“We need 50 more pieces. Check the mailbox. See you next Wednesday.” No, it’s not a drug deal, it’s jewelry.
Beautiful clay jewelry with scripture on every peace. Intentional scripture, prayed over scripture, hope infused scripture, that’s all baked into the clay, a permanent reminder of Jesus. What a brilliant idea, creative God calling and ministry all wrapped together in a chaotic, demanding, exhausting and delightful experience called Compelled Designs.
Compelled Designs is a for profit business, but lived out as ministry by chief servants, Matt and Rebekah Blocher, the “on paper” owners. (For this Better Together, we will focus on Rebekah. More about Matt later!)
Rebekah Blocher is a dear friend and member of Grace Klein Community as they provide loads of jewelry for us to sell in our BeMoreRandom store for mission fundraising purposes. Grace Klein Community is able to fuel the family business while also raising funds to support missions in Birmingham, AL, and around the world. Volunteers of Grace Klein Community sell their jewelry everywhere and it deeply ministers to people and allows us to speak loads of scripture over complete strangers.
Matt and Rebekah work around the clock making more and more jewelry. The task seems never ending. They are praying to create new ideas while managing orders and working weekend craft shows. God continues to bless them with partnerships with large organizations around the country, which allows them to continue blessing adoptive families with fundraising kits. They mail 20 pieces to an adoptive family, the family sells them, pays for the jewelry, and they mail them another kit to sale. Many adoptive families have raised hundreds to help with adoption costs. How amazing, right!!!
Many times the Blochers are not able to come to Grace Klein Community events. They are at their dining room table making more jewelry, working with all their hearts to serve God through a jewelry making business. We are so thankful for their diligence.
Many nights they have opened the back door exhausted, still hours to go before they sleep, and they are still pushing through, not giving up on the ministry to which they are uniquely equipped. They welcome us in, we talk about Jesus, they ask us about scripture, we dream about the next piece they will create.
But sometimes, they do have a little time to leave the dining room table and join us at random community gatherings. Rebekah face paints at cultural outreaches such as our Love India night or helps us locate donations of Jesus Storybook Bibles to give children for Christmas. She’s introduced us to her sister who serves as a missionary in Ghana and we were able to add her sister’s craft projects to our BeMoreRandom store too. Or she’s giving us suggestions on craft shows, inviting friends to community events or dropping off her oldest son to volunteer at our community house.
Everyone is better for sharing community with Rebekah. Every jewelry piece sold is a little step to advance the Kingdom, knowing that the Word of God does not return void. And every jewelry piece sold keeps their family going in surrender to the crazy faith adventure to which they are called.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. ” – declares the Lord. – Isaiah 55:10-11.