We are excited to announce that it is finally time to launch the church kitchen project! This is something we have been waiting on for several years, and the Lord has recently opened the door to proceed! Let’s do this!
For starters, it seems wise to lay out the history and vision of this project.
The History
In 2007 our family moved to Oregon from Southern California. At the time we were pretty much a normal mainstream family in many ways. We were not actively serving the Lord at that time, and not concerned much about health outside of main stream thinking. We had all the “normal” health conditions, and really didn’t think anything of it. But then, tragedy struck. We became aware that our eldest children were suffering from bad health in various ways. At first we took the normal approach by visiting the medical system for answers. They had none. Hunter especially was declining rapidly into the dark world of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), and we were literally loosing him. The medical system had nothing with any promise to offer. It got to the point where he could not speak a sentence freely, and would spend hours per day struggling with a wide variety of issues. His story is available below.
Through this experience, God taught us. He led us through a series of revelations and realizations about how He created the world and man. The culmination of this was we started a small farm in Oregon, with the goal of producing the food we needed to heal our children. It worked! God graciously blessed our efforts and brought him and the others out of the dark place of ASD and other conditions. The story spread. Soon people started asking for the same help with their children, and Little Sprouts Farm was born. We had the privilege of provided healthy food, advice, and teaching to much of southern Oregon, and many families benefited as we had. This is not a miracle cure, it’s returning to the truth and design of the Creator. We give Him all the praise for showing us the way and the volumes of understanding He has graciously granted to us through this experience.
Then God moved us to Texas. Here we have searched for ways to bring the same understanding and benefits to the local families. This is in part what the mission of theCHURCH is all about. God lead us to launch Chayim Ministries, the very name meaning two lives… “here and now, plus then and there”. The church here on earth should be the center of all wisdom in this life, guiding us through the wisdom of scripture in both how to live today as well as how to serve God for eternity. theCHURCH became the local group carrying that message to the public.
Since spreading this wealth of truth largely revolves around the food that we consume, we have needed a kitchen where we should show, practice, teach, and share the truth of how God intended humans to live. While this is certainly not the whole picture, it is certainly a part of the whole picture. We are to treat our bodies as the temple of God. That carries a lot of responsibilities! Having a kitchen is the final piece necessary to fulfill the vision of bringing health to the community in a very real and tangible way. Now is the time!
Divine Healing?
When talking about healthy living and specifically resolving health problems with food / herbs / etc, the question often comes up “But what about divine healing, do we need to worry about health food if God heals instantly?“
My answer is YES! God does heal, no doubts about that. He often heals on asking, miraculously. HOWEVER, take this scenario into consideration: If a person demands to eat ice cream twice a day every day, and ends up with the expected diabetes, can God heal them of diabetes? OF course He CAN, but will He if the person intends to continue eating ice cream twice a day because it’s fun and pleasurable (the flesh). Will God change the laws of nature so that they are unaffected and can enjoy their fleshy desires? Of course not. God does not cater to our flesh. There are consequences in our choices. If we continue to do things that cause disease, just because we want to, how can He heal us of our own natural consequences?
So, I believe there is a call for both, miraculous healing and healthy living. Treating the temple of the Holy Spirit as the sacred place that it is to the best of our ability, and denying the flesh when it contradicts. ALSO we rely on God to do what we can not do when health conditions hit, for whatever reason through faith in Christ.
Bottom line: If we will turn to the medical system when we have a problem, why would we not first return to life the way God intended?
The Vision
The vision is a multipurpose kitchen area that can fulfill multiple goals:
- Hands On classes about healthy food choices and preparation
- Hands On classes about natural food preservation
- Classes about health advice from a biblical perspective
- A means to feed those in the community that are in need as an outreach and opportunity to meet the needs of those in the community
- A place to prepare special healing foods for individuals in he community which can not be purchased at a reasonable cost
This is more than just a place to make food. This is a center for health and sharing! We can teach, feed the hungry, and minister to people along the way. Food is one of the central needs of everyone, and a great opening to reach people. Feeding the hungry has always been a mission of the church, as has teaching healthy living according to scriptures.
The Approach
So how do we make this happen? By God’s grace of course! At the moment we have zero funds to invest in a kitchen. And that is OK! The approach is to proceed as God allows. Most of the work can be done at zero cost through generous donations of necessary items and materials. The labor will be donated to the fullest extent possible. In fact, this is a marvelous opportunity for everyone to take part and offer what you can in time, labor, and donations. As God leads through the Holy Spirit, you are invited to participate.
We will be calling “work days” with goals to accomplish each day. Everyone that shows up to work will be part of a team, as we work hand in hand to make this happen. The word (and song) about unity comes to mind! “You will know them by their love” . This is an opportunity to work in unity with each other to serve the Lord with our hands, time, and resources. There are no expectations, but plenty of opportunities. We all have a part to play!