Pressing On In 2009

January ushered in a brand new year, and we are all the more blessed to serve and compelled to reach Montgomerians in need with the love of Christ. I want to give a huge shout out to some incredible volunteers who give of their time and talents each week to make the Forest Park Ministry Center run so effectively. During the months of December and January, my father has been gravely ill (praise God, he is on the road to recovery!) and in the midst of several crises when I had to be with him and my family, the faithful volunteers carried on, ministering to those guests who were in need and came to FPMC for assistance. I cannot thank them enough for their faithfulness. I am posting a picture of some of the volunteers that were able to gather for a Christmas celebration so that you can put a face with your prayers for the center and all who work and visit there. During the last half of 2008, we saw record numbers of guests visiting Forest Park. Here is a recap of August through December of 2008: Since Forest Park Ministry Center reopened its doors for service on August 1, 2008: Ø over 800 households have been served, for a total of 1,931 people. Ø 15,473 pounds of food have been distributed. Ø there have been 16 professions of faith, one rededication, and 63 followups by pastors or the center director. Ø 8 home visits to mothers of newborns to deliver layettes and pray with these moms. Ø 38 families were assisted with utility bill payments. Ø 30 families were registered with Christmas Clearinghouse to receive Christmas gifts for their children. Ø and sponsoring churches enabled the center to distribute 65 full Thanksgiving baskets to families in need, along with assisting at least 3 families with emergency needs arising from medical emergencies. Thank you for helping to reach those in need in Montgomery by supporting Forest Park Ministry Center. In this way, you are the hands of Jesus to a lost and needy world! Isn't God incredible? Even in a time of economic crisis, He enables His people to reach out to those in need with generous hearts. Thank you to all who love and support His work through Forest Park Ministry Center. During the month of January, some groups have visited the center to offer their special assistance. Children and their leaders from Southlawn Baptist Church came to see what we do at the center and to lend their assistance in the food pantry. Youth from Prattville First Baptist came and worked to clean up the yard and prepare our sign in front for new lettering. On Sunday, January 18, leaders from WMU and Women's Ministries of our sponsoring churches met at the center, and several commitments for Layette Baby Showers and CWJC Mentors were made. Thank you to all for your service and for your support. We are looking forward to an even more powerful impact for Christ's Kingdom in 2009.

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!