GETTING OUT THERE

I know.  The blog looks a bit long, but hang in there with me.  Important stuff sometimes takes a little more room.

We have been talking about getting Messy, taking faith filled risks to get the Good News of Jesus to others.  There is no greater message of eternal hope than the good news that Jesus loves us so much He went to unfathomable lengths to show us that love, even death on a torturous cross.  Yet as believers in Jesus we confess that our efforts to connect to people who are on the outside of faith is often subpar .  In our commitment to be a church that loves God and loves people we want to enter into people’s lives with the heart and love of God in practical ways, thereby opening doors to share His full redemptive love in Christ.

Two Sundays ago I mentioned an Outreach Model that we want to follow.  It includes five different categories that we want to participate in to connect us to people more intentionally.  I want you to get familiar with them, and look for areas of interest where you would like to be involved.    We honor Christ and his death when we do that.

CATEGOROES

Community Engagement

Support Ministries          

Events      

Training          

International Students 

For the next three weeks I want to relay to you what we are doing to keep walking into the lives of people in each of these areas.  The FIRST, Community Engagement.  Here we go...

MINISTRIES

The Castle – Kirk Smith is heading this up.

          A ministry to mentally challenged people who spend week days in Adult Day Care.    

          We provide a Monthly meal for lunch that is cooked up in our church kitchen during Cooking Night.   

Joes Java - Amy Lane oversees this ministry.

A holistic ministry helping underprivileged people in need of food, clothes and spiritual healing.  We provide a monthly lunch.  

Food2Go/Blessings in a Bag - Gina Smith, Bob Clemons are on top of this one.                      

          Providing donated food on weekends for children in need K-6.  

Shoes 4 the Shoeless – Rachel Ennis, Elizabeth Presher, and Lisa Carlin are launching this one.

Coming in June we will be helping provide shoes to children in need who have outgrown the shoes they have, or are wearing worn out shoes.  Look for details over the next few weeks.

Dayton City Mission – Gilbert/McCann Community Group have been faithfully serving.

One of our community groups goes to the mission on a designated Thursday night to help serve food and clean up.

Love Packages – Ralph Bishop has blessed this ministry with his leadership.

Providing Bibles and books for ministry overseas.

Miami Valley Women’s Center -  Served by a number of church volunteers.

Supporting and mentoring women and men who find themselves in a crisis pregnancy.

Here is my dream.  I will serve as Outreach Director overseeing all five major categories.  In addition we would have people from the congregation step up to lead one of the five categories, working with people interested in specific ministries under those categories.  Additional ministries may be added and others may end.  What we do under those categories is fluid.  

So there you have the first category.  Next week you can see what is going on in Support Ministries.