of this refugee family, told me over dinner one evening that she loves the Lord so much and she prays all the time. Like her Biblical namesake, Sarah is a mother of many and a woman of great faith. Although she has witnessed great suffering firsthand, she has also witnessed God’s faithfulness to her family. Out of the many prayers that Sarah has prayed for provision, God has used the people of CATC through CarePortal to answer a few of them.

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Cold Care

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Cold Care

“It really wasn’t a decision we had to weigh. There was a need and we were able to meet it, so we offered,” said Gayle and Duane when asked what compelled them to open their homes. “It is our responsibility to care for our community and we are thrilled that God has blessed us with a home where we are easily able to do this. It’s certainly no five-star hotel, but it’s warm and filled with love and care for each other.”

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God of the Details

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God of the Details

Our God is one of the intimate details. He uses his people to accomplish his care for the vulnerable, the weary, and the lost. Every step of the work had disruptions, but God was using these diversions to form relationships, to show people his love through his Church, and to carry out his plan. God is not far away. He is near to the brokenhearted. He may not be working in a way that seems obvious to you or to me, but he is working none the less, and his work is perfect.

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But to Whom and to Where

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But to Whom and to Where

In less than a month, our family has the privilege of being sent out as Church at the Cross missionaries to Utah with the hopes of planting a church in Farmington within the next few years (God willing). We will also be in partnership with Flourishing Grace Church, where I will serve the people of that area joining their staff as a minister to North Davis County. Ultimately, our hope is to see God transforming lives with the hope of the Gospel, and bringing renewal to a pre-Christian state through Jesus.

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Welcoming the Stranger

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Welcoming the Stranger

Through this experience, God is exposing my self-centeredness. I can be so possessive of my time, schedule, and personal priorities. He is teaching me to consider someone else's needs first. God is conforming me to the fruit of the Spirit and teaching me the loving way of Jesus. Any inconveniences we have experienced are small in comparison to what God has shown us. We are serving him by loving his children, and we have greatly benefited from new, lifelong friendships.

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Freed to Love

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Freed to Love

Slavery still exists today.

Human trafficking is a global slavery that starts by means of abuse, coercion, grooming, false promises, exploiting the vulnerable, and forcing them into a life of slavery usually through forced sex work or forced, unpaid labor. Those in the foster care system, minority populations, LGBTQ youth, refugees, and their children, homeless youth, and runaways are at the highest risk of being trafficked. Those who have suffered physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual abuse are also at the highest risk of being trafficked. These populations are all people, all a part of this world just like you and I, yet they remain unseen and unheard in day-to-day life.

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Papo Fuerte

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Papo Fuerte

Miriam went on to share with us a little more about her husband. He had grown up in the neighborhood where they lived. Most of the people in the neighborhood were related to him in some form or fashion. Cousins, second cousins, uncles, aunts. He earned the nickname “Papo Fuerte.” Papo’s mother’s maiden name was “Fuerte.” But that is not solely how he got the nickname. Papo was a welder by trade. But basically, he could fix, or build anything he put his mind to. You name it, Papo had built it. He built the entire concrete house 30 years ago where they were living to this day. He built the water tank used to irrigate all their land. At one point Miriam told us the story of how he built a private elevator in someone’s personal home. Papo would also repair and build for everyone in the neighborhood. If anyone ever needed anything, he would not hesitate to build it for them and take care of his family. Family is everything in Puerto Rican culture, or at least on the surface it is. Fuerte means strong in Spanish, and Papo was the neighborhoods strength… was.

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Breaking Bread in Utah

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Breaking Bread in Utah

On Thursday morning, June 13, a small team of nine CATC Covenant Members departed DFW Airport on a plane to the Mecca of the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our church partner, Flourishing Grace Church, sits in a city called Bountiful, just outside of Salt Lake. The agenda for this trip was not the usual, see-a-need, fill-a-need style mission trip. There was no painting fences or hosting Vacation Bible Schools. Their goal was to establish relationships, to meet with and encourage our partners in ministry, and to simply pray. 

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Foster Care: A Means of Grace

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Foster Care: A Means of Grace

Foster care is a complex ministry. We entered this new season with the intention to keep children safe. We now realize Jesus had an even broader brushstroke in mind. Certainly, our primary responsibility is to open our lives to a child from traumatic experiences. But we never considered the abundance of new people our lives would intersect—therapists, case managers, attorneys, CASA volunteers, WIC office employees, biological family members.  At every turn there seems to be someone in need of the hope of Jesus. 

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