Luke 10: 25-37 The parable of the good Samaritan.
We hear this parable and talk about it in Sunday school, but how many of us have sat down and thought about what Jesus really meant for us when it comes to our brothers and sisters in need. I began to understand what God meant here when I met Greg Conklin. Greg is the president of Neighbors Across The Land. God told him 4 years ago to pack his bags, sell everything he owns and begin to meet people where they are at. “You belong in disasters” is what he heard God saying, “You have been equipped to serve your neighbors all across this land and it starts here”
I met Greg about a year ago in Parkersburg, IA about a month after the f5 tornado wiped out over 350 homes and a week later a flood took out the entire town of New Hartford. I began working with Greg and his disaster efforts and he shared with me his past and his training. He told me that God had given him a vision of planting neighbors all across the United States to respond in times of disasters. “Your neighbors are not just the people sitting next to you” he would tell me “they are the people in need” How many of you have heard the parable of the good Samaritan a million times and thought yep I need to help people if they are bleeding by the side of the road and move on. I finally understood what this parable meant for one week ago. While I was in Eldora one Sunday I was asked to present to a church about. I had been invited to worship with a family I met while serving with NATL after the hail/wind storm that struck Eldora. I was in the middle of talking about NATL and realized that I didn’t just believe in an organization or any one person, but I believed in a vision. God has demanded us to meet people where they are at. He demonstrated it for us by send HIS son to live among us and serve. I realized that week that I had been missing HIS point. God is telling us to love our neighbor by meeting their needs.
All across the United States (and truly around the world) there are natural disasters that strike daily. Most of them we do not hear about. How many of you heard about the 8 tornadoes that struck in Wood River, NE on June 4th and wiped out thousands of acres of crops and damaged hundreds of pivot sprinklers? This was my first tornado experience. I went out to view some lighting and ended up in a car driving through 8 tornadoes to get to safety. The only people that heard about these tornadoes were people I shared my experience with. I went back to NE in August and many of the farmers in the area had no crops because of the hail and tornadoes that have ripped through the filed this summer. If not enough damage is done, not enough people are killed, or not enough money is available many other organizations do not want to help. The bottom line is people are in need everywhere you go. Eldora had help for 4 days and all other organizations pulled out. They asked NATL to step in and help run the volunteers and the town for the weekend so the city people could have a break. We go where no one else feels like going. We help people whether they are Methodist or Baptist, Lutheran or Catholic, Christian or not…God demands us to do like he did…to love our neighbors and meet them where they are at. I visited with many people while in Eldora and some houses I prayed with the residents and others I did not. People need Jesus and sometimes the best way we can give them Jesus is to fill their need. After all Jesus didn’t go around quoting himself or telling people what great things his Father did, he went to people and healed them and loved them.
Neighbors Across The Land was established to train and equip people all over the United States to respond to all disasters. By responding we don’t just mean picking up debris, we mean changing hearts. In fact, I don’t care how many houses I rebuild, or how many branches I cut down when I am in a disaster it is about the victims and their needs. If they need a tree cut, then I cut, but if they just need someone to vent to, then listen is what we do. We are called to meet people at their level and love them like Jesus. It has been 4 years since Hurricane Katrina hit and there are still thousands of people without homes due to lack of help. Residents of Cedar Rapids, IA are still waiting for their distribution of the funds given to help with flood cleanup and rebuilding. The vision of NATL is respond with immediate aid until other help can arrive. We bring food, water and other needed supplies immediately after a disaster strikes. In fact, we were in Eldora, hours after the storm hit. However, that is just one part of NATL. We also are still working in areas long after many other organizations have left. We help provide mission teams and tools to complete the recovery process.
There are “disasters” of our own we have each day and NATL aims to teach the importance of not just rebuilding a house or feeding the hungry, but looking up the road or across the street and helping those in need so they have someone if a disaster should strike. God tells us in 2Timothy4:2 to be prepared. NATL teaches disaster preparedness classes and we provide information to have disaster kits in homes. You never know when a disaster might hit your home, whether it be a tornado, flood, fire, or even a damaging wind or ice storm. God tells us to be prepared and that is what NATL is about.
God has equipped each of you with skills and tools to help our neighbors. Last weekend when I was working in Eldora, I was shown that my skills and tools are talking with victims and listen or praying with them, if I pick up a stick or two in the process that is great. I ask you to think about what skills you have and how you can use them to a blessing to someone else. We are blessed to be a blessing. A man who owned a local paint store made a donation to one of the houses we worked on and after the conversation about the donation he said “Hmm, I never really thought I had anything to help further the kingdom of God, I always felt like how can I help, I just sell paint, but God does even use paint shop owners to further his kingdom” One small donation can make big difference in God’s kingdom. God commands us to love him first, and then to show that love through loving our neighbor. This neighbor can literally be your next door neighbor, or it could be the person sitting next to you in church today or it could be the person who just lost their house in a tornado 2 states east. No matter what your skill set is, God has trusted you with these tools and skills and you can sure bet he is counting on you to use them to help your neighbors. Remember our consequence if we choose not to use our talents to the full potential, God will take them away. If you don’t believe me read Matthew 25:14-30, it is the parable of the talents.
Please consider sowing some seeds and becoming part of a vision, by not just seeing the needs, but meeting them. If you would like to join us in our efforts to go and love, serve, and build with neighbors in need all across this land, you can contact us via email at natldrr@gmail.com or call at 641-691-4146 or write to PO Box 41 Marshalltown, IA 50158. I ask that you please consider joining us to Love, Serve, and Build to better and expand God’s Kingdom each day by meeting people wherever they may be.
Thanks in advance for any support you can provide!
Marie Mysliwiec
NATL Vice President/Operations Director
We hear this parable and talk about it in Sunday school, but how many of us have sat down and thought about what Jesus really meant for us when it comes to our brothers and sisters in need. I began to understand what God meant here when I met Greg Conklin. Greg is the president of Neighbors Across The Land. God told him 4 years ago to pack his bags, sell everything he owns and begin to meet people where they are at. “You belong in disasters” is what he heard God saying, “You have been equipped to serve your neighbors all across this land and it starts here”
I met Greg about a year ago in Parkersburg, IA about a month after the f5 tornado wiped out over 350 homes and a week later a flood took out the entire town of New Hartford. I began working with Greg and his disaster efforts and he shared with me his past and his training. He told me that God had given him a vision of planting neighbors all across the United States to respond in times of disasters. “Your neighbors are not just the people sitting next to you” he would tell me “they are the people in need” How many of you have heard the parable of the good Samaritan a million times and thought yep I need to help people if they are bleeding by the side of the road and move on. I finally understood what this parable meant for one week ago. While I was in Eldora one Sunday I was asked to present to a church about. I had been invited to worship with a family I met while serving with NATL after the hail/wind storm that struck Eldora. I was in the middle of talking about NATL and realized that I didn’t just believe in an organization or any one person, but I believed in a vision. God has demanded us to meet people where they are at. He demonstrated it for us by send HIS son to live among us and serve. I realized that week that I had been missing HIS point. God is telling us to love our neighbor by meeting their needs.
All across the United States (and truly around the world) there are natural disasters that strike daily. Most of them we do not hear about. How many of you heard about the 8 tornadoes that struck in Wood River, NE on June 4th and wiped out thousands of acres of crops and damaged hundreds of pivot sprinklers? This was my first tornado experience. I went out to view some lighting and ended up in a car driving through 8 tornadoes to get to safety. The only people that heard about these tornadoes were people I shared my experience with. I went back to NE in August and many of the farmers in the area had no crops because of the hail and tornadoes that have ripped through the filed this summer. If not enough damage is done, not enough people are killed, or not enough money is available many other organizations do not want to help. The bottom line is people are in need everywhere you go. Eldora had help for 4 days and all other organizations pulled out. They asked NATL to step in and help run the volunteers and the town for the weekend so the city people could have a break. We go where no one else feels like going. We help people whether they are Methodist or Baptist, Lutheran or Catholic, Christian or not…God demands us to do like he did…to love our neighbors and meet them where they are at. I visited with many people while in Eldora and some houses I prayed with the residents and others I did not. People need Jesus and sometimes the best way we can give them Jesus is to fill their need. After all Jesus didn’t go around quoting himself or telling people what great things his Father did, he went to people and healed them and loved them.
Neighbors Across The Land was established to train and equip people all over the United States to respond to all disasters. By responding we don’t just mean picking up debris, we mean changing hearts. In fact, I don’t care how many houses I rebuild, or how many branches I cut down when I am in a disaster it is about the victims and their needs. If they need a tree cut, then I cut, but if they just need someone to vent to, then listen is what we do. We are called to meet people at their level and love them like Jesus. It has been 4 years since Hurricane Katrina hit and there are still thousands of people without homes due to lack of help. Residents of Cedar Rapids, IA are still waiting for their distribution of the funds given to help with flood cleanup and rebuilding. The vision of NATL is respond with immediate aid until other help can arrive. We bring food, water and other needed supplies immediately after a disaster strikes. In fact, we were in Eldora, hours after the storm hit. However, that is just one part of NATL. We also are still working in areas long after many other organizations have left. We help provide mission teams and tools to complete the recovery process.
There are “disasters” of our own we have each day and NATL aims to teach the importance of not just rebuilding a house or feeding the hungry, but looking up the road or across the street and helping those in need so they have someone if a disaster should strike. God tells us in 2Timothy4:2 to be prepared. NATL teaches disaster preparedness classes and we provide information to have disaster kits in homes. You never know when a disaster might hit your home, whether it be a tornado, flood, fire, or even a damaging wind or ice storm. God tells us to be prepared and that is what NATL is about.
God has equipped each of you with skills and tools to help our neighbors. Last weekend when I was working in Eldora, I was shown that my skills and tools are talking with victims and listen or praying with them, if I pick up a stick or two in the process that is great. I ask you to think about what skills you have and how you can use them to a blessing to someone else. We are blessed to be a blessing. A man who owned a local paint store made a donation to one of the houses we worked on and after the conversation about the donation he said “Hmm, I never really thought I had anything to help further the kingdom of God, I always felt like how can I help, I just sell paint, but God does even use paint shop owners to further his kingdom” One small donation can make big difference in God’s kingdom. God commands us to love him first, and then to show that love through loving our neighbor. This neighbor can literally be your next door neighbor, or it could be the person sitting next to you in church today or it could be the person who just lost their house in a tornado 2 states east. No matter what your skill set is, God has trusted you with these tools and skills and you can sure bet he is counting on you to use them to help your neighbors. Remember our consequence if we choose not to use our talents to the full potential, God will take them away. If you don’t believe me read Matthew 25:14-30, it is the parable of the talents.
Please consider sowing some seeds and becoming part of a vision, by not just seeing the needs, but meeting them. If you would like to join us in our efforts to go and love, serve, and build with neighbors in need all across this land, you can contact us via email at natldrr@gmail.com or call at 641-691-4146 or write to PO Box 41 Marshalltown, IA 50158. I ask that you please consider joining us to Love, Serve, and Build to better and expand God’s Kingdom each day by meeting people wherever they may be.
Thanks in advance for any support you can provide!
Marie Mysliwiec
NATL Vice President/Operations Director
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