Thanksgiving Outreach
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be left behind?
Ok, so maybe you’re no Kirk Cameron or Nicholas Cage, but perhaps you’ve seen the pranks on unexpected friends who show up to Youth Group to find everyone's outfits (aka “Rapture-Remenants”) laying over the couches and floor - and their owners nowhere to be found.
Well, it may not be a perfect one-for-one illustration, but this is often what it feels like to be an international student in America during the holidays. Duke University has around 3,000 international students who have no place to go this Thanksgiving. Their classes will be canceled, stores and restaurants will be closed, and fellow students and professors will "rapture out of sight” - off to spend Thanksgiving with their families. That means 3,000 college students, from all around the world, will be “left behind” and alone for the holidays.
But that’s where Waypoint comes in. Not with Kirk Cameron DVDs, but open-armed invitations for these students to join our families, preparing a spot for them at our table. Can you imagine if they came into a Christian's home and heard the Gospel for the very first time? What if you could “Reach the Nations" this Thanksgiving by providing a meal and simply giving thanks to our Provider?
Here is what we can do:
Just fill out this application and you will be assigned as many students as you are able to host: CLICK HERE!
If you do not have a place to go yourselves, Peter and Michelle Son have graciously opened their home to those at Waypoint and to international students at Duke. I will be happy to put you in contact with them, so that you can help serve/host Thanksgiving at their house.
Please be reminded, your international students may need transportation, and would likely enjoy spending the day watching football or even helping you in the kitchen. So, don’t feel bad picking them up early. They would probably appreciate getting off of their ghost-town campus and dorms.
Believe it or not, the sad reality is that 75% of all international students are never invited into an American home during their time in the U.S., and a staggering 85% are never invited to attend a Christian church service. Just last year, our partners at ISI (International Students Inc) had to turn away international students at Duke because they could not find enough churches that would open up their homes to the nations!
Well, this year is going to be different. Because this year they are asking Waypoint Church to help, and they already have a great number of students from all around the world who have signed up and are waiting for a host family. Will you prepare a place for them at your table this Thanksgiving? Will you share with them what and for Whom you are most thankful for?
Waypoint Church, do not let this opportunity to Reach Duke & Reach the Nations pass us by!
Pastor Zach