It's the little things...

We drove into the driveway after Church and lunch yesterday and this was on our front door. Nate loves to brag about people in our community who are missional but would never brag on himself, so I'm going to.

Nate is the Director of Missional Community at Austin City Life and really teaches that being "missional" isn't only about going overseas and being a missionary but it's about being on mission in your own family, neighborhood and city. He loves to report stories back to Jonathan (ACL pastor)when he finds himself proud of someone in our city group who has touched, impacted or helped someone in the neighborhood or the city of Austin. Here are a few really cool stories he's gotten to share about people in our community who have lived out the gospel in a missional way, locally:

-We had a single mom, who doesn't go to ACL, move into our neighborhood and people from our city group reached out to her, having never met her, buying her flowers, a candle, and a cake. Nate even showed up and spent the whole day helping her move in.

-We have a girl in our group who works in a liquor store and who has connected with some of the every day regulars who come in to get their daily pint of vodka. She spent time talking with one and simply asked her her name and was kind to her. The woman showed up hours later with her pet that she wanted to show off. You could tell it made a huge impact on her that someone cared enough to talk to her about her kids and ask her what her name was.

-We have one family in our group who adopted two local children who were in the foster care system. One of the greatest examples of Christ's love for us.

-A group just did a makeover on the teen therapy room at Safeplace here in Austin. Safeplace is a local non-profit that houses women and their children who have fled from sexual and domestic violence. See the pictures here.

-A couple in our Church is hosting a garage sale and here is their blurb about it on facebook:

"Yard Sale Fundraiser benefiting Operation Turkey sponsored by Austin City Life Church, and hosted by The Nixons. Operation Turkey is an organization that provides a full Thanksgiving Meal to homeless families on Thanksgiving Day; as well as provide for many of their other needs.

Please consider cleaning out a closet, or your pantry and donating some of the items listed on the flyer. You can bring stuff over any time - DAY or NIGHT!

It will be an awesome morning as we pull together to serve the needs of our city. And please invite anyone and everyone to this event!

For info about Austin City Life (the best church ever), visit www.austincitylife.org

For info about Operation Turkey, visit www.operationturkey.com"

-We hosted a "neighbor night" at our house and had all of our neighbors over for pizza and beer. Since then, we have still made it a point to hang out with and love on our neighbors. In fact, one couple across the street, Bridgette and Chele, are moving and told me that when they made their "pros and cons list", we were the top thing on their pro's list. Wow...I don't think I've ever been on the top of anyone's pro's list.

-We visit this retirement home each month and spend time with the residents.

Austin City Life is all about these little things and I wish I could tell every encouraging story but there are just so many, you'd be reading until midnight.

Things like this sign just prove that showing Jesus' love in even very small ways, without an agenda, means a lot to people.

Check out this blog post written by Jonathan Dodson that tells you how to be missional in your every day life.

Here's to more Christians hanging with non-Christians.