Guest Minister Mike Reinsel Brings Message from Rivers of the World

Yesterday, Jan. 17, Rev. Mike Reinsel served as guest preacher.  Mike served in a local congregation and an urban ministry before joining Rivers of the World in 2013 as Executive Director after serving on the Board of ROW for several years.  Ben Mathes, who is a founder of ROW and a previous Executive Director, has been well-known to us at St. Andrews, so Rev. Mike was welcomed with open arms.

Rev. Mike brought new of ROW and reminded us of the role as an international exploration and development agency that partners with remote communities in ten countries to anchor healthy, sustainable communities of faith in Jesus Christ.  ROW’s goal is to serve in an atmosphere of mutual concern and respect; and their projects run the gamut of meeting human, physical, and spiritual needs.  Academics, research, education, and medical/dental concerns go hand-in-hand with church planting, construction, evangelism, and Bible distribution.  Please visit their website for their fascinating history and stories of their mission.

Rev. Mike brought a great message, “What’s Your Divine Appointment?” that started with the Children’s Lesson. Each child received a cap, knitted by people from the communities served by ROW, and told the story of how children can use the colors to tell the story of Jesus’ love and grace for each of us.

Two of our kids modeled the caps.  The gold represents God, red is the sacrifice for us, black is for sin, and grace is the blue.  It was a simple message for each child to understand.

The sermon talked about those divine moments that happen to us that represent the Holy Spirit and our opportunities to share the love and grace of God.

We also loved Mike’s hand-painted stole.  It was worthy of close inspection.