When God moves you to Springfield, MO, He does not move you out of Grace Klein Community. #GKCrossBorders is more than a hashtag as evidenced by members of Grace Klein Community being spread all over the United States and around the world. The Morrows are one of our valuable Grace Klein Community families, even if they no longer live in Birmingham, AL.
Matt, Rachael, Annie and Alex Morrow lived in Birmingham, AL, for close to two years. He received a God assignment with a business association and they left their families to obey Christ. Since the move was so clearly from Jesus, they thought the transition would be easier than it turned out to be. None of them expected that making new friends or finding fellowship with other believers would be difficult. But sometimes, God calls us to difficult to teach us how to do the difficult well.
Rachael volunteered at the kid’s school, signed up for a morning Bible Study group and went to mommy lunch socials. Matt’s job came with lots of out of town travel, but he worked to be home with his family as much as possible. The kids asked the neighborhood kids over to play and Alex signed up for baseball. They were involved, but they wanted more, more of Jesus in all the different parts of an average day.
One day, Matt heard about Grace Klein Community and reached out to learn more about how his family could become involved. He took immediate action and coordinated locations for our visiting missionaries, Cornelius and Prima, to share about the Library Dreams Project in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.
The Morrows helped host a backyard bible club (Rock the Block) with another Grace Klein Community family while some Grace Klein Community friends walked the neighborhood streets praying for the success of those hot evening nights.
Then, Rachael went to a ladies night, with one of the small groups she was attending, and there she found Prima sharing again about the Library Dreams Project. Later that evening, she was the one to take Prima home and was asked to pray over other members of Grace Klein Community. She later laughed, sharing, “I didn’t know what was going on, but I prayed trusting God would give me His words.”
Rachael helped with interviews and coordinating those volunteers at Work Faith and today Grace Klein Community has a strong partnership with this organization. She started serving in our give and take room and receiving the weekly bread and dessert donations. Their family began serving with our monthly food delivery ministry and Rachael helps write some of our food box letters that we give monthly to food recipient families.
We had a work day, at the community house, and Annie helped serve with clean up and decorating journals. They shared meals, and came to prayer and worship nights. The Morrows provided speaking opportunities for another Grace Klein Community missionary, Natalie Spronk, who represents Kwathu Children’s Home in Livingstone, Zambia.
In the middle of all this goodness, we found out the Morrows were moving back to Missouri. They wanted to continue to be a part of Grace Klein Community wherever they lived. We asked Rachael to continue writing food boxes letters, as Christ gave her hope to share. They offered to host missionaries in their home in Missouri. We reminded them they always had a place in Birmingham.
So they moved to Springfield, MO, to go lead like Jesus with a new occupation and new friends. Goodbyes clearly meaning “see you later.”
In May they graciously hosted their first Grace Klein Community missionaries, Cornelius and Prima Ngosa. They provided them transport, housing, food and more speaking engagements. Cornelius and Prima shared more about how God is growing a library and music academy in Jeffry’s Bay, South Africa, and the Morrows helped spread the word.
Then, in July, Rachael and the kids made their first visit back to Alabama. She met with friends for meals and coffee to hear and share of God’s faithfulness. It “just so happened” to be food delivery weekend and Alex was able to help distribute the fresh produce and organize food boxes. Rachael received the donated bread and organized its preservation for future food delivery weekends. Rachael and Annie prepared a goodie basket for visiting missionaries that would arrive the day after they left.
We had a McAlister’s free tea run and Rachael was spotted sweeping the McAlister’s floor, encouraging the staff and praying with the manager. She also encouraged many that came by the house during their Birmingham visit. Love does.
The Morrows are a beautiful example of living life together. They are a “wherever you are, be all there” kind of people. They spur us on to love and good deeds. They invest in what they cannot yet see because of their faith in Jesus. They value the Word of God and share truth through conversations. We are better with the Morrows.
*A quick note to our readers:
As you read this better together and others on our website, please remember that the Better Togethers are intended to exalt the work of Christ that we see in our various Grace Klein Community members. The better togethers are never intended to puff up our volunteers and put them on some pedestal of being good or special in any way! Anything good we see in one another is God. The work in our community is God’s redemptive power and that is available to everyone through Jesus. There is nothing praiseworthy in us that is ours alone. What’s praiseworthy is the work of Jesus in our members.
God answers each of our prayers and shows us ways to serve in His kingdom. We are all regular struggling people and God places us in specific places and teaches us how to serve Him there. It is all about Him, not us. We serve to bring Him glory and as an act of worship because He is worthy of all of our moments. Every better together story is a story about our God. We want to make sure that God is the focus and we hope you will read each article with that lens. God is worthy of all our praise. God moves in each of us, answers our prayers and uses each member of Grace Klein Community for His work through Grace Klein Community. That is who God is and what He does. He has done His work through every Better Together story and He will do that work in you too.