This post is an update to the original here… and here.. and here… and here… (you get the idea.) 
When I shared this idea with Greg Stier, after Lead the Cause University, I had no idea of the traction the idea would get, and what Greg had in mind to do with this.
We as a group, decided that God was calling us to impact our community. We looked at the resources we had, and determined a plan (while building in flexibility for what the Holy Spirit would drop in our laps along the way).
Here is the latest update to what is going on in “our neighborhood”…
Before the blizzard hit the midwest last week, a small crew of our students went out after the first round of snow and shoveled out several people in “our 9 blocks”, so residents could get out and take care of things like groceries before the second (and worst) round. Many were thankful, some were puzzled. We got a chance to connect with several families and explain why we were being ” the hands and feet of Jesus”…
We got to meet a young lady and her young children trying to reconnect with a local church after moving from a neighboring rural area. One of our students and I got a chance to share about the church’s childrens ministries while shoveling her sidewalk.
A couple of us shoveled out a driveway, and as we were finishing the last little bit, the next door neighbor peeked out and said “you know that this family is gone to Arizona for the winter..”. She then offered to pay us. We said we were doing it to bless people. We finished the job.
She was dumbfounded.After we were finished, we went to the local coffee house that is owned by a Jewish man that lives in this neighborhood, and were able to share about what we were doing to bless his neighborhood. One of our church members who was on his way out of the coffee house, heard the story and paid for everyone’s drinks to bless the teenagers that gave their time…
I pray that you consider doing something to bless even a part of your town. You never know what God is going to do with it…