A prayer request slip of purple paper was handed to me after Community Meal on Tuesday night. While I anticipated a need, I read a note of encouragement instead: “Thank you for all you do for the community. Lubbock Impact is always in my prayers.”
Then I picked up a prayer request on yellow paper that read, “Dear Lord, please be with us always and heal our finances and sicknesses. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
It’s evident from those two little slips of paper that individuals are experiencing what the definition of community describes as “sharing together” and having “a joint obligation” for one another. Participants are thankful for what the Lord has provided through Lubbock Impact, while also praying for the needs of one another. Short prayers, but with a lot of meaning.
Something you may have heard me say is that the people who come to Lubbock Impact are not clients. This is a place where people are participating in their own lives, and we are here to walk alongside them. It’s not about what we are going to do for you, but how we can help you along your own life journey. We all need supplies for the journey, along with an encouraging smile and a hug to help us keep putting one foot in front of the other.
As I was preparing to leave on Wednesday night, The Free Clinic was in full swing. What caught my attention and made me stop and smile was the laughter and conversation filling the entire clinic space, from the waiting room to the pharmacy in the back. This happens quite often in our clinic spaces: patients catching up while they wait to be seen, doctors and volunteers sharing stories about life, people connecting with one another through the simple, everyday moments that happen when we gather in the same place. Community. Life is being lived through shared experiences and relationships that have grown from meeting in a place that was built to bring people together.
Last weekend, Lubbock Unified Church, which meets on Sundays and leads Bible studies on Tuesday nights, gathered for a special evening of baptisms. Their church family has been building community with participants at Lubbock Impact who have joined the church. Twelve individuals took the step of believer’s baptism and wanted to make that profession of faith known to their community. Lubbock Impact gets to play a small role in bringing community together under one roof to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
How is all of this possible, week after week? How do we continue creating opportunities for people to build community with individuals they may never otherwise have had the opportunity to meet? It’s the faithful financial giving that allows Lubbock Impact to be available to the person in need of prayer, the person who is lonely, and the person seeking to find a community. It’s the volunteer who gives their time to stand in the gap and show that they choose to be available.
I don’t know about you, but I love the community I have found in Lubbock Impact. If you are seeking a community where you can both give and receive, you are welcome here.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24–25