As many of you know, I attend Southeast Christian Church, which is a "mega-church." By mega-church, I mean that we average around 19,000 in attendance each weekend. And while it is hard to surprise me with anything related to charitable giving at Southeast, this weekend I was blown away. In the wake of Katrina's destruction in the Gulf Coast states, Southeast decided to focus its efforts in providing for the long-term needs of the hurricane victims by organizing the donation of clothing, cleaning supplies, etc. No mention was made of taking monetary donations like had been collected after the Indonesian tsunami and after Sept. 11th, 2001. The only thing that was said about monetary gifts was that such donations should be marked with "Hurricane Relief." Monetary giving was not down-played, but it was not highlighted.

This past weekend, Southeast announced how much money had been given by Southeast members for hurricane relief -- $620,000! That's right, $620,000 in one week's time. And this is over and above members' giving to the church's general fund and their material giving to hurricane relief. Amazing! I had expected, due the church's lack of emphasis on monetary giving, that maybe $250K had been collected -- impressive but not "over the top." I'm still a little dazed by this amount. And the fact that there are probably more monetary gifts coming in to Southeast since this announcement.

Why am I saying this? I am not trying to praise Southeast, though as a church it is very praiseworthy. No, my aim is to give praise and honor to God for the work He has done through His people. Every time something like this happens and Southeast responds so compassionately and overwhelmingly, I am humbled at being priviledged to be a member of such a blessed community of Christian believers.

Praise, honor and glory be to God. May he continue to shine through his people -- that the world may see the light of his glory.