What a blessing this church has been to CMA. This past week we were privileged to host the Church team from Covenant Fellowship in Stuart Florida. They have been faithful supporters of missionaries and the ministry for many years.
I first met pastor Matt back in 2004 when I was only an intern with CMA, and I never knew that one day I’d be working down here full-time when they came back on a trip. It is such a joy to have a team come down that is excited for the week and can rely on their past experiences to shape their expectations for work and ministry.
The team was quite large almost 25 strong, and they had many skilled laborers in the crew. During their time they worked essentially the same project in two locations. The first was putting an awning on our own buildings here at the Center, and the second was repairing an existing awning and porch on the condemned Clinic in our settlement.
While a handful of the men worked through the day, the rest of the team sweated out their time running, chasing, teaching, and loving the kids of Governors Harbor in a week-long VBS. By the end of the week there were many testimonies of how the children just touched the hearts of team members, and how their experience of loving those kids will never be forgotten.
We are also working on developing a healthy alumni program, and this week Covenant helped by throwing a celebration dinner for all the past students and alumni. We had a decent turn out, but the real benefit will be how events like these help us continue to connect with those who have come through our classes.
CMA is blessed to have Covenant Fellowship as a supporting church, not only for their investment in the ministry, but also for their investment in the lives of us as missionaries. I told them on their last night that I was thankful that they “brought us the church.”