Serving is not an option?!

For those of you who live up north and love the cold weather, please keep it! We don't want it! or some of us don't! 3 snow days this week for the kiddos, not much getting out for a lot of us. Spring is when?!

I can't imagine living in this cold, brutal weather but some of our friends are. Most of our friends, adapt and survive not willing to go to shelters. Scott led our group out last week to find them dealing with the elements, no fun! The weather has messed up our practice times for our basketball team. Our bread ministry continues to wrap and save our donations on Saturday.

Our afternoon reading sessions took the week off due to no school. As well as our men's Bible fellowship.

Thursday was tolerable. Ms Abbie and Brother Chester led the way in chapel. Our meal was enjoyed by all. Groceries were handed out. Our friends from LSUS continue to come every week and help out in the dining hall. Our kids were a little noisy, thankful to get out of their houses!

Willie and Brian will be speaking to the men's breakfast group at Brookwood Baptist Saturday morning.

Alan and Joey have been busy this week building a new room for our outdoor friends items.

Shannon, Abbey an Lisa continue to rearrange the food pantry in preparation of our grocery store opening up. Can't wait for that to happen.

Our longtime friend and electrician, John Williams, spent Thursday evening changing and moving electrical plugs for us at the Bright House.

This Sunday, we will host our first Grace study group. Pete, Juan and Chris will be hosting a Discipleship class and asked if they could have it at our community center! This will be the beginning of a new and unique relationship. Wonder what God is up to?

Prayers for Phil as he travels to Colorado for his continuing education class. Continued prayers for Ginellen. She got home from the hospital Monday afternoon and continues the recovery process. She is exhausted from her hospital stay and working on trying to get her strength back. Prayers for our grant proposal being sent off today. Lisa and her group have worked tirelessly on it. If this grant is awarded, it will have a lasting effect on our children of the community.

I was reading a book in preparation of a committee I have been asked to be a part of, written by a pastor to other clergy on various aspects of leading a congregation. One part of the book that resonated with me was titled, serving is not an option. I was reading a newsletter of the Jewish synagogue in town and the rabbi was talking about being Jewish. The rabbi said, I do not understand the concept of not having enough time to do Jewish things. The rabbi goes on to say, that being Jewish is a lifestyle, not something to schedule into a calendar.

Many months ago, I was having lunch with a pastor and he asked me, how do we get folks interested in doing things outside the church. How do we convey, that serving others, is just as important as going to soccer games. Over the years, we can get folks to write a check, buy food, make a donation, but when you ask for their time, we get blasted with all sorts of excuses. Everybody's calendars are full, no time to do God stuff!

The author of this book, put it this way, if we have chosen Jesus as our Lord and savior, then serving others is not something we put on a calendar or work it into our schedules, it is who we are. Jesus was the best example of what a servant looks like, we should do the same. Once we accept Jesus, then our old selves are gone and a new creation is formed. We move from the mindset of what's in it for me, to what can I do for God.

In this coming year, as more and more people begin to be aware of Common Ground and what is happening in our community, we need to convey, this is not something we put on our calendars. This is not something we rearrange our schedules to do, this is who we are. Our participation of being a part of God's Kingdom is not about us looking good, but about how we can further God's Kingdom into the world.

God needs you to be a part of this. Common Ground needs you to be a part of this. Our community needs you to be a part of this. Want you come! Amen.

Hope your week will be blessed beyond your imagination! Joy, peace and lvoe to all!scos

communities

I guess you all are wondering where is mr brian's weekly note has gone!? Or most of you are wondering, thank you Lord, no note today! Hope everybody had a good week.

We continue to stay busy with all sorts of God's blessings. Our visits to the camps continue with not much excitement, which is good! I guess you could say there was excitement or maybe a better way to put it, consternation! We have lost Brad again. Robert told our folks, Brad has regain consciousness and was doing better. Robert went to see him last week and Brad was gone? The nursing staff was unable to share with Robert, where Brad is. We are going to call Brad's mom Saturday morning, to see if she knows anything.

Our Cedar Grove Chargers basketball team continue to do well, with another victory Saturday morning. You can see the young men becoming a team on the court but more importantly off the court. With the guidance of Matt and Vicky, they are continuing to lead these young men into lives of servant hood.

Monday and Wednesday we continued to meet with our children and work with them in their reading skills. We can see an improvement of the children each week. Come and join us.

Tuesday evening, Pastor Brown led our men's Bible fellowship. Reading from John 14, talking about patience, perseverance, positive attitude. The basketball team joined the men for the first 15 minutes, what a treat. Along with patience, we persevere, allowing us to have a positive attitude, don't think you can have one without the other?

Thursday evening Wes and Willie got chapel started with some foot stomping songs and inspiring words. We continue to have good help, good food and lots of groceries for our community. We got to meet some new friends, get some good hugs, and learn new things. A fun evening!

I know this note is very late, but if you read it in time, we will have a breakfast in the morning. We have been blessed with a lot of frozen dinners. We need to make room in our freezers, so Abbey said, cook up all the breakfast items you can find. So Momma T will be busy in the kitchen and should have things ready by 8:45 or so. Not sure what is on the menu, but guaranteed to be good. Don't miss the feast!

Continued prayers for Matt's mom and her health struggles. Prayers for our young ladies, who are working their way back into our community. Please keep my sister in your thoughts and prayers. Ginellen talked to her this week. Terri is struggling with the loss of her 27 year old daughter. Joey is doing well, keep him in your prayers.

Some of us have been asked to be on a committee with Grace and Common Ground, concerning the future of our relationship together. Others today, were invited to visit with Elaine Heath, an author, ordained Methodist minister, speaker, lecturer, teacher. She wrote the book, Longing for Spring. While others had the opportunity to meet Jonathan Wilson Hargrove last week.

All three happenings were independent of each other, but all related. All generated good conversations and thought provoking ideas. All three meetings will have an affect on our community and the church. What is God up to? As Momma T would not say, what a coincidence!

As we move into this new year, we need to be sure of the direction God is leading us. We need to stay true to His way and not ours. There will be opportunities, there will be obstacles, there will be blessings. Satan will attack us. We must stay strong through prayer and the Word.

Elaine said today, there is a movement in the church unlike anything that has happened in the past. There is a longing for relationships to be developed between communities. Our community and Grace are at the forefront of this movement and will be looked upon by others to see how it can be done. We have more questions than we have answers, but that is ok because we know God is in control and will allow things to happen in His time.

Won't you join us? Each one of you is an important part of our community. You make it what it is. If you don't participate, share your story, lvoe others like Jesus lvoes us, you will be missing out of something beyond our comprehension. God longs for us all to be a part of His Kingdom. Amen.

See you for breakfast in the morning and at the center this coming week! God is good! Most of the time? Some of the time? ALL the time!

sco

Prayer, Listen, Humble, Faith, Obedient, Patience

The first week of our second month of the year has come to a close! Can't be possible, can it? Hope your week was full of surprises and blessings! This note will be full of missing news, due to my absence, so please others contribute to our many blessings of the week.

Saturday was full of blessings for our community. Our camps are holding their own, trying to survive the elements of the weather. Robert told Dawn, Brad has woken up. Brad knew who Robert was when he walked into his hospital room. Jerry has good days and bad as his heart is trying to recover from his procedures. The basketball team continues to learn what it is to become a team and came away with a victory. Following the game, many of the parents of the boys joined Matt and Vicky and others for lunch at the center! What a treat.

Our learning to read training continued on Monday and Wednesday. New relationships are being formed between our children and our servants! 

Tuesday evening our men gathered for Bible fellowship. With some of us gone, others stepped up and life goes on. Scripture is read, lives are changed, hearts are healed.

With the help of many, the basketball team was treated Tuesday evening, to attend a Harlem Globetrotter game. Also, the team was privileged to meet a former member of the Centenary basketball team, who is now a Globetrotter.

Thursday evening activities continued with our long time friends rejoining us for chapel. Heather, Derek and dad Richard had taken some time off to have a new baby. It was great to have them join us again and share their gifts of song and Word. Our meal was served by our new friends from the BCM. I will admit it was strange not having Joey around introducing us to all the young adults! Pastor Juan was there helping out and meeting our community.

Following our meal, Lisa had her monthly Board meeting. Some of the topics talked about were, we now have a small van! Someone donated a van to us and Lisa is in the process of setting up the insurance. Long time in coming and definitely needed. We have a new person joining our family. Pastor Juan's wife Shannon will be joining us to help in various aspects of our ministry. Very exciting. We have approached Willis Knighton about the possibility of taking over the building across the street from the center. The hospital Board is in discussion about that possibility. Lisa and Carl met many young professionals at an event last week. One of the most sought out young professional of the evening has selected us as their place to become involved with. She will bring lots of energy and new ideas for us to explore. With the help of some grant money, Lisa has purchased new shelving units for our food pantry. This will be the first step in transforming our food pantry into a food store. We are in the final stages of submitting our grant application to the Angel Foundation for some exciting new happenings. Carl met with a Learning Center to discuss the possibility of working together with them. Carl and David formed a neighborhood committee along with a questionnaire and has begun meeting and talking with the community.

Pastor Juan shared with the Board, his desire for the coming year. A new, fresh relationship with the congregation of Grace and our community. He put a number to his dreams with the potential of having lots of new servants in the coming year!

Alan and Byron continue to work on the Bright House I and make tremendous strides. Work is being done during the week and also on Saturday mornings, drop by and help out where you can.

Prayers for Momma T as she travels to College Station. Continued prayers for our family as we deal with the death of our niece. Prayers for the young father, who now has to raise their children by himself. Prayers for Matt's moms health.

Prayer continuously. Listen quietly. Humble ourselves. Be faithful. Be obedient. Have patience. All phrases I have heard these past few weeks. All applies when working for our God. Often our prayers are asking God to help us in our decisions, the ways we want things to work out. But often God's ways are not ours. God may answer our prayer but they don't look like the way we have asked for and we don't recognize them when they come. Or, the answers seem to far out there, it requires us to have faith beyond what we have and we don't move forward.

I also have heard lately, be careful what you pray for, you may not like what you see! All too often, we want to put God in our own little box, where everything is safe, comfortable and predictable. When we pray to our God for help, when He sends our way His help, how do we react to that help, will determine our faith and obedience. God's ways are unique, special to Him because He sees the big picture. He wants it done His way, which is always the best, for the glory of His Kingdom. Our visions are usually much smaller, only what we can see and expect.

Have patience is something I have real trouble with because I want it done in mr brian's timing. The older I get, the faster I want things to happen! God sees things we do not. Our patience is something He sees and wants us to learn from. Through patience we develop that closer relationship with Christ, that He desires from us. As our patience grows, so does our relationship.

As Lisa shared at the Board meeting, we have become overwhelmed with new people, exciting ideas, unique ministry possibilities. God may be sending all of this to us in answers to our prayers for all these years. So how do we handle it? Do we humble ourselves to listen to others, to be obedient in our ways and have faith God knows what He is doing?! Time will tell! Amen and amen!

God is busy and we need you. Don't miss out on something that is happening and is unique in the world we are living in. Come and experience the lvoe of Christ like you have never experienced it before!

Have a great week! God is good!