Unified Motion
One of the highlights of 2009 came October 15th-18th when Shared Blessings got to be a big part of Unified Motion 2009!
Unified Motion’s purpose was to bring unity to the church through a multitude of events and ministry projects. The concept was born as a result of the life of Ryan McAffee, a 19 year old young man who died tragically in a car accident in March. The impact of Ryan’s life and death led to Christian artist, Matthew West, putting on a concert right here in McAlester. This served as the catalyst for all of Unified Motion.
On Thursday, Oct. 15th, approx. 3500 people made their way to SE Expo Center for the Matthew West concert. It was a breakthrough night for the city of McAlester.
Unified Motion 2009
Over 40 churches promoted and attended the event. The success of this concert has ensured many more opportunities in the future. As Matthew West’s manager stated afterwards, “you have no idea what has been accomplished tonight for the future of Christian music in McAlester.”
The next two days saw believers from several churches join forces to accomplish multiple ministry projects throughout the city. The highlight project was the adopting of West Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. A volunteer team of over 40 rallied to rebuild a hallway, replace a roof, paint the exterior, clean and fix-up the sanctuary, carpet the front steps, build new handrails, trim trees, weed-eat, and remove debris. All in 2 days of work. There was a tremendous sense of unity as the people of West Bethel learned that they were not alone in their endeavors as a church. Those that donated their time and energy developed new relationships that furthered the cause of church unity in this area. What a witness to our community for local churches to donate the funds and labor to renovate another church in McAlester! What an encouragement to watch local believers from several congregations give 2 days of labor for the sake of someone else’s church. The volunteer army was blessed with 2 days of beautiful weather as well as some great food provided by West Bethel.
Another group of believers, including a area youth group, spent time at Wal-mart and the McAlester football game collecting donations for a food drive. Over 700 lbs of food was collected along with $1000. These donations will be split among several local food ministries.
A group of church members traveled to all 6 McAlester nursing homes and visited with 340 residents. Gifts were donated by Fosters Flowers & McAlester Regional Hospital.
A couple of church volunteers also did some repair work on a deck at the Youth Shelter.
These service projects are a key building block to unity for the church. Sacrificing together and meeting the needs of others is an ideal way to build trust and establish an environment of unity.
Finally, on Sunday evening, approx. 250 believers gathered at S Arch Thompson Auditorium to celebrate and worship together.
The whole weekend was awesome to witness. Building blocks were laid … new relationships were built … needs were met and God was honored. Watch for opportunities to get involved in Unified Motion in the future.