We did it! We raised $60,000 to build 2 kindergartens in Vietnam.

Chances are, you don’t know any 6 year olds in the Hoang Then Village.

More than likely, you’ve never kicked it in the Phong Tho district.

Until three weeks ago, the word “Vietnam” had never even been mentioned on this site.

We’re in the middle of one of the worst economic crises in decades.

It’s the holidays, a time when money gets stretched thin.

“Stuff Christians Like” isn’t even an original idea.

But.

But.

But.

We serve a wild card of a God, don’t we?

We serve a God who parts seas and quiets lions and raises the dead.

And apparently, we serve a God who loves to build kindergartens in Vietnam, because that’s what happened yesterday. This shouldn’t have worked. Who am I to ask you to go on a wild adventure like raising $30,000 to build a kindergarten in Vietnam? Who are you to think that out of 112 million blogs in the world, this one could be bigger than just a blog? But we did it.

On November, 9th, we raised $30,000 in 18 hours to build a six room kindergarten for 240 kids in Vietnam.

And in doing so we realized we hadn’t stepped out far enough. So we doubled our goal. We pushed the limits of “what if” and decided to raise $60,000.

Wes Molebash stepped up and started drawing Zakk, our meterosexual worship leader mascot who will be completed soon. Abraham Piper, Scott McCellan, Pete Wilson, Brad Lomenick, Anne Jackson, Jesse Phillips, John Saddington, Wendy Maybury, Ben Arment, Matthew Paul Turner and countless others pitched in.

And we all gave. In $5 donations and $10 donations and $100 donations. Finally, the last gift came in yesterday that pushed us over the edge.

$6,023.

That’s what someone gave anonymously on the 25th day of this crazy journey. And we’re finished. We did it.

Construction will begin in the next few months, with details I’ll share as I get them. We will all pray about the right answer to “what’s next?” And we might even go visit the schools in Vietnam.

But for now, for this moment, for this day, the impossible feels a lot smaller, the difficult feels a lot easier and the potential of what a community of people online can accomplish when they lean into God feels undeniably big.

Thank you.

From the Acuff family, thank you.

From Samaritan’s Purse, thank you.

From the kids in a village in Vietnam who might never know exactly how a school desk with their name on it appeared in their village, thank you.

I am honored to be a part of this community and am thrilled to see what God, who deserves all the glory, has in store for all of us in 2010.