Something Like a Barn Raising

Brother Ray fried us tilapia covered in corn meal. Brother Tony called down God's blessings after we'd torn off the leaking roof of his house and covered it in tar paper. Sister Sherri watched over us like a mother hen. And the congregation of Kingdom Covenant Ministries in Miami, treated us better than kings--they greeted us as if we were long lost relatives finally come home. It felt a bit like being at an Amish Barn raising.

Mission trips have gotten a bad name these days--seen as tourism and adventure for rich Christians. But for 17 men from our church, who traveled to Miami to work on the roof at Kingdom Covenant, helping repair damage from Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina, a mission trip was a chance to work side by side with brothers and sisters in Christ. Not as do-gooding white folks, but as Christians lending a hand to part of our family.

It was a blessing beyond compare.