As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

Ephesians 4: 10-16

¹⁰He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children,tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Another verse I have been reflecting on is 1 Corinthians 12: 4-19

The last few verses pretty much sums up my team. We built ourselves on love, supporting each other and through that we became a unit, a body, Christ, and the church.

These verses connected everything together for me.... the love I feel for my teammates, the emotional heartache from leaving them, the way I trust them, respect them, find encouragement from them, find healing, and hear truth. These people are not just ordinary people... these are Christ followers, saints and all gifted working parts of the body of Christ. We are individuals who came together for a common purpose, for a common good, as one, and made a difference not only in Africa but in each others lives, the people in the churches we connected with, the people in gas stations and in our communities back home.

We became one body on this tour we had servants, healers, encouragers, teachers, shepherds, and prophets... as I begin to unpack all this and as I begin to reflect on my teammates and the tour I see that we are all talented, gifted individuals who were wired for the empowering of saints (i.e. our fellow believers/teammates) and as we empower we create unity and gain further knowledge of who Christ is. It is so obvious to me now that these are the reasons that the tour is so empowering, growing and full of Christ because we are coming together as individuals with different spiritual gifts and becoming one body working together for the kingdom. Through that we are growing, developing and exploring how to use those gifts and it is no longer about ourselves and our own comforts but it is about how we can serve one another, encourage one another, and speak truth into someone else's life and show them Christ.

We are a unit. one body. a team. the church.

I feel as if I have started to let that sink into my life, my soul, and reflect on how I can become apart of a community of believers here in Denton.To really be apart of it and how we can become one body working together to encourage each other, love one another, serve, and heal each other. I believe when you are apart of a community you are able to see, embrace and develop your gifts that God has given you and better able to equipped the saints.