The way I have come to understand "first fruits" in scripture is that God blesses his people with things - a harvest, relationships, wealth (spiritually and materially), health, etc. All gifts come from God and there are benefits that we reap from these gifts; we are to give the first of those back to the One who chose to first give them to us.
Here at IMPACT, God has gifted us with much - rich relationships across the globe, a budget that seems to somehow barely squeak by every year (with much help from the Presbytery), incredible teaching pastors to guide us, a wise and Godly council to direct this ministry and willing and eager participants and interns who serve relentlessly. We are so rich.
We want you to know that one of our goals is to give our best away. We don't want to hoard people's gifts or try to hold people back from what they have the potential to do because "IMPACT needs them." We don't. We get to be blessed with a season of their lives. And I write this today because we are in the process of giving three of our VERY BEST away and we could not be more thrilled about it.
We have an IMPACT intern program which consists of college-age students who are willing to give their time unpaid to serve with IMPACT, both on the central coast of California and overseas. Two of our interns are
Kelsea (click on her name to read her blog)
was and IMPACT intern, went to Uganda for a month and was one of our Haiti interns last year. She felt a strong calling to go back indefinitely and serve the people of Montrouis, Haiti through New Vision Ministries. We prayed over her, helped her fundraise and got her back there as quickly as possible. She's been on the ground in Haiti since late October and is doing INCREDIBLE things.
Kelsea and Marina in Haiti
Marina
(click on her name to read her blog) was an intern with Kelsea her senior year at Westmont, came on part-time staff with IMPACT after graduation and has recently accepted a position as the production manager with Krochet Kids in Lima, Peru. Marina's dream has always been do microfinance in Latin America - she told me that during her internship interview. God has provided an open door for her to do just that. While Marina's departure leaves a HUGE hole in our ministry, we are confident that gifting her to Peru is the absolute best thing we can do for her and for the women she will impact. She will leave in late December - Godspeed sweet friend!
Susan
has been a faithful prayer warrior and council member with IMPACT. She and her husband serve in Mexico regularly and led our Turkey trip in 2011. They have been a pivotal part of decision-making and prayer over this ministry and we are delighted that the Lord has called them to a 6-month stint to oversee the ministry in Mexico.
We truly believe that giving away our best is the way to go. So ladies - we love you! You are our cream of the crop and God has chosen to plant you elsewhere for a season. We say "Vaya con Dios - Go with God." Our prayers cover you, our gatherings will miss you, our lives will be changed for the better because you've chosen to give yours away.
