Our Visiting Scholars Ministry would not be possible without the help of many servant-like people in Praxis at Gracepoint Berkeley.

One way to look at servanthood is to understand that servants are people who work in the background unnoticed, so that the “main event” can run smoothly. VSM would not be possible if it were not for the many servant-like people working in the background so that people are freed up in their time and their minds to fully engage the visiting scholars in conversation.

For the past two years, Praxis has been the backbone of VSM, which doesn’t have many staff members. Here is an example: in one of the outreach events, we had invited the visiting scholars to come to one of our homes in Alameda.  From the VSM staff’s point of view, people arrived, we had tasty food and good conversation, and people sat through a stimulating power-point presentation, played games afterward with dessert and finally went home.

But what was happening in the background during that whole event was that there were many Praxis members behind the scene. Four people drove minivans to two different locations early, just in case people showed up early.  They also waited longer, just in case people were late to show up to the pickup spot, and then they drove back to the event while fighting heavy traffic. Two people helped with shopping, and were chopping and cooking up a storm and prepared the dinner in a way was not just tasty, but also very pleasing to the eye.  They even had drinks and dessert ready as well! The presentation slides were modified from a talk that someone had made a while ago, but thanks to the fact that somebody had archived it, and making it readily available, we didn’t have to “reinvent the wheel.”  And while all this was going on, our children were taken care and having fun in J-Scouts (a program for kids run by older kids at our church).

Before this event, our leaders had given us wisdom and guidance, and many brothers and sisters were praying during prayer meetings for divine encounters and that God would prepare the hearts of people and guide our conversations with them.

I am thankful for those people who work in the background.  They do not always receive human recognition for what they do, but it is through what they do behind the scenes that makes VSM possible today.