A Call To Serve Ministries of Iowa

In early 2006, neither one of us knew where God was leading us. All we knew was that a common interest, discovered in a bible study discussion, raised a level of excitement and expectancy that we had never felt before.

It started with a simple question. "What would you do if you could do anything, without worry for money or failure?"

Each of us had scribbled our answers down independently, meeting only to discuss them in the local Dairy Queen over a chicken strip basket and a blizzard. The question had been probing, but our answers has seemed not all that exciting (to ourselves).

But surprisingly, we both answered the same thing...almost to the letter.

"I'd like to be able to drop everything and help those in need, regardless of the circumstance, and do what I can for them."

Odd? Sure. Miraculous? No, there were probably more astonishing things that could happen. But why were we so energized? Why was it that we couldn't stop smiling? Why couldn't we stop talking about it?

Over the next few weeks we kept meeting, sometimes at the DQ (hey, blizzards fuel creativity!), sometimes over lunch at our desks. We were trying to figure out what all this meant. How could God use us to serve others?

A plan was hatched. We would go searching for our first "project". Something we could take on together to test the waters. If it went well, then it must be a "God thing". If we failed, well, at least we tried.

As luck would have it...no, check that, as God would have it...we were made aware of a couple in need of assistance. The project was straightforward, it was within our skills, and the timing was perfect. Time to go to work.

God lead us to call on a few more volunteers, many of which accepted, and we met briefly before heading to the project to talk, explain our purpose, and of course, pray.

By the end of the night, we'd gotten everything on the agenda done. We had a lot of fun working together and getting to know one another. And best of all, it brought joy to see the results of our work, both to those serving and to those served.

A year and a half later and a little has changed. Our "interest" has turned into a regular occurrence, with over 70 projects completed since the first one in 2006. We've served people in 6 communities, two counties, and given back over 700 volunteer hours along the way. God took a two person mission and turned into a volunteer group 30+ strong.

Ask us what led us to create A Call To Serve Ministries of Iowa and you'll get another unified response. We had little to do with it. We just answered God's call to serve...He did the rest.