Last night, Kevin and I had the opportunity to represent Washington Plaza at the Best of Reston award dinner held at the Reston Hyatt. I was honored to be asked to pray the invocation before the event began as WPBC is recognized as one of the founding churches who believed in Reston Interfaith's mission from its conception over 40 years ago now. It was a great opportunity to connect with some of Reston's most dedicated community servants.
Reston Interfaith is Washington Plaza's partner in community missions. We are happy to support their numerous projects throughout the year including the Walk for the Homeless in the fall, the food baskets at Thanksgiving and the adopt-a-child at Christmas. We are happy to collect food each Sunday that goes to support their emergency food bank. We are happy to have one of our parishioners serve on its board of directors, representing us. You can learn more about what they do by watching this short clip:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jVymgCqXVw]
But, there is so much more work to be done, especially as homelessness continues to grow in Fairfax County.
In response to our Christian call of service, Washington Plaza wants to help. Last December, the congregation voted to accept the recommendations of the Community Needs Assessment team, a group tasked with helping the church connect in even more meaningful ways with the needs of our community. One of these recommendations directed our attention to a new project recently launched by Reston Interfaith: the adopt-a-family program.
Coordinators from within the congregation have come forward and soon you'll be hearing more details about how we can rally around a particular family that needs some encouragement and support as they seek to create a better future for their children. I'm excited about this new opportunity. I know there are so many members of our church with gifts of mentoring to share. But, in the same way, I know this new mission effort will change us in the process. We will be stretched and asked to grow as disciples of Christ. We will see first hand real needs in our community that we might otherwise overlook. It's going to be good, I can already tell!
Washington Plaza is blessed by the ministry of connection to Reston Interfaith, and we are so glad to be along for the journey with you.
