Working to see Laconia, NH so alive with the Gospel of Jesus that our schools, our businesses, our families and our churches radiate His love and truth into our regionals beyond! perhaps said it best:
“On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so t
hat men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” (MLK Jr, Beyond Vietnam Speech-- 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City)
Following Jesus is indeed about individual surrender and transformation such that, for example, I care for the poor when before I cared only for myself. But individual surrender must in the end lead to the surrender of everything else I am engaged in (my vocation, my recreations, my education, i.e. As Christians we believe everyone needs Jesus; but we must acknowledge that there are systems in our city which continually keep people beaten and robbed and estranged from Him. The incarnation of Jesus (God becoming man) must drive us to incarnate the various systems of our city, in Jesus name, and see them transformed so that this Jericho road produces spiritual life not death. When this happens individual surrender to Jesus results in city-wide transformation! That's our vision at Water's Edge: "To see Laconia, NH so alive with Jesus that our schools, our businesses, our families and our churches radiate His love and truth into our region and beyond!"
