Heartland Community Church chose to hold their regular Sunday service at Brat Fest! The inspiring worship band, Pastor John McNary and his team, and most of the Heartland congregation showed up in force to worship Jesus, at Brat Fest!
This was an expression of the body of Christ in the middle of a public setting that features loud music, brats and beer. There was a welcoming, friendly, energetic, loving atmosphere that was palpable. Thank you Heartland for your leadership and presence.
Flanking the music stage, sponsored by Life 102.5 Christian Radio station, was Madison Christian Giving Fund’s Ministry Marketplace, 25 Christian organizations sharing their presence. Individually, each one is meeting the needs of people in the name of Jesus.
Collectively, each one is making Madison a better place to live for everyone. These are committed leaders working in the jails, prisons, food pantries, shelters, schools, and neighborhoods. They are addressing problems of sex trafficking, homelessness, pornography, lack of affordable dental care, and building Christian community. (Full disclosure, madisonchristians.com, rebranding as MadisonChristians.com was a part of Ministry Marketplace.
I am reminded of a quote from Thomas Merton’s masterpiece, The Seven Story Mountain, as he described the work of one Christian worker in Harlem. “She could gather around her souls like these holy women and could form, in her organization, others that were, in the same way saints, whether white or colored, she would not only have won her way, but she might eventually, by the grace of God, transfigure the face of Harlem. She had before her many measures of meal, but there was at hand, already more than a little leaven. We know the way Christ works. No matter how impossible a thing may look from a human angle, we may wake up one morning and find that the whole is leavened. It may be done with the saints.”
The saints in Madison showed up at Brat Fest to share their stories. And they show up every day, in the trenches, planting the leaven, making Madison a better place to live for everyone. Go to Madisongiving.org to learn more, and if you are led, make a donation to make their work a little easier.