Dear St. Lukers,

Hope you are having a wonderful beginning to a new year of being an IMPACTOR for Christ in your everyday life. Last year, we asked everyone to find for themselves a life verse. This verse of Scripture is the verse that speaks to your heart and helps you live into your purpose or calling. For me, it’s a chapter as I have shared, Romans 12. But my favorite part of the verse, from my favorite paraphrase The Message, goes like this…

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him (Romans 12:1-2).

This is the understanding of my call of being an IMPACTOR. Using my every day, ordinary and somewhat normal life and placing it before God as an offering for God to use to IMPACT another person’s day through God’s love. We want to regularly share stories of St. Lukers who are making that kind of impact in our community and maybe even our world.

Like Randy Lowe! Check out this wonderful picture we found in this month’s National Geographic! That’s right, this is our very own Randy Lowe preparing the beautiful flower installation he created for the one-year commemoration of the Pulse tragedy. This installation was at the Pulse club for the special private service held in the wee hours of the morning for the employees and victims’ families. It was during that time, outside the ceremony, your pastors and members gathered with members of JOY MCC church to hold a silent prayer vigil to honor and bless the families and lives of those who we lost. We had no idea the flower installation was by Randy and his company Lowe and Behold until the next morning. In fact, the vase of flowers he is holding has a card attached and is the arrangement one of our staff had left from our worship service that morning, where we remembered the tragedy and claimed God’s grace. Randy’s work was so stunning and captured the love and heart of each of the victims, but also the love and heart of this city after such darkness. Using his gift of faith and his artistry, he made an impact of love and grace in a powerful way to give life and hope to everyone who saw it then, and who will see it in the future. This picture will exemplify to all who see it the heart of Orlando in powerful ways for years to come.

Randy, Joshua and their two sons, bless and impact our church and so many with their heart, talents (did you hear Randy sing on Christmas eve?) and their strong family of love. We are excited National Geographic showcased this gift of love Randy and his team offered our city.

Saturday, we have the opportunity to celebrate the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with our annual participation in the East Winter Garden parade. We invite you to join us for the parade beginning at 12:30 p.m. We will march up Dillard street, down Plant Street and end at the Magic Recreation Center (located at 309 S West Crown Point Road) for the MLK Festival. The Festival will be from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and includes food, games, performances, activities and fun for the whole family. Volunteers are needed to help with decorating parade floats, festival set up, activities, sharing information about various programs and tear down. Sign up to serve during the events by clicking here.

We will also gather on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary to celebrate the life and impact of Chris Weaver, known to many as the Mayor of Disney. On Sunday, we will study the IMPACT of “Courage” that Esther showed in the Old Testament. A young woman who God placed in the right place, for the right time, to be a beacon and leader of hope for her people. You can read more of her story in the book of Esther, paying particular attention to her conversation with her Uncle from chapter 4. Maybe consider the place you are in currently in your job, or community and pray on whether God may have you in this place to make an IMPACT you had not considered before.

 “But who knows? Maybe it was for a moment like this that you came to be part of the royal family” (Esther 4:14).

 See you Sunday – because it’s not St. Luke’s without U!

Jenn.