God is good!

You just never know what life will deal you each day. To get us through those days when things don't go according to our plans, we need God by our side. We need people who will comfort you during those times. We need family to pray for you when you are trying to understand what happened. You wonder, you ask questions, you get frustrated, you wear down, but knowing you are not going through these times by yourself is a huge comfort. Words can not express the gratitude we have felt from all of you during this time. Your prayers, your phone calls, your texts, your emails are all such a comfort, My wife is home but still has away to go for complete recovery so please continue your thoughts and prayers for her in the coming weeks.

It was not until late Friday afternoon did I realized it was Friday and I forgot to share the news of the week. Sorry, but when someone in your family is sick, things just revolve around them and you loose track of time.

Last Saturday was a morning of cold, drizzly skies, not a good day to be outside. Matt and Tim led the girls around for a short while picking up trash in the neighborhood. Elbert led Bible study with some of our guys from our Tuesday evening fellowship who showed up to help with our visits. Scott, Dawn and I made our rounds visiting the camps. Man it was cold, can't imagine trying to stay warm and dry. We quickly went around to the camps, not wanting the guys to stay outside any longer than they had to. By the time we got to the Macroni camp, our feet were wet, cold and we were shivering. The Macroni camp was as wet and sloppy as I have ever seen it. Mud everywhere. The hot chocolate and coffee were a welcomed relieve for the guys.

I will admit, I was looking forward to visiting with Smokey, at least he was inside and dry. When we got to Smokey's place, he opened the door and said, could ya'll use a warm bowl of chili! What a man of God. He had fixed a big pot of chili, not only for us but for anybody else in his building. Sione and his troups for the last several years, would brave the cold and ice to bring a warm meal to the camps. Now I can relate to what that does to your soul as well. Not only does hot food warm the body, being remembered warms the soul!

Also on Saturdays, Ardis brings in her haul from Panera Bread company. Ardis shows up late Friday night and they give her a bag of goodies from the store. So now we are able to provide, bagels, rolls, bread to our friends, and use the bread at our meals on Thursdays. What a blessing.

Sunday evening, the Ackerman's entertained the multitudes at their home. I asked the guys Saturday, what they were doing for Thanksgiving and the first thing they said, was going to the Ackermans! Sharing your home, sharing a meal, sharing your heart with others, makes a difference in people's lives.

Also Sunday evening, Lisa and Ardis were attending a mission's banquet at First Baptist church. We had been invited to set up a booth and tell everybody about Common Ground. The ladies did an outstanding job, hearing good reports from the congregation already.

With Thanksgiving break for the schools, no tutoring was going on. It will resume next week.

Tuesday evening, the men met for fellowship and Bible study. Matt and Joey can fill us on with what went on.

Thursday evening we hosted our soup and bread meal. Not many of our community showed up, maybe 15 or so. We got to visit with those that came which was good. We had some new visitors come and help out, along with a lot of you. Joey set up our TV and we watched some of the football game. It was a nice evening.

William is in his rehab facility and doing ok. Continue to lift him up in your prayers. Pray for our guys living outside. This past week with all the rain and then the cold, living conditions are horrible.

While I was with my wife in the hospital for two days, don't know if I was more attuned listening for God, but heard his name mentioned over and over again by various people. It reminded me, how big God is and all He is dong in the world. We never hear about it on the news or radio, so to hear about him over and over again was inspiring. While we were waiting for my wife's surgery to be over, a young lady on her cell phone, shouted, it's a miracle, it's a miracle! Whoever she was talking to on the phone, she said, thank you, thank you for all your prayers it worked!

Another reminder, prayers work! We may not get to hear about the end result, but that is ok, just be faithful and God will provide!

Hope you have a great week. Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. Life is good, even when we are dealt obstacles, because our God is by our side, lvoing us all the way! Amen.

Christ first

Hope everybody had a great week! God is good and will be all the time!

We got our week started off in a good way by sharing breakfast with our community. Momma T and her kitchen crew cooked up goodies enjoyed by all. We enjoyed French toast, bacon, strawberry and blueberry toppings, yummy! One more breakfast this year! December 21, don't miss it!

Following breakfast we broke up into our groups. We visited our guys in the camps, all doing fine. Met some new friends and old friends have returned. Robert has joined Brad at his camp. Matt talked about their visits into the neighborhood, sharing a story about a gentleman they met. He said, the churches are upset with us. Doing things in the neighborhood for the folks, providing food for our neighbors, chapel times. We have tried for years to build relationships with the churches but have not made a connection yet. But we can't wait, God is pushing us forward. In His time, we will all come together and tremendous things will happen.

We finished our visits with stopping by to check on Smokey. He showed us into his apartment and the first thing he did was to reach out his cane and push on the Christmas lights on his new tree! He was so proud of his Christmas tree. The first one he has had in 35 years! All because of you all. He feels like this is his home now, welcomed into our community, a place where he can rest, share his stories, be cared for and lvoed. His smile never left him while we visited with him. Amazing to see God at work in this man. One other story about Smokey, with the help of Hat and Karl, he feels now it is the time to contact his family in Illinois. He says they do not know if he is alive or not, so he is in the process of creating a journal/letter to them about his life and where he is now.

Our last week of afternoon activities before the Thanksgiving break went by in a hurry. The children run over when they see our college students drive up, wanting to be with them as soon as they arrive! Great to see and hear the interactions of them all.

Tuesday evening, Brother Elbert led us in our mens Bible fellowship reading from Ephesians 4, talking about anger and forgiveness. If our hearts are full of anger or bitterness, there is no room for the lvoe of Jesus. We need to get rid of it by turning it all over to God. We had a challenge offered to the men, who do we need to forgive this week, do it and feel the peace of Christ come upon you. A challenge we all need to take on.

We had our annual Thanksgiving meal Thursday evening. What a great evening. 

We had the honor of our first lady pastor to share the Word for us. A young lady who is going through seminary and interning at Grace, Kelly Berne. She did a great job and hoping to get her back in the coming year. We knew she was coming but did not have any musician lined up, so mr brian was trying to put something together on the computer. Not doing a very good job and getting frustrated, after Kelly walks in, one of the musicians from Grace comes in and says I am here to play and sing! So we were treated to have Mickie play her guitar and led us in worship. Did I say God is good! Always providing!

Through the hard work of Lisa and Abbey all week, they had everything prepared to make everything run smoothly for the evening. We had a great meal provided by some of our old friends, lots of good help in the kitchen, groceries were all bagged up ready to go and then the community had their personal shoppers as they were treated to more goodies in the Friendship Room.

We had the medical van in the parking lot checking on our community, we had children's church going on and Momma T and her girls Bible study was all happening! What an evening. Many thanks to all for making it all such a special evening.

We will be having our meal Thanksgiving day at our regular time. A simple meal of soup and bread will be provided for those who might need a meal. If you want to join us, please do so. It is a good time to sit down with each other and visit.

Don't forget this Sunday, the Ackermans will be hosting their monthly supper at 6.

Continue to lift up William. Matt took him to the Rescue Mission and he was settling in there, but now he has been transported to a rehab unit behind LSU hospital. Joey asked for prayers to him and Allison. Both will be preaching this Sunday. Joey at a church in Bossier and Allison in her church in Atlanta, very cool! We had an old friend show up Thursday and he asked for prayers, Richard is back! Richard is now living with his daughter. He is glad to be off the streets, but is struggling with his living arrangements. Keep warm thoughts going our way, as a cold front approaches us, with very cold temperatures, for our guys living outside.

As I was driving around in a neighborhood this week, I started to notice holiday banners on the light posts. Very nice at first. The banners were colorful, saying Peace, Joy, Happy Holidays, Holiday Traditions. As I drove around, I started looking for the Merry Christmas banner? I didn't drive the entire complex but of the 20 or so banners I saw, didn't see a Merry Christmas banner! 

As we all know for many years now, people have been wanting to take Christ out of Christmas. But it hit me in seeing the banners and looking for the Merry Christmas banner, if it weren't for Christ there would be no Christmas. It all starts with Christ. This week we were asked to get rid of our bad thoughts. How do you do that, through Christ. We are told to forgive, but we can't on our own, only through Christ can we forgive. We ask our neighbors to stop fighting, shooting each other, stealing, using drugs. Change will come when Christ enters their hearts. How do we not let our addictions control our lives, through Christ. How do we lvoe one another, through the lvoe of Christ.

By taking Christ out of Christmas, we are taking the one thing away that will change the world. It all starts with Christ and it will all end with His coming. We see it all the time as new people come and visit our community, they see something or they feel something, they do not see or feel in any other place. It is not because of us, but because of Christ. Christ is first, now and forever! Amen.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week with family and friends. Don't forget to put Christ first in everything you do this week!

Patience, are you ready?

And old saying in this part of the world, if you don't like the weather today just wait! Well we got it this week, from the 70's last weekend to the 30's during the week and back to the 70's this weekend! God is always full of surprises!

No better way to start our week than visiting our friends and neighbors. Icee Joe and Tim led a big group of ladies from the Centenary swim team around to visit our friends. They took supplies, covers and hugs to them all. Everybody seems to be doing ok. Scott, Matt led some of our young men from Tuesday evening around the neighborhood. They filled 3 bags of trash and visited many folks. Met a new owner moving back into the neighborhood and talked at length to the famous "candy lady".

Don't want to start a new ministry, but in talking to our neighbors, we have several older folks who don't or can't get out of their houses very easily. We mentioned to them would they like a hot meal if we could bring them one, they all said yes. In the early days of our meals, we had more food than people, so we would pack up to go boxes and walk the neighborhood until the boxes were gone. It was a good way to meet folks. Anybody interested in doing this again?

Our afternoon activities continue at a great pace. Our college students continue to come and offer their hearts to our children. On Wednesday, we had a lady teaching the children nutritious ways to eat. Also on Wednesdays, the children will go through the clothing room picking up clothes for church and school. Gabrielle posted a picture of Anthony with his new outfit! We also have a new volunteer, Carl helping us out in the afternoons. Carl is a member of Grace and also drives the medical van that comes each month.

Tuesday evening, we had a packed house as Matt read from James 2, talking about not judging and faith.  A lively discussion about we all judge people by their looks, their talk and not by their hearts. One of my favorite passages, faith without deeds is dead, took up a lot of talk. We all too often get comfortable in our surroundings and never move out into the streets to share the lvoe of Jesus with others. If we don't do it, who will?

Wednesday evening, we gathered at Momma T's home for our family time. Lots of good food and good conversations. Momma T passed around index cards with questions on them, answering them in our own ways, bringing up more discussions. We did finally get to Dr Phil's book, concluding Chapter 11. We summarized the chapter, lvoe God, lvoe your neighbor, be humble. Good way to live our lives.

Thursday evening, Wes and Willie got chapel going in a good way. If Wes didn't know the song, Willie sang it anyway and Wes picked it up! One of community came up to Willie in the middle of chapel and asked a question about the chaff and the wheat, which led to our sermon. Not what Willie had planned but the Holy Spirit evidently wanted us to hear it! Our children's church continues to be a blessing, with lots of activities going on. Momma T shares what God has placed on her heart with her young ladies.

A big crowd for our meal, clothes and groceries. A crowd of folks with lots of unrest going on. Someone said, maybe it was the almost full moon! We have not had a crowd with troubles in awhile but it was a reminder of where we are. Our folks are hurting, our community is constantly being beaten down, dealing with drugs, addictions, financial issues, families. I am not approving of the disagreements happening but we need to show lvoe as much as we can because if we don't, they will not see it in their world.

A reminder, next Thursday will be our Thanksgiving meal. Momma T will be decorating the tables Wednesday evening, she could use your help. Abbey could use your help, carving up the turkeys Thursday afternoon. Helping with getting the food ready for the meal. We will offer two bags of groceries, our regular bag and then they will pick items they can use for their Thanksgiving meal at home.

We will have a meal on Thanksgiving Day. Our regular time. No chapel is planned, but you never know? We will not have groceries to hand out, but the clothing room will be open. 

This Saturday at 8:30 is our monthly breakfast time. French toast and all the trimmings will be prepared by our kitchen staff! Come and enjoy!

We have a birthday this coming week. Beth Ackerman will be celebrating her special day on the 20th. Happy Birthday Beth!

Prayer concerns. Pastor Roger and his crew leaving for a week to help those in Oklahoma. Dr Phil for travel as he is taking a much deserve vacation to west Texas. William as he continues his rehab and where he goes from there. During our cold nights, continue to lift up our outdoor friends. Hard to stay warm in that kind of cold. Ms Abbie and Ms Dorothy. Abbie has vertigo right now, having to keep quiet, rest as much as possible. Dorothy as she rests up from her radiation and begins her chemo treatments. Her spirit is still strong. My golf instructor's nephew, who was injured in Afghanistan, Mitchell. Pray for our neighborhood. God is beginning to make small steps into our community and Satan is fighting at every turn. Prayers were said Tuesday night for jobs for our young people in our community, giving them something to do instead of drugs and gangs.

Life is hard. The world is full of hate and selfishness. Nobody looks out for you but you. For us to lvoe God, lvoe our neighbor and be humble is not natural. It goes against everything we have been taught or seen on TV or read about in the paper. One of our older guys on Tuesday night, said, I find it hard to forgive someone who has put a gun to my head! Another response, how can I lvoe someone who has taken away my house? Still another, how can I take care of my neighbor who is selling drugs? Don't ask me to forgive that guy who turned me into the police.

Hard questions. Common questions in our community.  But questions we need to answer and work on finding solutions. As we all know, we can't forgive, we can't lvoe, we can't be humble on our own. That is one of the reasons the world is so messed up. We have taken God out of our jobs, our schools, our society and even our churches.

For our community, the one bright spot in their dark world is each one of you. We continue to shine the light of Jesus, when all around them they see no hope. We told the young men Tuesday night, do not give up hope, be patient, keep praying, read your Bible, God will provide. God continues to bring people into our community who will provide the means to solve some of our dreams and answer some of our questions. It is coming, it will happen! 

But until it does, each one of you will have to stay strong in your walk. You will have to continue to show the lvoe of Jesus. I know at times when things are not going as you would like them to go it can be frustrating and hurtful, but don't give up hope. God has brought you this far, and He will not turn His back on you or our community.

Just a few short years ago, we did not have a center, we had a driveway to serve from. We did not have a Bright House, we had a crack house. We did not have a food pantry, we had car trunks and truck beds. We did not have a garden of life, we had weeds of sin. We did not know our neighbors, they did not know us. But oh how God has changed all of that. And the exciting thing, it is just the beginning!

Patience, don't like that word or what it stands for, but evidently it is very important to God when He wants to expand His Kingdom. In our patience he prepares our souls and our Spirits for things to come. Change, God's kind of change is upsetting to a lot of the world. Where the first will be last and the last will be first, is not what society wants to hear. 

So as we wait, ponder on what is ahead for us, remember God is working on and through you to not only to change you but the world around you.Amen!

See you Saturday for breakfast. Blessings to all! Have a glorious week!

Through the eyes of Jesus

Another week in the books. And what a week it was! Hope your week was as fun and full of joy.

Scott and Tim led the way Saturday to visit our friends. Pretty quite, which is a good thing! While Matt, Elbert and Rickie walked the streets of our neighborhood. God at work through these servants.

Sunday afternoon, Momma T, Ardis and Ricky hosted our first group of Centenary athletes. They spent a couple of hours in the garden. The beds are now numbered, so we can keep track of what is planted. The compose bins were moved and filled up. Cleaning up, painting trash cans to be put out around the grounds to help with trash. Pictures are up on our Face book page. Also, Ms Patti's husband, David, has hung the green doors, painted by Ricky, on the greenhouse. When you have a chance, walk through the gardens, have never seen them look so pretty!

Monday afternoon, we had another group of Centenary athletes come and work in and around the center. They power washed all the tables and chairs from the dining hall with Ardis, changed out a light, helped Lisa organize the storage room, worked with Abbey in rearranging the food pantry, hung ceiling tiles, cleaned the chapel, cleaned the kitchen, painted hallway doors, all in a span of 2 hours. Huge amount of work done with smiles! More pictures are up of the afternoon.

We had to keep it quiet because, tutoring was going on at the same time. The different rooms were filled with children learning and reading. Amazing to see it all.

Tuesday evening, was another Spirit led night, as Matt read from Mark chapter 10: 32-45. The men of the neighborhood continue to come and listen, sometimes sharing and hearing what God is doing in our lives. We talked about becoming servants of all. Jesus came to serve not be served, hard act to follow, one our society says, be the best you can be, take no prisoners, look out for number one! I remember hearing someone say years ago, if we learn to serve others, we have no time for our pity parties!

Forgot to mention last Wednesday, Lisa and Abbey spoke to a local Kiwanis chapter at noon. Their talk was well received and they were asked to come back and also speak to other chapters. You never know what God will do when lvoe is talked about to others!?

Thursday evening was full of activities and fun. We again had the privileged of having the Centenary basketball and tennis team and also another group of nursing students. Everybody was busy helping with supper, doing more cleaning up, serving, washing and visiting. Chapel was hosted by our friends, Derrick and Heather and their dad Richard. We talked about how long they have been coming, almost two years now! Isn't that amazing! Abbey prepared supper with help from some of the students. Lisa and Abbie with the help of more students handed out groceries. Matt led Bible study for the girls in the absence of Momma T. A great evening, thanks to all for making it happen.

Continue to lift up William as he goes through rehab. His biggest challenge will be when he is released and goes back into society. How will he handle it all? Tim and Hat continue to be there for him, but William will have to decide if God will be in his heart and run his life.

In this morning's Common Prayer devotion, a thought that has been running through my mind was shared. "Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, wrote, "Whatever I had read as a child about the saints had thrilled me. I could see the nobility of giving one's life for the sick, the maimed, the leper. But there was another question in my mind. Why was so much done in remedying the evil instead of avoiding it in the first place? Where were the saints to try to change the social order, not just to minister to the slaves, but to do away with slavery?"

This week, two different organizations have come to us about working with our children. One to help our children learn about their history and the other one about working with young ladies in making the right choices. I have been involved in this community for almost 20 years now and have begun to see the same situations happening over and over again. Our young girls dropping out of high school, getting pregnant, our young boys, getting in trouble and going to jail.

Years ago, when I visited The Simple Way, Shane Claiborne talked about the Samaritan story to us. He said, it was sad some passed and did not help, he said the saddest part about the story is that the Samaritan was there to begin with. At the time, I was not interested in why the Samaritan was there, I just wanted to help.

Now seeing a new generation of our children doing the same thing their mothers were doing 10 years ago, I am starting to think we to do more than just help them with their babies or visit them in jail. We need, God needs to use us, to stop the cycle of poverty. To show the girls they don't have to have babies to feel love. The boys don't have to steal or lie to get ahead.

I asked another agency this week, is there a place a young teenager can live to get out of their environment and learn about Christ. She thought a minute and said, she didn't know of any? That is amazing to me.

With all the help we had Thursday evening, I got a plate and sat down to eat. I glanced around the room and noticed a young man, who I have seen coming these past few weeks. God forgive me, but I have not stopped before now to say hi to him. We talked and he shared his story. A story that brought tears to my eyes and broke my heart. He is going back to jail because he can not pay his fine of $750 a month. He got out 3 months ago, found a place to live on 61st street, found a job at a restaurant in the kitchen but does not make enough to meet his financial obligations. He was a chef, working at a fancy restaurant on Line but now they won't hire him because of his record and can't make the money he needs, so back to prison he goes. He said, the prison folks knew he could not meet his financial obligations, so they were expecting him back. Sad, sad, sad.

I know we are a small volunteer group, trying to find our way, trying to help all we come in contact with, but there is more. God knows the bigger picture and he is beginning to show us the way of where we need to be going. Is it overwhelming to think, the neighborhood of Cedar Grove needs our help, yes through our eyes. But what if we look through the eyes of Jesus? What can we see? 

We might see a place where little ones can come and learn to read and write before they get to school. We might see houses where children will have their own room and not worry about the roof leaking. Have a kitchen where meals are served, people are learning to cook, girls are learning to serve and learn a job skill, a place where housing is provided for those who are looking to get out from under a bridge, a dorm where young children can come and live, getting away from the unrest of their environment, providing jobs in a retail and grocery store atmosphere acquiring much needed experience. What do you see looking through the eyes of Jesus? Nothing is impossible through God. Isn't that exciting! Amen and amen!

Hope your week is full of blessings. Begin to look through the eyes of Jesus this week, to the people God brings before you, what do you see?

Doing the same thing?

How was your week? Did it rain in your part of the world? Did the sun shine down on you? Did God surprise you with something special? All the above happened to us!

We had another one of those Saturdays, where things were happening all day long. Tim and Matt led our visits. Rickie and Joey led our neighborhood visits. No drama reported in the camps. Some of the guys were still talking about William's incident. Some were trying to stay dry. Some were fighting off the mosquitoes. 

We visited our neighbors on 69th and 68th streets. Meeting new folks. Catching up with our old friends. We had a group of children with us, filling up 3 bags of trash as we walked. As we were leaving the neighborhood, we glanced over and saw two young men, with trash bags in hand, picking up more trash! Wasn't that amazing.

Later on in the afternoon, Ms Lisa and others hosted our One Day to Make a Difference event. Different folks from several organizations came to read to our children, serving cookies and punch and beginning to make relationships with our community. God will lead those who have a heart for our community to us in His time.

Our final activity of the day, was our first Praise Dance Team practice. Tim and Ms Abbie's daughter Peaches hosted the practice. I forgot to ask Tim about how it all went, so Tim fill us in. Lots of music, smiles and enthusiasm by the children was seen by others. A good start into something that will last a life time.

Ms Beth and Tim have begun picking up one of our families for church on Sundays as well as Ms Beth's stops for our friends. Up to two van full of folks! Remarkable! Dr Phil did that with a family many years ago. He began to take the children to church, then the mom started coming and then the dad followed. One family at a time will make a difference in the lives of others in our community.

Our afternoon school activities continue strong with our college students coming and our community children showing up. We have a display of some of their art hanging on hallway wall. Great things are happening to both groups of young people.

Tuesday evening, the men of the community were led in Bible fellowship by one of the men of the community. Matt is asking different men to step up and lead our study, what an amazing thing to see and be a part of. Rickie West, who has been with us for years is now walking the streets, working around the center, leading Bible study, cooking hot dogs all because you all are allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you and empowering others to share their lvoe of Christ. What a blessing.

Rickie talked from Exodus 14, talking about the parting of the Red Sea. God saved His people by parting the waters. Rickie asked, what is our Red Sea? What do we need to let go of and turn over to God? Rickie talked about verse 13, where some translations said for His people to "Stand still", other translations said to "Stand firm" and you will see the Lord save you today. How hard is it for us to stand still or firm in our actions and wait on the Lord? I know it is hard for me, always wanting to take the reigns myself.

Wednesday evening, Joey and Ricky hosted our family gathering in the Bright House. It was nice to come together and catch up on what everybody has been up to. The food was good and our time together was even better. We continued our discussions of Dr Phil's book talking about, "It's a man's world". We need to go to God for our direction in life, not others.

Thursday, we had our Fall Festival. What an afternoon of fun, fellowship and food. There were some discussions about postponing the event because of the 3" of rain we had the night before and the leftover rain of the morning. But a decision was made, thanks be to God, to go ahead and have it. The afternoon couldn't have been better. A cool breeze, nice sunshine, great weather for outside activities. Everybody stepped up and got things done. Huge thank yous go out to Ms Vicki and her crew for getting the games together, Joey for sharing his college students with us, Ms Abbey for having everything ready for us, Ms Abbie for hosting the cake walk and bagging the groceries, our outdoor friends for setting up and cooking, Sonotra and others for moving tables and chairs, it was great. Ms Lisa has already posted her pictures of the evening, please go to our facebook page to see all the smiles, the hugs and laughter happening. Thanks to all for making it such a special time!

As we drove home Thursday evening, we drove through Cedar Grove and not one child did we see walking house to house for treats. We go a few blocks, we begin to see more children, getting to Highland and the streets are filled with children going house to house. One day, our God will transform our neighborhood, so our children can walk house to house! Won't that be amazing!

Prayer concerns for the week, a friend of Hat's going through the same illness as Cari Bollinger. Continue to keep the Bollingers in your prayers. An uncle of Ardis' is sick and needs prayers. Prayers for Hat's daughter as she deals with life. Continue to lift up William. As many as you have seen with Hat's post, William is now in a rehab facility. Prayers, that William can finally let go and allow God to come into his life. Prayers for our family members who are dealing with the day to day struggles of life, from jobs, to family mattes, to health issues. Life is hard, you need God at your side to help you through those times.

We have a unique opportunity next week to be a part of something special in the life of our community. Through the relationship of Ms Abbey and the athelic department of Centenary, we will be hosting the entire athletic department of Centenary in projects around the center. Starting this Sunday afternoon, with Momma T, Ricky and Ms Ardis working in the garden, you can help out and welcome these amazing young people. Ms Abbey has projects planned each day, some are in the mornings, others in the afternoons, some in the evenings, we need your help, your support and your prayers. These young people are from all over the country, some have never seen communities like ours, exposing them to a way of life they are not use to. You never know how God will use this week to change lives, to change hearts and make a difference in God's Kingdom. Please come and meet, help out and share your story with these students. Contact Ms Abbey and let her know when you want to come.

My mind works very slow, so patience with me. I will admit, the older I get the slower it functions! A thought came to me last night, about what we are doing and why? Ricky and I were in the garden Thursday afternoon, talking about life in our community, and Ricky said, if it weren't for common ground, what would all these people be doing at 5 pm today? Where would they be? If common ground was not around there would be no light in the darkness.

Smokey walks over and stands with us, looking at all the activities going on, and he said, God is doing something special in this place.

Tuesday evening, we host a group of men, some are on drugs, some have alcohol troubles, some have been in jail, all have addictions of some sort, coming together to talk about life. I hear the young men talking about  the fights they got into last week. 

What is that phrase, you do the same thing over and over and expect different results. It seems to me, our community has done the same thing over and over, girls getting pregnant, boys going to jail, men getting shot, drinking and drugs running rampant, the same thing over and over and not getting anywhere in life. No job, no education, no home, no future.

We know who saved our lives, we just want the same for our community.

For whatever reason, we have been put in a place where our job is to show hope. I think the young men of Tuesday night are reaching out is a small way, very small way, to listen, to hear about another way to live their lives. The Sonotra's, the young boys of the community, see a place where people will lvoe them in ways they have never been lvoed before. The young girls are learning God is there for them.

We are exposing our community to a God they are not familiar with. A lvoing God, a God that will help through their problems. A God that will provide a way out of no way. A God that will bring people who lvoe them in a way that is not judging, but compassionate. A God that gives hope, brings light, lvoes unconditional!  A God who brings people like all of you. Our community sees a God like no other because of you. The light of the Holy Spirit shines so bright in your hearts, the dark is starting to recede. Continue to stand firm. Continue to stand still. Knowing that our God will save us and our community! Amen!

Make plans to be with us this week. Don't miss this opportunity to meet some special young people. Have a blessed week! God is sooo good!!

Signs?

October is a pretty month in this part of the world. Leaves beginning to change, cool mornings, mild afternoons, a little rain, sunshine, full moons doesn't get any better. Hope your week has been a good one, enjoying God's wonder all around us.

Saturday, we got our week started off by having our breakfast cooked by Momma T and her peeps! Lots of help from the Small family and Sonotra. Pancakes, sausage, coffee and laughter were on the menu. We had Pastor Jackson and his family helping out in the kitchen, a nice surprise. Good to see everybody.

After our breakfast, we did not have enough folks to break into two groups, so we all went with Icee Joe to visit our friends. Turner, I mean Bernard was fine. Mr Scott brought some snacks we had gotten from one of our friends. In the snacks were Slim Jim's. Not sure you know what that is, but they were the hit of the morning. We need to buy cases of Slim Jim's for the guys! Brad was fine, having moved into a huge tent. The tent even has a screened in porch, nice for getting away from the mosquitoes. Travis and Dave walked up just as we were leaving and showed us their new camp. On top of a hill not far from Brad's camp. Knowing Travis, won't be long before their camp will be the talk of the camps with all their improvements. 

By the time we got to Robert's camp, some drama had gone on the night before. We were asked to take one of the guys to the ER. Another example of why addictions on top of trying to survive life outside creates hardships. So sad, these men can't break the chains of violence and surrender their lives to Christ. We then made our way over to the Macroni camps visiting with Joey, Tex, Tim and Jerry and finished our morning visits seeing Smokey. We timed our visit with Smokey just right to enjoy a bowl full of chili he had just finished making, yummy!

Our afternoon school activities continue with great results. Great to see it all coming together.

Tuesday evening, Mr Matt turned over the men's Bible fellowship to Pastor Elbert reading from Luke 8 40 - 56. Talking about the lady who had been bleeding for 12 years, touching Jesus's robe and a ruler going to Jesus to heal his dying daughter. Both stories, the folks had tried everything else to help, but nothing did, so they turned to Jesus. Both had faith, both believed and both were saved. Do we believe, really believe Jesus can save us? Easy to say we believe when everything is going good, but where do we turn when things go bad?

Thursday morning, we all have now heard William was shot. Thanks to all for your prayers and Hat for her heart, William will have family to go through this with. As both Smokey said to me Thursday evening and Hat said in her email, maybe this will the turning point in William's journey to let go and let God in his life.

Thursday afternoon was again full of activities. We had the medical van from St Luke's set up in the parking lot, seeing lots of our community. We had a spokesperson from Martin Luther King medical clinic give us a talk on the new health insurance law. Then Ms Abbie led us in songs preparing our hearts to receive the message given to us by Pastor Eddie. Pastor Eddie, reading from Daniel, talked about three Jewish boys, who refused to bow down to the king, being sent into a furnace of fire only to come through it because of their faith and belief in God.

Ms Sarah and Mr Scott led the young adults class rom Grace, as they prepared our meal of hamburger helper as requested from the kids of our community. A huge success, the plates were clean before we washed them! Ms Lisa came for a few minutes, still not feeling 100% but doing better. Ms Ardis helped with the handing out of the grocery bags in Ms Lisa' absence. Momma T was busy teaching her young ladies. Gabrielle had the little ones coloring. We have a new friend now, who visits with our community, handing out prayer concern sheets. Our community puts down what they need prayer for this week and the concerns are prayed for, very cool. A great evening of food and fellowship.

This Saturday from 2 - 3, we will be hosting one of the events for Making a Difference Day. Several different groups will be coming to the library and reading to our children. Everybody is welcomed to attend. Following this, Tim and Peaches, Ms Abbie's daughter, will be hosting their first Praise Dance class. Can't wait to have our children perform in chapel one day. Very exciting.

Don't forget supper at the Ackerman's this Sunday at 6pm.

Next Thursday, we will be hosting a Family Fall Fest. It will begin at 5, lasting for an hour or so. Joey has lined up the BCM folks to come and help run the games being supplied by Ms Vicki and Mr Matt. Please come and join in on the fun.

From our discussions on Tuesday evening, a thought came to me, what does our belief look like? We tell folks to believe and God will move a mountain. We tell folks to have faith and God will make a way out of no way. But what does our belief look like? What does our faith look like? Where does our belief come from? 

As I travel in my day job, I am on the road all day everyday. I see signs on the roads, I see folks driving and wonder where are they going? I see speed limit signs, which most everybody ignores. I see road construction signs telling us to move to another lane and most ignore until the road runs out. I see stop signs, where very few of us come to a complete halt, ask my wife!  I assume someone smarter than me puts these signs up for our safety, so we can arrive at our destination without drama. We can see the signs, we can look at them if we want, but they are real. What if all the road, construction signs were taken down, how would life be on the highways?

Then I thought about, what signs does God use to direct our paths? God's signs are not posted along the highways or at the intersections, so how do we know He is there? This lady we read about in our men's fellowship, made her way through the crowd of people, just to touch His robe and by her faith she was healed. The ruler of the land, humbled himself to allow the lvoe of Jesus to heal his daughter. Pastor Eddie talked about the three young men had faith enough in their God that they knew they would be protected from the fiery furnace. There were no signs telling the lady to go touch the robe. The ruler didn't see a sign somewhere and say go talk to Jesus. The three young men didn't see it posted, your God will protect you. So what does our faith, our belief look like and where does it come from?

Our road signs of God's Kingdom are written down, just not the way we are use to. We don't see God's commandments written on a street sign, lvoe your neighbor or lvoe the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. I don't know maybe we should?  We have God's Word to help us along our journeys. Everything we will ever need to know about life and how to live is in the Bible. So we must read, get to know, understand the passages to make them apart of our lives. Then we must take what we know into the world and live it! We don't need the road signs, because we have God at our side. We know where we are going, we don't need a sign to tell us. 

As we talked about Tuesday evening, God's signs are with us everyday, we just need to recognize them. They are not posted on signs, but through people. We are made for community because we need each other to help us along our paths. Our paths are guided by those who God puts before us, not by the signs we find along the way.

May your path be bright and full of joy this week. May your road signs come from your heart and not what you see. What a blessing to be a part of a community where faith and belief are live out everyday. Amen!

See you Saturday and Thursday afternoons. God is good!!

To our pastors

Another week is in the books, wow! Where does the time go? Hope your week was filled with everything God wanted you to experience!

Our Saturday mornings are going great. Some getting to visit our neighbors, others visiting our outdoor friends. Relationships beginning to be formed, which will lead to a transformation of God's Kingdom. Scott and Tim lead the way to our friends living outside, with all seeming to be ok. William has joined us again living with Robert. Daniel is back on his own living elsewhere. Brad has a new tent provide by some church friends. Matt and Elbert along with Rickie had great talks with our neighbors. Learning more and more about our neighborhood.

Our afternoon homework sessions continue to do well. Great to see the children's rooms being used for studying and learning. After the children complete their work, some move into our library and find a book. They begin to read it with help from their friends, learning all sorts of new stuff, just great.

Tuesday evening, Matt led a discussion from the reading in Matthew 22, talking about who we invite to our meals, who gets our money, and teaching about the most important commandment.  Jesus talking in parables, talked about the king inviting folks to his banquet and nobody came. Then he sent more servants out and got street people, much to the displeasure of the king when they didn't have on the right clothes for a banquet. In God's Kingdom there is no difference in us. Young or old, rich or poor, white or black, educated or not, we are all the same. Lvoe, lvoe, lvoe is God's most important commandment. Lvoe the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul and then lvoe your neighbor. When you let Christ in your heart, you are transformed, almost making it impossible not to lvoe everybody!

Wednesday mornings, our Stephanie and Ms Abbie continue to work in the clothing room, sorting and cleaning. With Ms Dorothy still out, it is great to see these ladies continue the work. It is much needed and time consuming. If you have a few minutes on Wednesday mornings, I know they would appreciate some help.

Wednesday we gathered at Ardis's house for our family time. Great food and even better conversations happened. Any questions about our new friend Ricky, you can ask Ardis, Hat and Momma T. We had the privilege of getting to know Ricky a little better and learn about his unique travels as he began to discover the Bible for himself.

Ricky has begun working in the garden and doing great work. Driving up to the center each day, you see him pulling weeds, preparing the beds for our fall planting, nice to have him with us.

Thursday brought another day of fun and unexpected blessings. We were unable to make connections for a pastor to show up for chapel, so Tim was asked to share his heart with us. Ms Abbie got us started off with This Little Light of Mine, with hands clapping and community singing. With the nice weather, the doors of the chapel were opened and folks started coming in as we continued to sing. A big round of applause went out to Ms Abbie for using her gifts of song, praising God. Then Tim got up and shared some of his story, talking about John 3:16 and Matthew 22, lvoe. By the time he finished his talk, everybody was standing and Amening! Some pictures and a short video will be on our Face book page this weekend. Great job Tim, for allowing to Holy Spirit to flow through you and blessing us all.

Thanks to Ms Sarah and her crew as they continue to share their lvoe of our children in hosting our children's church. We also have a new young lady who helps us with tutoring and wants to help with the little ones during our meals. Gabrielle had them making marshmallows people Thursday evening! Not sure how many marshmallows made it on the sticks, more went into their mouths! Great fun for the children and an answer to our prayers. God is good!

Mr Tom used his talents and supplied us with a meal for the evening. He said, he bought 180 cookies and ran out, so our crowd was huge. Standing room only in the fellowship hall as folks sat down for the meal. We had another group of nursing students join us to help serve and clean up. Another great evening of food and fellowship. We missed AbbeyII as she was home with her sick children.

Prayer concerns for the week. Continue to lift up Ms Dorothy as she continues her treatments. The Bollingers, Cari has come down with a fever and her mom is sick. Momma T's parents. Safe travel for Dr Phil, Joey and Lomax. Prayers for Ricky's sister, Miranda.

Don't forget this Saturday is our monthly breakfast. Pancakes, sausage and hot coffee on tap for the morning. No better way to start the weekend, then to join us. Cooking starts at 7:30, pancakes will be ready by 8:30!

I heard it again Thursday evening. We had a visitor from a church down the street. She had heard about us, all the good things going on and she wanted to see for herself. After chapel, she walked up to me. I introduced myself to her and she asked me, are you the pastor?! I said, no, thanks for the question, but we are all pastors in this community. Don't know if you heard me, but you all are the pastors in our community! 

We have grown up in church settings expecting pastors to take the lead in church activities. If the pastor doesn't get to it, then it doesn't get done. Often times we run our pastors into an early grave because they are trying to do it all. It is our fault for not doing our part in the building of God's Kingdom. The end of Matthew, Jesus tells us to go out into the world and make disciples. It does not say, go get your pastor and follow him.

We often think, I can't preach, I can't teach, I can't pray good enough to go out. Who said, preach and if you must, say it with words, or something like that! It is not your words that will bring folks to Christ it is your actions. Tim talked about John 3:16, God gave his son for us. If God can do that for us, why can't we go out and lvoe others. That's the least we can do.

Your serving a meal, bagging a bag of groceries, singing, playing the piano, handing out drinks, playing with the children, gathering for Bible fellowship, walking the neighborhood, visiting, cleaning the tables, giving a hug, smiling, washing dishes, teaching, tending the garden, mowing the grass, buying supplies are all forms of preaching or pastoring. A pastor is one person, it takes all of us to let others see the glory of God and how God blesses our lives. Don't wait on your pastor to lead, you step out in faith and God will guide you, blessings will flow, guarantee!  Amen!

Have a great weekend pastors! Don't forget to "preach" often this week, remembering only use words when you have to!! See you around the neighborhood!