The Real Justin Chandler is building an orphanage. Actually theBURN is. Allow me to elaborate.

As I've shared in this post, I was in a place where I needed some direction. I walked out what I felt God had asked of me up to that point, but following that, I was clueless. God spoke to me (and my team was in agreement) about what we needed to do with the rest of the year. They were:

1. Do something with our hands to benefit our town and community.
2. Do something with our money to benefit some portion of the world (whether local or otherwise).

Part 1 will be coming shortly. Part 2 has happened in a big way. When we returned from Desperation, I spoke with Pastor Joey, our Women's Pastor, following her return from Guatemala on a mission's trip with members of our church. We had some of our students go on the trip so I was interested to see how it went. As we talked, I was reminded of our goals and asked if there was anything they were in need of by way of support. She shared that they needed $3000 to complete their oprhanage (they pay as they go) and they would be able to house more girls. This was one of those moments where I knew God had placed this before us and we jumped in.

There were a couple of stipulations. This would be done by theBURN exclusively. Their parents would not be made aware. It would not be presented to the church. It was time for theBURN to put their faith in Motion (shout out to Mark Pettus). Our timetable was as follows:

July 29th: Initial Introduction of Goal (giving begins)
August 5th: Night of Prayer and Worship (giving ends)

I told the students when we began they would have three weeks. As I looked back, I found that three weeks was in fact 15 days. As we put the vision before the students, they jumped on it. The first night, they gave over $400. For 60 students having not heard about it, that's impressive. The following Sunday, they gave over $1600 dollars. Amazing! Over the next services, we found ourselves at $2600 on the night of the 5th. We told the students this information before we began a time of prayer for Guatemala and the work of the orphanage. In this time the students gave their final gifts and we ended with closing worship, "God of This City" style. At the end of the night, the students had given over $1200! Giving us a total of $3800 in 15. UNREAL!!!

God has given our students a new measure of faith. We have a TON of testimonies coming from what God has done for those who gave and it's amazing to see how God uses everyone! Our God is good. In theBURN, we're Building an Orphanage! GREATER THINGS!!!