As the Love Your Neighbor team grows and loves more people across our city, doors are being opened that allow us to love our neighbors around the world.
Most recently, after a lot of time on an airplane, I was able to talk to and make plans with Tyre Church, Mohammad Yamout, and his 1000 Lighthouses ministry to find ways for the Love Your Neighbor team to love our brothers and sisters in Lebanon.
It was a life changing trip. Despite all the heartache that is happening in Lebanon right now, I saw grace and love being lived out in so many remarkable ways.
It’s hard to describe the experience, but I’ll do my best…
After landing in Lebanon, we drove through the Beirut explosion area. Metal buildings were crumpled, windows were blown out and the streets were lined with rubble from fallen structures. There were kids on most corners selling things or begging for money.
I assumed things would get better as we got further away from the explosion site, but they didn’t.
A lot of what I saw throughout Lebanon was the same – heartbreak and struggle.
About a 5 minute walk from the explosion site is a Lighthouse – the only shop that has been repaired on its street. This Lighthouse provides rental assistance and hands out groceries to local families.
Right in the middle of all the heartbreak and struggle is where Tyre Church and the 1000 Lighthouses ministry is doing its work. They have developed many ministries that are flourishing and making a real impact on the Lebanese people and the refugees living there.
Their ministries include a coffee shop, a farm, a car wash, a sewing shop, a food pantry, a kitchen, medical clinics, music and art schools, a preschool, a gym, a day care, a salon, camps for refugee kids, a hospital and lighthouses spread across the region.
Read that list again – faster this time.
Once more – even faster.
It’s a little overwhelming, isn’t it? I am still having trouble wrapping my head around all of the amazing work God is doing through Tyre Church.
The people of Tyre Church are experts on stepping up and saying yes when God asks them to love their neighbors.
I will be processing all I learned and saw on this trip for a long time. But, one thing is very clear to me – there is no better time than now to love your neighbor as yourself.
The Love Your Neighbor team is planning a trip back to Lebanon in spring of 2021 to use the gifts God has given us to partner with Tyre Church and love our Lebanese neighbors.
“If you can’t make an impact on the community you are planted in, what good is it to be a church?” – Mohammad Yamout
One of the ways you can participate in the work God is doing in Lebanon is by giving to the Lebanon Relief Fund.
