Community Outreach Is Bearing Fruit

It has been both sweet and awe inspiring to watch how God connects guests at our center, those of us who work there, and other center sponsored activities in the community. Just in recent weeks, there are three families who have been impacted in multiple ways throught the ministries of the center. One such circumstance was when I made a home visit as a followup of the mom visiting our center for assistance. When she gave birth to her newborn, my husband and I visited her home to deliver to her a layette of newborn necessities and to pray with her for her family and the new addition. While there, her 6 year old son came into the room and exclaimed, "I know you!" As it turns out, he is in the classroom at one of the Title I schools where we are reading and tutoring. And the layette ministry is having such a meaningful impact. It is an opportunity to meet guests in their homes, to provide extra encouragement, and to pray with them. Connections are being made, relationships established, and guests are seeing us outside of the center, plugging into the community. There are other "divine appointments", instances where children of families served by the center are being taught character development through reading books by volunteers from the center. It is important to note that the consistency, the persistence of our presence in their lives, the role model that I pray we can be for these families, could have a lasting effect on the path that these children will take as they grow. I pray that it will be a positive step toward breaking the cycle of discouragement and poverty that prevails in many families which we serve. Last Saturday, several youth from Heritage Baptist Church joined us at the center to prepare for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. They did much needed clean up around the building, they retrieved a lost shopping card, they wrapped gifts for children, and they packed over fifty Thanksgiving baskets, all of which have been distributed as of 3:00 this afternoon. We could have never accomplished all of this without their great help! The help that they gave was the culmination of their "Cardboard City" project in which they learned firsthand what the homeless and less fortunate experience on a daily basis. Thank you, Adam Bishop, for teaching the youth to give beyond themselves and to learn to be Jesus' hands to those in need.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! After experiencing and expressing such a dire need for food to give to our guests, supporting churches have stepped up to the plate. It is an awesome thing to witness God's people reaching out to those in need purely in the name of our Lord Jesus. A special shout out to Eastmont Baptist RA's who collected and delivered 225 large bags of food to Forest Park on October 8 and to Heritage Baptist Women who hosted the first ever Layette Baby Shower, supplying ample infant basics and fun things, too, for the babies being born to the moms who visit our center. They also expanded their month of food collection for the center into six weeks as an answer to the call for additional food. Other churches such as Highland Ave Baptist, Lakeview Baptist, Cloverdale, Memorial Heights, Ridgecrest and Thorington Road have contributed this month - Thank you! There have been over 400 families assisted so far since August 1 of this year through Forest Park Ministry Center, representing 1,000 family members fed and ministered to. As the ministries of Forest Park expand beyond the walls of the center into the neighborhood, I am encouraged and impassioned to believe more than ever that God is in the midst of all the details of this ministry and of our lives. To Him alone be all the glory!

Rolling into the fall.....

August and September so far have been record months, seeing extraordinary numbers of people with dire needs. While each need is met, we at the center are keenly aware of the dire need for more food supply so that we can continue to meet the needs adequately. I urge you as you read this to pray about how you can help meet the food needs through food donations. Our sponsor churches do a great job, but the need is so very great now; perhaps you could sponsor a special drive within your class at church, to help offset the current shortage. Or perhaps your family would like to make a missions grocery shopping trip, shopping as a family for the food pantry. What a great life lesson to teach your children, and a fun family missions project, too! The food bank has been slim lately, too, but we are hoping and praying for that to improve as we move into the season when more people think about their blessings and as they desire to give to others as a thank you to God for those blessings. Another exciting thing is that the city of Montgomery has given us a permit to enclose the carport area at the center. This will create much needed storage and multi purpose space. We have a list of needed building supplies; will your church or organization step up to pledge to fund the purchase of some of these supplies? Call me at the center, 269-5726, or email me at forestparkministry@yahoo.com, if you will be a part of this great project. As always, we covet your prayers for the guests who come to Forest Park to have basic needs met, and for the volunteers who give their time and talents to be the hands of Jesus in our community.