Soon we (AIM/STM) will be gathering in New Orleans with a team from St. Patrick's Catholic Church from Whitewater, Wisconsin.  We are excited to welcome this team of young men and women and their Director of Faith Formation, Rick, to the "Big Easy."

We are also pleased to partner with Riverside Baptist Church in River Ridge, LA. and look forward to assisting them during the week.  

After a hiatus from COVID, it is easy to become disconnected from your church and your relationships with other believers.  We've witnessed some unprecedented things in the past two years that have caused many to dwell in isolation. However, God doesn't want us to be alone. He wants us to be connected.  

As believers, we are all part of the Body of Christ; and each person has a role to play in this body.  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12:14, "Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part.  If the foot says, 'I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,' that does not make it any less a part of the body.  And if the ear says, 'I am not a part of the body because I am not an eye', would that make it any less a part of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?  v. 27 All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it.

God wants us to be involved in our local church and community, and sometimes He will send us out of our comfort zone to remind us that we all have a part to play.  I pray that after this short term mission trip, these young men and women will realize that there is a place for them in the Body of Christ.  

I hope this song, I Belong Here by Rudy Currence serves as a reminder that they belong. 

Can't wait to see how God is going to use this team in New Orleans!