Monday, February 16, 2009

REACH

God is moving so greatly through HPC El Paso as He is in so many other great churches in our city. We have been fortunate to meet and connect with so many new people. God is moving and we know that He can change the hearts of so many people in El Paso and Juarez. We are growing, not because of our marketing, but because God is honoring our heart.

One of our core values is "Reach". We believe in reaching outside the walls of the church and touching people right where they are.

Mark 1:40-41

A man with leprosy came to Him and begged him on his knees. "If you are willing you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing.", he said, "Be clean!"

You would think that Jesus would have healed him first and then touched him. Jesus knew that this man was an outcast and hadn't been touched, even by his family, maybe in years. This man would have to shout, "Unclean, Unclean" on rare occassions when he went to town from his isolation. People would scatter, stare, and shudder. Jesus, filled with compassion, reached out his hand and touched the man.

There are many people with leprosy in El Paso. They are known as prostitutes, drug addicts, convicts, homosexuals, homeless, adulterers, pornograhy addicts, strippers, the sick, the poor, illegal aliens, widows, and even single moms. People that most people avoid for fear of catching their "disease".

These are the people we are called to touch. We are called Healing Place Church because we are "a healing place for a hurting world". We seek out, find, and minister to these people because they are the very people that Jesus came and died for. Let us not be known for our videos, guitars, or pastor...let us be known for being a church that is "filled with compassion" and does something about it.

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