Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Kindness in Kashmir for Christians

{A few weeks ago, I [Jim Wallis. Pres and CEO of Sojourners] called Steve Stone, pastor of Heartsong Church in Tennessee and a Sojourners reader, to thank him for his courageous witness of loving his neighbor.

He welcomed an Islamic community center to his neighborhood. The story of his church’s hospitality was aired on CNN. Shortly afterward, he received a call from a group of Muslims in Kashmir who’d seen the segment. They shared with him that after watching it, one of the community’s leaders said to those who were gathered: “God just spoke to us through this man.” One man went straight to the local Christian church and proceeded to clean it, inside and out, because of his desire to be a good neighbor too. They told Pastor Stone that “we’re going to keep taking care of this little church for the rest of our lives.”

When I told Steve how he made me proud to be a Christian, he turned the tables. He wanted to thank Sojourners for all the inspiration we’ve provided for him and his church.]

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