Like all Team Expansion team members (and, in fact, like all believers everywhere), I believe it’s my personal responsibility and privilege to make and multiply disciples wherever we live and work. On Wednesday evenings, Penny and I are helping launch a new three-thirds group in a very diverse and international neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. This past week, our group focused on the story of the merciful father (and his prodigal son) in Luke 15. I had noticed that one of our newest group members, a young man from Somalia, seemed to be processing the story in a very personal way. During the next pause in conversation, I asked him what was going through his mind. He raised his head and, with a far-away look in his eyes, as if he still couldn’t quite comprehend it all, he just said, “This guy sure was one sweet father.”
It really doesn’t take a Bible college degree to realize that the mercy shown by the father in Luke 15 went way beyond the call. In fact, one of our newer group members used some very colorful (if not irreverent) language to describe the way in which the prodigal son had wasted his portion of the inheritance. Every time I hear these kinds of insights and realizations through the filter of a fresh (brand new) perspective like our new friends in this group, I’m prompted to give thanks, again, for the mercy God shows all of us despite the way we miss the mark again and again.
It is precisely because of this mercy that we feel compelled to love others and live our lives so that they can encounter His love too (Romans 12:1; 2 Corinthians 5:11, 14, 18, 20). When you think of Emerald Hills and, really, Team Expansion as a whole, we hope you’ll remember that our purpose as a training center and as a training organization is to step back into the very brokenness from which we have come and snatch as many as possible from the chaos of our confused lives. When you partner with a Team Expansion project or worker, you’re actually behaving like the Father Himself. You’re trying to show mercy to others in exactly the same way God has shown mercy to you. Thank you for your partnership and shared vision.
