Unsung Hero (n.):
Men and women who are dedicated to serving some of the most impoverished populations in the world, yet rarely receive recognition for their dedication and service. These givers may also live with meager conditions but give consistently from an abundance of God’s love. Their names may not be in history books, their acts unknown to the rest of the world, while unrecognized, they shake a generation and move a culture, and ultimately build the Kingdom.
My team and I have spent quite a few hours in coffee shops this month, looking up churches and Christian organizations that the World Race could partner with and send teams to in the future. We research places, email the contacts and if they say yes to a meeting we schedule a time. Some of the meetings have been in coffee shops, some have been at the organization. It has been really awesome to see how the Lord leads us!
While in a coffee shop my teammate, Adri, decided to ask one of the ladies behind the counter if she knew any Christian churches or organizations and the woman, Chamroeun, got so incredibly excited and said that she was a Christian. She invited us to church with her that following Sunday and we gladly attended!
After a twenty minute Tuk Tuk ride, essentially an open air taxi pulled by a motorcycle, we arrived at the Grace Baptist Church. We thought the service was at 8am and got there a couple minutes early and the place was empty. We sat down on the back row of seats and a sweet woman came up a couple minutes later to introduce herself. She told us that the church was also a school and an orphanage, which we were all excited to hear.
We were ushered to the front row of seats and introduced to the pastor, Leopoldo. Adri told him we would love to talk to him after the service. The service was wonderful, the sermon was powerful and you could feel the Holy Spirits presence the whole service. The children who lived their played recorders and sang a couple songs, which was precious and I immediately fell in love with each of them.
We met with Leopoldo and told him more about Unsung Hero’s and the World Race. We discussed the possibility of a team staying their in the future and he was just as excited about it, as were we!
Leopoldo showed us around the school and the orphanage and told us about all the different programs they have. It was so encouraging to see an organization so on fire for Christ and doing so many tangible things for the children of their community. We left their incredible ministry, encouraged and excited for what the future holds for Grace Baptist Church.
Sometimes you may say hello to someone in a coffee shop and have it turn out to be so much more than a simple hello. I am so thankful that my teammate Adri listened to the Lord lead her to say hello and that our new friend, Chamroeun, thought to invite us to her church! So my challenge is to get out their and meet new people, sometimes a simple hello can lead to a great friendship and become a huge blessing – for you and for them!
If you would like to check their page here it is: GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH.
