Just the Begining

A couple months ago I was asked if I was interested in being on the leadership council for Raleigh’s 10 year plan to end homelessness.  I have to say that I was honored that they even considered me.  The truth is its not me that got their attention in the first place…it was everyone at Living Word.  From the moment that you gave yourself away last Christmas by remodeling the woman’s shelter and giving to the Wake Forest firefighters, through this year of continuing to support the Helen Wright Center, Urban Ministries and the Support Circle Program, community leaders were impressed at the level of sacrifice we all gave to our community.  Part of the vision of Living Word is to gain favor in the community.  When this happens people see God for who he truly is and not what their misconceptions tell them.  People find hope in the church as a whole, which opens their heart back to God and He saves their lives.

All this happened because you picked up a paint brush, or made a sandwich, or gave a box of food, or gave your money, or prayed, or taught someone how to budget.  It reminds me of a quote by Dwight L. Moody

There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.

If you do your part, no matter how small it seems, great things will happen because of it.

This is just the beginning.

 

Looks Its Real

Favor in the Community

This morning I had an opportunity to speak at a faith breakfast for Urban Ministries.  They invited me to talk about all the work we have done with them just in the past year.  It was a real honor and a treat.  I even tucked in my shirt and wore some slacks for the occasion.  People looked twice, like I never dress up…well maybe its true.  

God is really opening doors for favor in our community.  Its amazing what happens when we all begin to speak the same thing.  I know most of the time I am the face for Outreach at Living Word but its you all who are jumping behind the vision that is making this possible.  Thanks.  I believe even more is coming up in the future…this is only the beginning.

The Great Awkward Meeting

It was a little awkward and I kind of felt out of place, but it was a great opportunity to let people know what is going on at Living Word. The Wake County Commissioners invited Pastor Steve and I to come and talk about our partnership with Urban Ministries. We told them about what we did this Christmas with our Unscrooged series and what our plans for the future were. We even got to show the before and after video that we showed to our congregation…There were a few tears from the commissioners. I felt a little out of place because in this meeting they were talking about the next steps for water conservation for all of Wake County…thats a pretty big deal. It was a little awkward because, we never did these projects to be recognized by anyone, but because it is who God has called us to be. Through this all we are gaining favor in our community and people are seeing what Christ and His church is all about.

You can watch the video here (skip to about 50 min into the video to see the meeting)

Oh…we were scheduled to be first on the agenda…but we were about 1 second too late and we got pushed down the agenda a little…it was a little embarrassing.

Living Word On the News

Porcha Johnson, for News 14 visited us this morning to interview Pastor Steve about the tithe we took up for the Wake Forest fire fighters.  You can check out the article and video here.  You can also look for it on News Channel 14 for the rest of the night.  It should run every top of the hour on the hour until midnight tonight.  There may be a possibility for them to run another story on the Helen Wright Center.  I love being apart of a church that gives and is a part of the community.

Mildred

This is Mildred. She is my new friend from the Helen Wright Center. Almost everyday after we are done working I get to stand and talk with her about her day and get a big hug. We only talk for a few minuets, so I don’t know much about her past. Looking at this picture makes me wonder what she was like when she was my age. Who were her friends and family…what brought her here? All the women at the Center have a different story to tell. All their journeys brought them here to the same place. I love that my friend Mildred has a chance to make things right again. Oh yea…She got a makeover and a Yellow Rose last Saturday, and she looked gorgeous.

Growing Our Community

I started a new Blog for Living Word Outreach. Its called Growing our Community. I was looking for a reason to start an outreach blog and the Helen Wright Center Project gave me a great start. I will be able to use this blog to keep everyone posted on what is going on with our outreach projects…and this is cool, I have set up a Google calendar so i can post the volunteers that will be working. this way if anyone wants to see when they work they can. I am real excited about this.

I am also excited about how well the HW project is going. So many people giving so much of their time to make a difference is the lives of over 30 women. At times the place can get pretty emotional. There are over 280 people that volunteered and over 500 slots that have been filled for this 6 days a week for 2 1/2 weeks of project extravaganza! I love my life and I love the people in my church family.

Un Scrooged

This Christmas Living Word will be UNSCROOGED. You know it is good to get gifts, otherwise it would be bad to give gifts. But our focus this year will be giving ourselves away for Christmas. We will be giving ourselves away with two life changing projects.

First we will be taking up an offering for the fire fighters in our community to give them a bonus check this Christmas. They literally run into burning buildings to save our lives. Whatever they are paid is not enough. This offering is just our way to say thank you to our public servants.

Our second project will take place downtown Raleigh at the Helen Wright Center for Women.  I absolutely fell in love with this place when I toured it for the first time.  Their program is top notch and is changing many many lives.  We saw that God is apart of what is going on at HWCW and we wanted to be involved as well.  Living Word is going to give their time, money and skills to go in and help to remodel the center.  This really is doing so much more than painting wall and remolding the bathrooms.  by the end of the project we will help Helen Wright Center bring one more woman off the street and give her a chance to get into her own home.  Lives will be changed.

Check out our new Outreach blog.  This will help you stay updated on whats going on and how you can help at the Helen Wright Center and other LW Outreach projects.