Chris Koerner is the Director of Program Operations at the Samaritan Community Center. The Samaritan Community Center is a nonprofit in Northwest Arkansas serving those in need through programs like the Samaritan Market (a client-choice food pantry) and the Samaritan Farm. They also provide free hot meals at their café, distribute SnackPacks for children, offer dental care and counseling, run thrift stores to fund operations, and host BackPacks for Kids events.

At the Samaritan Community Center, our mission is to serve the hurting and hungry of NWA with dignity and compassion.  We provide wraparound services in the areas of Health, Hope and Hunger.  At Samaritan, our Neighbors can have a fantastic meal from our culinary trained Chefs, select their own groceries in our market, talk to our Community Resource Navigators about all the resources available to them, and even receive free Dental Care and Counseling.

One of the many things I love about the culture here at Samaritan is that we believe we are all made in God’s image and worthy of respect.  We believe everyone’s story makes sense.  That alone can eliminate being judgmental and help us focus on improving the future of our Neighbors as we love our Neighbors as ourselves.

I also love that we provide a place for our amazing volunteers to do the things God created in advance for them to do.  We provide a place for people to fulfill their calling to love their Neighbors and to not grow weary in doing good.

God has used these nearly three years to show me how much He loves all those He created in His image and how He has called people who can serve, to serve cheerfully.  God also showed me an important lesson recently about the importance of someone’s identity and how it can be easy for me to take my identity for granted.

Recently our Care Team was able to help one of our Neighbors obtain her birth certificate and then obtain her ID.  Without her identification, she was very limited in terms of working or even finding a place to live.  Now that she has her ID, it has been instrumental in her now having a place to live and she is also now working which are such exciting developments.

The first day she received her ID, she walked up to me at the Center and very proudly showed me her new ID!  I loved that for her! I loved how excited she was about her ID!

It also made me wonder if I am always that excited about my identity in Christ.  Am I as quick and bold to share my identity and to live in the knowledge of that identity?  Do I remember that my identity in Christ is that I am beloved, adored, cherished, and highly valued or do I too easily revert back to things the world may say about me?

Since that time, I purchased business cards that list out my identity in Christ… Beloved… Chosen…Made New…Prayed for by Jesus…Free from sin’s power…A new creation…and many more.  These are a great reminder for me of who I am in Christ and that I should be just as excited about my identity as our Neighbor I referred to.

How about you?  Where is your identity?  Are you living in the truth of who God says you are, or in what someone said to you to hurt you?  Are you living as if your identity is the worst thing you’ve ever done or in the identity that God says you are chosen and you are His friend?

If you ever near our Rogers Center, stop in and I’ll be glad to share some Identification cards with you.