HOPE Dealers Unite! – Reflections on The Sending Project 2022 Banquet 2

One of the main slang definitions of the word “dope” is “any illicit drug.” One of the main slang definitions of the word “dealer” is “a person who buys and sells drugs illegally.” So a person who buys and sells illicit drugs illegally is a dope dealer. Envision our enemy, the devil, in a broader sense the biggest dope dealer of all, dealing destruction in people’s lives in a variety of evil ways.

We, as the Body of Christ, are dealers of a different kind! We are dealers of HOPE. Christ in us is the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27). We don’t buy this hope, it was freely given to us. And we don’t sell this hope, we freely give it away! But, no question, we are hope “dealers,” or at least we can be and should be, freely sharing the good news of the greatest deal of all time!

Last Tuesday night at Hope Chapel in Olathe, Kansas, we faciliated Sending Project Banquet 2 for this year, with theme: Making Waves of HOPE.  It was an amazing evening of celebrating Jesus, making Kingdom connections, and raising funds to support the ministry of The Sending Project.

Here are just a few highlights from our September 26 banquet:

After some inspirational and hope-themed worship singing, we shared updates and stories of hope being brought through collective outreach, a police & pastors network, the Word of God, and trauma healing. Along the way, we heard from our next generation Scriptures of HOPE readers again. Overall, it was a big injection of HOPE into the lives of those of us who attended.

Attendees were given a Restoring Hope Bible (provided by American Bible Society) and some KC Digital Bible Outreach cards to share with others. These cards have the word “HOPE” in 41 different languages (that are present in the KC metro area) and a QR code that leads people to a landing page where they can find the Bible in their own heart language.

One of the featured presenters was Delores Burnett, Manager of Strategic Partnerships with American Bible Society. who spoke about the End-to-End ministy which has reached millions around the globe and is now also being facilitated in the KC metro area. In fact, Kansas City is the first city in the United States where the End-to-End ministry is being implemented!

Clint Hall, The Sending Project’s Director of Church Relations, interviewd Major John Roland of the Olathe Police Department, discusing the story of hope that is being written through the Police & Pastors Network. This network meets regularly to focus together on being equipped to address the societal challenges in the KC metro area.

Hope, hope, hope, and more hope was experienced as we heard many hope-themed Scriptures read by a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old. One of those Scriptures was Ephesians 4:4, which says: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called…”

Whatever your role is with the citywide Body of Christ, we are called to be hope dealers who are operating in the unity of Jesus Christ. The nearly 200 Jesus followers who were at last Tuesday’s banquet were given a big dose of that united hope, and now we go out to deal, share, and offer that hope freely to others who so desperately need it.