If you ask Kim Pitner—senior pastor along with his wife, Cheryl, of Connect4Life (Waxahachie Foursquare Church) in Waxahachie, Texas—about his experience at Foursquare’s international convention in Israel in 2007, he will say it was life-transforming.

On the last night of the convention, he stood on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the city of Jerusalem. He gazed down on the black dome of The Tear Drop Church that was built to commemorate Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem (see Luke 19:41). In this moment, Kim experienced an epiphany that pierced his heart. With deep conviction, he faced the realization that he couldn’t recall the last time he had wept over his own city.

Kim took an honest look at himself and admitted that he had become a professional pastor, one who went to his office every day for 20 years but had layered himself out of the harvest field and out of relationship with the city God had called him to serve. He knew God was asking him to weep over his city and find a way to serve his community with the heart of Jesus.

Heart for Children

Impacted by the story of Moses at the burning bush, where God told Moses that He had heard the “the cry of the children of Israel” (Ex 3:9, NKJV), Kim began by simply asking one crucial question: What was the cry in the hearts of the people he pastored? He called a meeting of his congregation, during which he discovered that 85 percent of the people were deeply concerned about the high percentage of neglected and abused children in his city.

From that point forward, Kim initiated a movement to renovate the vision of the church he shepherded. He started to connect the heart-cry of his congregation to the real needs in the community, and even changed the church’s name to Connect4Life. As a first step, he made an appointment with the principal of the Wedgeworth Elementary School, located adjacent to the church.

Sitting across the desk from the principal, Kim offered repentance. He asked the principal to forgive the past nine years, during which time the church had ignored and neglected the needs of the school. With his humble approach, a relationship blossomed between Connect4Life and Wedgeworth Elementary.

The church began blessing the school with small acts of service: a winter coat for a needy child; cookies and coffee for the teachers; orange juice and muffins for moms; and volunteers to read to the children. Connect4Life has been voted Business Partner of the Year by the elementary school two years in a row. Kim emphasizes that this kind of trust did not develop overnight, but over time.

“It has taken three years of intentional relationship building,” the pastor tells Foursquare.org, “but the consistent, dependable acts of love and service are laying a foundation for the church to have a voice in the community.”