Hey! Hey! I know that guy!

I was zipping through my 300+ unread updates on Google Reader today and paused to read the Compassion Blog.

I don't pause enough...

Today's post was about churches going beyond the typical short-term mission model to partner with churches in developing nations long-term. Thirty seconds later I had a full-on Buddy the Elf moment...

"When U.S. pastor Joe Wittwer visted Iglesia Elim in Armenia, El Salvador--"

Wait, what?  Hey...hey! I know that guy!

They even had a picture...

Hi Joe!

Joe Witter pastors Life Center Foursquare Church in Spokane, a church that gets big love from this girl and not only because they partner with a Child Development Center in El Salvador.

The Church 2 Church program that Life Center has implemented encourages churches to go beyond what Compassion calls a "love them and leave them," relationship and commit to building a permanent bridge between two congregations. This embodies the heart of Ephesians 2:19 beautifully,

"So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God."

I'm excited to see what happens as more churches adopt this model.

Read the rest of the post on Compassion's blog here or you can read the original article at LeadershipJournal.net.